Anyone have a special flower, tree, or bush that brings back childhood memories?

[zigs]

Speedwells, remember when I was about 4, being low down the football pitch seemed to have a blue haze of their flowers.

And I used to use the roseatte of their leaves as pretend cabbages to take to market in the back of my Corgi Landrover.

Still got the toy car

 

[claudine]

There are several but the four o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa) flowers stand out. They used to bloom in the neighbour's garden. Just around the time mother would visit them for a chat practically on a daily basis. We kids would slowly follow her and play in the compound. The flowers would slowly spread their aroma and permeate the atmosphere. These flowers come in several colours and shades. .

Image source http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Four_O'clock_flower.jpg

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It's a truly gorgeous plant!
I remember flowers that looked very much alike, but they were pale purple. My aunt was growing them in her garden. When I was a kid, I used them to make miniature hats for my dolls

 

[Greenhorn]

I love 4 O'Clock's too. I planted some once in a flower bed and they are prolific self seeders so each year they come back on their own. A bunch popped up this year as a result of false spring and then got hit by a light frost, but more have started to sprout. The seeds do put me in mind of sweet pea seeds. I didn't know they smelled good till the second year I had them.

 

[alp]

When I passed by this house which was a bit higher than the main road and saw this

It has a slight perfume and I sniffed and sniffed (very dangerous, could be something dangerous, LOL!) and loved the faint scent. The bell shaped and colour, simple as they were, mesmerised me. Sadly, the experience has never been repeated after that year. Every time I passed by that house, I looked and looked, but sadly, no more ...

 

[Larisa]

A wild white rose for me. These roses very rarely someone can plant in the garden. They bloom once a year with fragrant flowers. But they form dense thickets.
When I was 6, my parents worked, and I lived with my grandmother in a country house. This rose grew near the railway, far from us. I was so fascinated by her! But my grandmother could not go there with me often. I went alone (when my grandmother did not see).

Grandma's big dog always came with me. But when we left the village, other dogs joined us. And I always walked in the center of a pack of dogs. Of course, the neighbors saw this.
Local old woman baptized foreheads and predicted that the dog will tear me. They complained to my grandmother, and she scolded me. But I ran away again. Then grandmother took a shovel and planted a bush near our home for me.

Then my parents bought a house and the rose went with us.
Now I have my country house. And the descendant of this rose grows in my yard. Memory of my childhood and grandmother.

 

[LIcenter]

Not a particularly striking plant, but I have to say Rose Campion. It brings back wonderful memories of my great grandparents gardens. They were in every corner of their property. Never once did they buy veggies from a store.

 

[alp]

What a lovely story! Larisa .. You could write a story with it.

I like your grandmother.. The only thing I remember about my only grandmother was her ciggie .. not nice ..

 

[Larisa]

I like your grandmother..

Her youth was during the war. She gave birth to daughters at a difficult time. Mom says that my grandmother was never a very affectionate mom for them. And when I was born, everything was fine. I think she gave me all her love.

We still talk every day and I send her pictures of it, just pruned it

Romantic!
Why did I say "yes" quickly?
It was necessary to wait and get my rose!

 

[Vishu1708]

Mango blooms are very special for me.
We sold our previous house in 2015, the house where i lived all my life. I wasn't attached to the house or anything but it had a huge 4 decade old mango tree in one corner.
Is summer, when it was in bloom, on Sunday mornings, mummy would apply henna+egg+yougart on dad's hair sitting in the shade of the tree and then we would all sit and have long talks........
I was never particularly fond of mango bloom smell as a kid but now every time I smell them on streets or in parks, I am bombarded with those memories.

 

[alp]

Yes, interesting how something speaks to you! Vishu: How do the mango flowers smell like?

 

[Vishu1708]

I

Yes, interesting how something speaks to you! Vishu: How do the mango flowers smell like?

It's hard to describe. I have never smelt any other plant like it. It's fresh and musky with a hint of citrusy. A few people find it unpleasant but it's not overpowering.
Both raw and ripe Mango are a favorite of rose ringed parakeets so a lot of them would sit on our terrace, waiting for us to go inside so that the could descend upon the tree.....

 

[alp]

I wish I were a parakeet, coming to eating mangoes.

Today, I said to myself - country life might not be that great as some birds sang like a broken record - enough to drive me mad...

Love mango aroma!

 

[Vishu1708]

They eat raw as well...........
Have you ever eaten a raw mango Alp? Its very sour!!!! You must try with salt and paparica!! Its a summer fav snack!A few slices will make your teeth tingle!!!

 

[Beverly]

Lovely story @Larisa...i see this thread was resurrected from a thread in 2015, what a good idea. I remember flowers from the age of 5 when our family lived in Alaska. Our neighborhood consisted of one short street of houses and behind the houses was a huge field and then forest. Every Spring the neighbors chipped in to buy a large tub of bear food and placed it some distance from our street to keep the bears from knocking over the garbage cans or eating the little children. A favorite place to play was the field between our street and the edge of the forest and i would anxiously wait to see the first Forget-Me-Nots and wild onions pop up through the melting snow. We would eat the wild sweet onions right out of the ground and soon the field would be covered with Forget-Me-Nots, all blue and green and white/yellow. We ran free and never thought about the bears, but every now and then we would spot one or two at the edge of the forest. The colors were so vibrant and the onions were sweet. Everytime i see Forget-Me-Nots, i remember that field.

 

[alp]

Beverly: That's a lovely story and it's a shame most children don't grow up like that any more. I remember when we were young, we would suck at the end bits of honeysuckle flowers to enjoy the nectar.. It was lovely and the sweetness ever so pure and fresh..

I have never seen a sweet wild onion. Shame, definitely would venture a dégustation.