Ellie's Arrangements

Recently, I have not been feeling well—not sick—just a flare-up of some chronic conditions, I think. But on Saturday, I crashed. I was so exhausted that I rested on the couch for a while. To make me feel better, my darling 5-year old daughter put some greenery into water in this teacup that my Dad bought for me from my Grandma’s estate, set it on a coaster, and brought it to me.

She and I share an affinity for flowers and beauty. Since she was old enough to pick wildflowers, she has brought me tiny bouquets whenever blooms are to be found outdoors. These photos were taken several years ago:

Even during the winter, she can usually find something to bring inside—here is a bit of anemic parsley that she found in a planter on the deck where we lived at the time.

I don’t know how many times I have heard, “Here, Mom, hold these dandelions!”

Sadly, we have never had a flower garden at our home. Until last year, we lived on the side of a hill of rocky clay where deer roamed within a few feet of our windows.

Last August, we moved to a house less than 20 minutes away from my parents. Flowers burst forth in beauty around their home during spring, summer, and fall. Every time that we visit now, Ellie looks for flowers to bring home. Even last week, she found some pansy blossoms to harvest. Here are pictures of the arrangements that she made last summer/early fall.

A couple of months ago, Ryan brought home a bouquet of flowers wrapped in plastic. Ellie insisted on arranging them. At first, I hesitated to allow her because flower arranging is something that I enjoy doing and because, I mean, she is only 5! But then, I remembered her arrangements from last fall and decided to let her give it a try. I filled a vase with water and let her take over. Here is the stunning result of the arrangement that she did completely on her own.

Currently, she is quite excited about the daffodil buds that are popping up around our house. I get a report almost daily. “Mom, come look!” she says.

She dreams of a flower and herb garden so that she can gather flowers and greenery in baskets (just like Jane and Elizabeth did in Pride and Prejudice*). But we, once again, have very poor soil and deer in the yard at our new house. We will need to make a garden in containers on the deck.

When I gardened previously many years ago, I had lovely rich soil and anything I planted grew beautifully…so successful container gardening is a new adventure for me.

Update: After writing this post, we decided to use my parent’s garden space for a garden this year, and you can read about our gardening adventures here (Planting a Garden) and here (A Garden Update).

*We did not allow any screen time at all until our children reached the age of two, and then in limited amounts. The BBC version of Pride and Prejudice was the first thing that I allowed Ellie to watch, which has possibly informed her love of historical life. Her current interest is Victorian Farm available on Amazon Prime. She told me recently that she wants us to move to England to work on a Victorian Farm for a couple of years. :-)