There are some things that, to me, say country. It’s not always something that is necessarily in the country but something that when I see it invokes in me that sense of peace that I get when I’m actually in the country…
Sunflowers… no matter their setting they lower my blood pressure and induce an immediate relaxation of tension.
The fact that this particular sunflower is growing up by a weathered wood post only enhances my relaxation.
An old pump, child size rocker frame next to it or not, sitting in the garden makes me want to make it into a water feature because when I was a child I loved to pump the handle and get the water to come out. I found it fascinating to watch especially when the sun was just right the water looked like little streams of diamonds yet make a little move one way or the other and I found rainbows.
Phlox… I’ve always seen phlox around the homes and barns or sheds in the country. Maybe because once it gets started growing it requires no care and farmers and ranchers wives found some joy in the beautiful colors when their chores and chasing after children might prevent them, time-wise, from planting a decorative type of garden.
Iris or, as a lot of country folk call them, flags. Especially along fence lines. If you go for a drive most anywhere in Oklahoma or Texas and I imagine other states also you will see iris that have naturalized growing along the fence lines, usually leaning toward the ditches along the sides of the 2 lane roads. They not only invoke a deep, relaxing breath from me, they also make me want to come back in the night and dig ‘em up to put in my own garden. It doesn’t matter if I know that the property has been abandoned long ago and no one would really care if I dug up a few it gives me a funny feeling kind of like I’d be stealing.
What’s weird is I’m the same way about rocks, whether in a ditch or along a creek which is one of those really weird quirks of mine. It’s like displacing something that was put there by a power greater than myself and they aren’t mine. What weird things does that say about me? I mean I have rocks that we picked up when I was a child and on family vacation to California that are from the Petrified Forest, for Pete’s sake… Of course way back then it was not illegal to pick them up and they’ve been in my family for so many years I look after them like I do my favorite memories.
Like old wagon wheels leaning up against the house with flowers growing up through the spokes.
Succulents growing in fissures and holes in rocks.
And wildflowers that grow most anywhere… yards in town or out of town, along the ditches besides the country 2 lane roads or in the grassy right of ways along major highways.
All of these are, to me, country feel comfort. All of them make me smile and a smile always makes life easier.
15 comments:
very sweet post Helen, I love reading about your memories of growing up in the country. I'm a city girl and am a little envious that I never had that experience. Great pics...
Loved this whimsical post, Sass. You are so right. And I never knew irises were called "flags." Learn something every year.
Purple iris is one of the earliest of my flower memories. They grew along a little flowerbed on the southside of our house. They make me feel cozy.
Joanne, actually I grew up in Okla. City but I had aunts and uncles that had acreages in the OKC area that we visited a lot and when we went back to Tennessee for family reunions every summer we stayed with an aunt and uncle that had a small farm. I've always loved being out in the more open areas of the country because I felt so free and I loved to explore for unusual and beautiful flowers/weeds, rocks and horned toads and lizards. I always growing up wanted to be an artist but my father said it was too bohemian a life style for any daughter of his and we were raised to not go against our parents.
I think, Robynn, that flags was more of a country/midwest term, just like daffodils and jonquils were descriptive of the same flowers. Just one of those weird things I was raised with and thought I'd share. I'm glad I was able to teach you something. And most of the iris I saw growing up were the plain old purple ones but the purple and white one I posted was the first photo that I ran across that was old timey enough to use. Have you ever looked closely at an iris? They look like they've been rubbed with very, very fine glitter... just wonderous. Love you SASS!
love the iris the little green things are awesome that you sent me ... the others are growing like crazed beasts too and i have a sun flower blooming... and i love the iris ... did i mention i love the iris... :)
love ya
Ahhh... a girl after my own heart! I loved all the photos, but especially the phlox I think. My grandpas farm outside of Crossville TN had phlox growing everywhere, and just looking at that photo, I could actually smell it again! When we went back to the original homestead in Obey City, I was amazed at the amount of flags that had naturalized and spread everywhere - and we did take some tubers to plant around the farm. I never knew if they grew though, since grandpa died not long afterwards.
What a charming post Helen. Like Robynn I had never heard an Iris called a "flag"... but I understand this love of natural things. Even ROCKS. I love rocks. I have "pet" rocks. Taken from everywhere. It's OK! They want to be cared for. They have souls. Crazy old Farmlady...
Wonderful photos and insight into your love of all things country.
Loved your post, Helen. All these things lower my blood pressure too. I have a beautiful sunflower that I am guarding at the moment. My resident squirrels are eying to harvest it.
Loved this post - the gorgeous pix and thoughts. Thanks for a stroll in the country tonight! It was soothing!
Laura, you peach, I'm so glad all the different little succulents I sent are doing well and I love iris, too... One of the best things about having sunflower seed feeders for the birds are the gifts of the sunflowers they leave behind for us. I may have to do a post just about iris. I have enough photos of ones we've raised over the years. Did I tell you I love iris???
Katie my daddy is from Wartrace/Bell Buckle/Shelbyville area of Tennessee. We used to go back there every year for family reunions. One of the big treats would be to go to a cobbler in Bell Buckle and get new sandals each year for our summer playing and running around out in the fields and gardens of our relatives that still lived in Tennessee. I knew we had a special kinship... now I know why. You have the charm of a southern girl. And I can pretty much promise you that the flags grew... The old timey iris were tough as a boot. I have seen them grow out of a pile that had been thinned out but not replanted the year before and were pretty much just laying on the ground through the winter and still they grew.
Connie you are just what I needed on my love of rocks and flowers... I never thought about being given the opportunity to "take care of them". You can truly teach an old gal new tricks! Thank you, thank you!
Hetty when my folks got older they would sit in the breakfast room that looked out over the back yard and watch the squirrels playing. We had a 3 wire clothesline where dad would hang a sunflower feeder and those squirrels would drive their selves crazy trying to be tight wire walkers to get to the feeder for a free meal. The seeds that the birds gifted back to us would grow and bloom and when the heads started getting heavy with seeds the squirrels would climb the stalks and chew through the stalk behind the flower head until they fell on the ground and that's when they got their treat and their payback on daddy.
Sara! Good to hear from you. Our lives get hectic and we cycle from the things we do sometime like with me not going to read blogs as regularly as I have in the past but hopefully my life will be settling down again and I can get back to my visiting. Glad you enjoyed my stroll this evening. While I love to show off the veggie garden the flowers are my true love and where I find the balm that soothes my soul. Thanks again for dropping by...
Laura, you peach, I'm so glad all the different little succulents I sent are doing well and I love iris, too... One of the best things about having sunflower seed feeders for the birds are the gifts of the sunflowers they leave behind for us. I may have to do a post just about iris. I have enough photos of ones we've raised over the years. Did I tell you I love iris???
Katie my daddy is from Wartrace/Bell Buckle/Shelbyville area of Tennessee. We used to go back there every year for family reunions. One of the big treats would be to go to a cobbler in Bell Buckle and get new sandals each year for our summer playing and running around out in the fields and gardens of our relatives that still lived in Tennessee. I knew we had a special kinship... now I know why. You have the charm of a southern girl. And I can pretty much promise you that the flags grew... The old timey iris were tough as a boot. I have seen them grow out of a pile that had been thinned out but not replanted the year before and were pretty much just laying on the ground through the winter and still they grew.
Connie you are just what I needed on my love of rocks and flowers... I never thought about being given the opportunity to "take care of them". You can truly teach an old gal new tricks! Thank you, thank you!
Hetty when my folks got older they would sit in the breakfast room that looked out over the back yard and watch the squirrels playing. We had a 3 wire clothesline where dad would hang a sunflower feeder and those squirrels would drive their selves crazy trying to be tight wire walkers to get to the feeder for a free meal. The seeds that the birds gifted back to us would grow and bloom and when the heads started getting heavy with seeds the squirrels would climb the stalks and chew through the stalk behind the flower head until they fell on the ground and that's when they got their treat and their payback on daddy.
Sara! Good to hear from you. Our lives get hectic and we cycle from the things we do sometime like with me not going to read blogs as regularly as I have in the past but hopefully my life will be settling down again and I can get back to my visiting. Glad you enjoyed my stroll this evening. While I love to show off the veggie garden the flowers are my true love and where I find the balm that soothes my soul. Thanks again for dropping by...
Laura, glad to hear your hens and chicks and other succulents I sent are doing well. I, too, love irises. I've enough photos of ones we've grown that I may just have to do an iris post... maybe on Flag Day.
Katie, I knew we had some sort of special connection... My daddy was born and raised in Bedford County, Tennessee close to Wartrace, TN. When his brothers and sisters were still living we'd go back for family reunions every year. One of the treats for us kids was to go to a cobbler in Bell Buckle and get new sandals every summer... I loved the beautiful area and I'll bet you that the iris you planted on your granddaddy's place lived because iris are tough as a boot.
You don't sound at all crazy to me Connie... I have to thank you also for giving me a new perspective... the naturalized flowers along the road and the unusual rocks I've seen but not picked up do need someone to "take care of them" and to nourish their souls. Thank you, thank you... now I'll think of that when I see something I want to pick up and take home.
Hetty, when my daddy retired he and mom would have their breakfast in the breakfast room and watch the squirrels in the back yard playing. We had a three line clothesline that stretched from the back of the yard to the house and was fastened right by the breakfast room windows. Dad would hang a sunflower feeder and he and mom would both enjoy the squirrels trying to learn to be wire walkers. The sunflowers the birds gifted us would grow and get tall and about the time the heads got heavy with seeds the squirrels would climb the stalks and chew through them behind the flower heads, the flowers would drop to the ground and they would finally get their treat and their revenge on dad.
Thanks, Sara... I've spent so much time on my garden posts that I felt I was due a break. While I do enjoy my veggie garden flowers touch a very special place in my soul and are a soothing balm for an aching heart and certainly uplifting for a joyous heart. I just needed to share my thoughts on some of the things that say country to me.
Those sweet white daisies are considered noxious weeds in CO., that is just wrong!
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