When I was a little girl in Collingswood NJ, my father had me visit his old teacher, Ms. Tobin, who lived down the street from my beloved childhood home on May 1st.  He taught us that May Day was a day to celebrate flowers and love and thanking someone special, and especially teachers, in your life.

Gardening in New Jersey, c. 1999 all rights: Pegeen.com

Gardenia Bushes - Florida c. 2009 All rights: Pegeen.com

We would go into my father’s garden gathering up Delphinium, Peony and Violets and make a Construction Paper cone.  We would fill the cone to the brim and run to Ms. Tobin’s down the street, ring the door bell and run fast away.  It always made me feel so giggly and of course, I passed on this tradition to my children.  So, today, with one son away in a trip to the Carolinas and another strapping football player going to practice I have the task of getting flowers for their teachers today (in the ball player’s case – the coaches wife) so that they too can remember their teachers in our family tradition.

My father also made me MAD for gardening.  I was lucky to have purchased a rambling old Tudor Home in NJ (more…)

Tags: gardening, Pegeen.com, teachers