Periwinkle? My landlady used to grow periwinkle. Her house was a peachy pink color and the blue periwinkle grew along the foundation. My daughter was just toddling. She would always bring me the little flowers--no harm, it was just periwinkle, pretty and everywhere, my landlady would say.
My landlady was Madge, a very kind, interesting person, a retired music teacher in her mid sixties. She used to host stringed quartet rehearsals. She married late in life, had her first child at 40! She was married to an old grumpy bachelor who really was nice but a tightwad. Madge always hung her geraniums in the basement to overwinter. She and her husband started everything from cuttings and seed, but one year (1974?) the nurseries were showing those salmon colored geraniums. They were all the new thing then and Madge wanted some so she tossed her old red geraniums straight out of the basement and into the garbage. Then she went out and bought a dozen salmon geraniums and six white! She compounded this by buying an entire flat of dark blue lobelia! She knew she was in trouble and like she said, big trouble is more fun than little trouble, so she bought new pots and petunias too! The pots were a soft putty color, textured and heavy. They must have cost a whole dollar apiece!
The back yard had a patio that led into a sun/music room and Madge put the geraniums and lobelia all around the patio, right where John couldn't miss them. And he didn't! He accused her of ditching the perfectly good red geraniums on purpose and she said he was exactly right. She was sick of looking at them.
Blue periwinkle, dark blue lobelia, salmon and white geraniums, a little coleus -- the patio was stunning. Hannah, my daughter and I, used to spend an hour or two playing on the patio, one of my favorite places ever. To this day I am a sucker for coleus, lobelia and geraniums.
My husband's and my bedroom was just over Madge and John's bedroom. They bitched back and forth about the geraniums for the whole summer. Funny how a long dead person's garden can bring her back to life. -
Cherish your mom Captcha. -s6