An Old-Fashioned Flower

Hello friends,

Do you love garden tours as much as I do? My good friend Karen Higgins took me on a tour of her garden the other day. Her garden is a wee thing, about 1/10th of an acre, but she has made it so pretty despite fighting a noxious weed (NEVER PLANT SPANISH BLUEBELLS!) and a bunny infestation in her neighborhood. As she puts it, "if the worst thing I have to complain about is bunnies and bluebells, I've got a pretty great life!"

We both noticed something however.

Gardeners love to talk about roses, hosta, and hydrangeas.

But nobody ever mentions their snowball bush.

It seems to be largely ignored and forgotten,

cast aside as an old relic from the past.

We aim to change that!

Her snowball bush is one of the highlights of her spring garden,

with a long bloom time starting in April.

The blooms start out in a pale green,

turning to cream, then pure white as the season lengthens.

Not unlike a hydrangea, each blossom is a cluster of tiny blooms,

measuring just a couple of inches in width.

It can get quite tall if you let it, with a wide girth.

She's happy to say that hers is large enough now

to view out of her living room windows.

With proper pruning like her parents did,

you could turn it into a tree with just one trunk

rather than a full bush like hers.

Its leaves are lovely when the blooms are gone

and turn into bright fall colors as autumn arrives.

Hers is quite special as her dad dug this one up for her

just a few months before he passed away.

Maybe that's why she loves it so.

So yes, praise the roses, the rhodies, the hydrangeas,

but don't forget about the snowball bush!

Indeed, it made us both reflect on the people in our life who are always there.

Steady, dependable, maybe not as showy as others, but absolutely essential.

Let's celebrate them today!

Yours truly,

Posey and Karen

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Karen Higgins, Author