Flowers for Babs

 Fall may be knocking on the door, but I'm not ready to let it in. 

I found this enamel coffee pot in the spring and just knew it would be perfect for flowers.  You may remember it being mentioned in This & That Summer 2022 where I also shared the fact that it had a large candle melted in the bottom of it.  Ugh!

There is a flower story, but first, let's talk about that melted candle.  Normally, I would use the freezer to remove an old candle from a container.  I'm sure you know the method:  pop the container in the freezer for an hour or so and when you take it out, the wax pops out.  This particular container narrows as you go up, so there would be no 'popping out' the frozen wax.  

On to Plan B.  

I heated some water in the kettle.  While holding the enamel coffee pot in a heat-safe bowl, I poured the hot water in the bowl, around the enamel pot, and let it sit for a few minutes.  

Sorry, it's blurry but I was holding the pot down in very hot water!

Using a butter knife, I reached inside and started cutting the softened wax.  Once pliable, it was easy to get my fingers around the chunks of wax and remove them.  The process was repeated a couple of times to remove all of the wax.

All the wax removed from the pot.

It was time for flowers and I chose Queen Anne's Lace.  It grows wild around here and I also found some miniature Black Eyed Susan to add some color.

And that brings me to my story:

When I was a little girl we had the most wonderful neighbors across the road.  (I grew up in the country, so it was a road - not a street).  Babs and Mike were a retired couple from Ireland who had the most AMAZING gardens.  I'm sure my love for gardening came from them.  Their vegetable garden was at least a half acre complete with fencing, trellises and every vegetable imaginable. 

I still have a picture in my mind of the two of them in the vegetable garden - straw hats on their heads, hoes in their hands, weeding out anything that didn't belong, including snakes.  Mike would run away (he was deathly afraid of snakes) and Babs would take off after them with her hoe!  It was quite the scene to witness!  It's safe to say that Babs had a big personality and I loved her for it. 💕

But their flower gardens were the show-stopper.  

They were designed so something would always be blooming starting with tulips and daffodils in the early Spring.  Next were the azaleas, forsythia, and lilacs, followed by the rhododendrons.  Then came the peonies, irises, coneflowers, daisies and black-eyed susans.  As we continued into summer, the hollyhocks, daylilies and roses were the stars along with some annuals to add color wherever it was needed. It's safe to say they were Master Gardeners and I learned so much from them.  

One day Babs and I went for a walk and I pointed out the pretty Queen Anne's lace that was growing along the road.  Her response (in her thick Irish accent), "Oh, Ann, dear.  Those are weeds!"  I didn't argue with her, but I never agreed.  Weeds or not, I love these lacy flowers!  To this day, every time I see Queen Anne's lace I think of Babs.

Since I don't have any gardens this summer, I picked the 'flowers' I could. As for Babs?  I'm sure she's smiling down on me - while shaking her head!  

What are your favorite flowers/weeds?  

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