Plant Memories

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> Does anyone else have childhood memories of what you did with plants?? wrote Jan Smithen.>

This has been wonderful to read, and prompts ones memory.

My very first memory, I must have been not more than 3 years old is of staring at tiny blue blue flowers, forget-me-nots, [myosotis]  growing in a friend's a garden.  The colour made a huge impression on me and is still my favourite.

When a little older I made "perfume" from rose petals steeped in water....not a great success after  few days fermentation!

My brother and spent hours making wonderful hide-outs in the bracken, [that too had a powerful scent ]. It was especially good when dry, to cover a wooden frame .  We are now told it is poisonous [breathing in the spores I think]. Moira's memory reminded me of that.

We made "guns" with a stem of a plant [whose name escapes me,] wound round the flower head, and then pulled sharply.

We made a slit in the blades of grasss, then placed it between the thumbs and blew through the gap to make an unpleasant screechy noise.

We held buttercups under our chins and if the chin showed a yellow glow, it meant we liked butter.

We chewed young grass stems for their sweet flavour, till warned off when our father contracted Weil's Disease.

We collected pine cones and painted them for Christmas decoration, and stuck scented cloves into oranges to make pomanders.

One of the highlights of the year was collecting blackberries from the hedge rows to make jam, and tarts when they were mixed with apples.

Prints from potatoes....

Yes, one could go on.....and on.

Jennifer