May 01, 2024

MOTHERS' DAY NOSTALGIA

By The Greenery
MOTHERS' DAY NOSTALGIA

As we are preparing The Greenery for Mothers' Day, I am getting nostalgic.

I was 12 when The Greenery started and Dad had another nursery before that and so I grew up selling flowers on Mothers' Day. For many years we sold cut flowers in multiple locations on the side of roads. Mum would drive around to each of the locations bringing us lunch and we always laughed, although it was true, that if there were any flowers unsold at the end of Sunday then she could have some.

We did this for many years and it was a lot of fun.

Later the emphasis was on selling flowers and plants (lots of cyclamen) and other beautiful gifts at the nurseries rather than at street stalls.

This was in the era when nurseries and florists were the only places that sold plants and cut flowers and that has changed dramatically.  So while Mothers' Day is still a highlight of our year it is not the massive commercial opportunity for us that it was decades ago.

We do however have a lovely selection of beautiful gifts, gift wrapping is free and we can wrap anything!

When I became a mother 31 years ago, another thing happened that is pushing my emotional buttons as we approach Mothers' Day.

My dad, a notoriously early riser, would leave a beautiful big cyclamen on my doorstep early every Mothers' Day morning. He brought one home for mum too and later when my sister had her first child she was added to the early morning cyclamen drop off. He was celebrating all the mums in his life. And we felt the love.

Dad delivered his last cyclamens in 2020 about eight weeks before he died. I buy my own each year now and having it in my home always reminds me of how big Dad loved.