Maine Flowers

Maine flowers are beautiful. In Yarmouth, where I grew up, flowers were everywhere, both cultivated and wild. We were lucky when we moved into our new house, because the previous owners had planted wonderful flowering shrubs, lilac, bleeding heart, honeysuckle and others. Numerous small flower gardens could be seen planted in different areas of the yard. I don't remember my mother or father planting flowers, but my mother always had a Christmas cactus in the home. Spring at our house would surprise us with her beautiful and heart-warming colors.

When I married, my husband and I first lived in apartments in various southern Maine towns. Eventually my husband got tired of this nomad life, and we started looking for land on which to build our own home. The first piece of land was in Windham, and with a lot of hard work and assistance from my husband's two brothers, we completed our first house. Because we first had to clear the land where the house would be situated, we were left with a few trees and no flowers in our yard. After going on a buying trip we found a couple of shrubs and a few flowers. Money was tight.

First House under construction: First floor and daylight basement.

Here I am doing my share of the nailing of the floor boards.

After we built our third house, we had more time and a little more money.

We decided to plant a Day Lilly garden next to the side door which turned out to be a success.

We enjoyed it, and the butterflies especially enjoyed it. We planted Shasta lilies by the front door, and crocuses, daffodils and tulips under the front window, and in little clusters scattered throughout the front lawn. We also planted roses, Hosta plants and Hydrangea next to the fence which ran along the front walkway.

We were very proud of our flowering gardens. At the time we were unaware we were following in the spirit and the footsteps of most Maine people who plant a few Spring flowers in the Fall to greet them after the long, hard winter.

In the Fall we planted marigolds and geranium to assist the Fall leaves with keeping the color alive right up to the first snows, just as Hannah Aleynby did in my first book, Murder Is Always Evil.