• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Carol J. Michel

Award winner author of gardening humor books

  • About
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Shop
    • Gardening Humor
    • Children’s Books
    • New – The Halloween Hare
  • Speaking
    • Upcoming Speaking Engagements
  • Social
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Gardening Humor
  • Children’s
  • All Books

May Dreams Gardens

The Flowers of Mother’s Day

May 8, 2022 By Carol 3 Comments

Walk the garden with me, and I’ll show you the flowers of Mother’s Day.

Lily of the Valley

We’ll start with Lily of the Valley, Convallaria majalis.

Some people consider it an invasive, spreading plant; others love it as shade-loving ground cover with a sweet-scented flower. I love it because we picked the flowers at my grandma’s house in the spring, generally around Mother’s Day, the second Sunday of May. I got my start of Lily of the Valley, just a few pips as they are called, from my aunt, who presumably got them from grandma.

Woodland Violets

We’ll move right along to woodland violets, Viola soraria. I have them self-sowing all over the place, including the lawn. There are some who disparage wild violets as a weed. I don’t understand those people.

I got my violets from my sister’s garden, which used to be my dad’s garden. We dug these violets up from the woods decades ago just for my mom. I love having them.

Lilacs

Who doesn’t love a lovely lilac blooming on Mother’s Day? I took this picture of these old-fashioned lilacs, Syringa vulgaris, because these are probably the ones we planted for my mom decades ago when she was still living.

Yesterday, my sister and I decided they need a good whacking back to rejuvenate them. We’ll do that after they’ve flowered. If you want to know more about lilacs, I wrote two articles for Family Handyman that are online now. This one, and this other one.

Dogwoods

The dogwoods—including this one which is Cornus florida ‘Cherokee Princess’—have been blooming for a few weeks now but we’ll still include it on the list for Mother’s Day, because it is a lovely flowering tree, and it blooms early in May.

Some people talk about “dogwood winter” which happens when the weather turns chilly when the dogwoods are blooming. I hope we don’t have a dogwood winter this year. Everything looks lovely and the extended forecast calls for nothing close to frost. That will make all the moms out buying plants and getting plants as gifts today happy. I know it makes me happy.

Granny’s Bonnet

We’ll wrap up this walk through the garden to see the flowers of Mother’s Day, with a little columbine I like to call Granny’s Bonnet, Aquilegia vulgaris.

These are not native columbine, they are European. Over the years, I’ve sown seeds for ‘Tower Blue’, ‘Tower Pink’, and ‘Black Barlow’.

I often cut a few blooms to put in a vase indoors, but they don’t last but a day or so, just long enough to enjoy for one meal. Is that worth it, you ask? It is. Just as it is worth serving food that lasts for only one meal.

And now, the grass is green, the sky is blue, the sun is shining and the garden, as I like to say, is all new again. So this concludes our walk through the garden to see the flowers of Mother’s Day, at least the flowers this year. I hope you enjoyed it!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: holidays, spring

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lynn says

    May 9, 2022 at 8:38 am

    A perfect post, Carol, some of my favorite flowers here!

    Reply
  2. Helen Malandrakis says

    May 9, 2022 at 9:47 am

    Beautiful!

    Reply
  3. Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening says

    May 10, 2022 at 9:34 am

    Of all the flowers you mentioned, only the violets are blooming here. The LOTV isn’t even above ground yet, and the dogwood is only borderline hardy here. I really don’t think of any of them as Mother’s Day plants, though I love them all.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Categories

  • Blog (3,048)
  • Internal (2)

Blog Tags

annuals Blogging books bulbs dr. hortfreud embrace fairies fall family flowers fruits garden bloggers bloom day garden bloggers book club garden design gardeners gardening gardening geek gardens hoes holidays hortense hoelove houseplants humor indoor gardening insects lawn letters to gardening friends perennials rabbits reviews Secrets seeds shrubs spring tools trees vegetable garden vegetable gardening vegetables weather weeding weeds when a gardener wildflower wednesday winter

The Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Footer

Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Connect

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • maydreams icon

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Books
  • May Dreams Gardens
  • Podcast

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Newsletter Archive

Copyright © 2023 · CarolJMichel.com · Sitemap · Privacy Policy

Book purchase links are affiliate links and Carol earns a small commission if you make a purchase.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT