This week on Romance Writers Weekly I posed the question:  Tell us your favorite flower. Tell us why or write a short poem. Or if you’d rather, tell us about a flower used in one of your stories and include its significance.

Since I’ve not used a flower in any of my stories, I’ll confide my favorite bloom. Let me start out by saying my mother, Maggie, had the greenest of thumbs.  The flower beds overflowed with Sweet William, Snap Dragons, Irises and monstrous Gladiolas I’ve not seen the likes of since.  She had to have grown them from seed because nurseries weren’t abundant in our suburbia back then, nor did we have the money.

She did have a couple of bush roses and a climber rooted from dad’s family farm in Santee, SC. Always prolific with blooms, the pale, pink beauty was my favorite and propagated my love of roses.

Once married and in a house, I planted hybrid tea roses in the back flower bed. They flourished against the brick and baking afternoon sun. If it wasn’t for the constant fight with the aphids and the beetles, I’d probably still have them.  They provided many a bloom for various occasions and even gifts for teachers when my son was in elementary school.

Rather than a poem, I’ve posted a small gallery of recent pictures I’ve taken of roses. Now on to Leslie Hachtel joining me on the hop.

Dani