Absolutely! Some of my earliest memories are associated with gardens of people I know or have known. Gardening in general makes me think of my Mom who gave me my love of gardening. Thankfully she's well and still piddling in her yard. I have peonies from a friend who passed away a few years ago. I also have many plants from people I've become friendly with thru gardening and often think of the person when I look at the plant they shared with me.

Thank you for the lovely post.

Most of my memories involving plants are centered around my grandmother. I've recently found that I have a strong affinity for plants she loved but that I should not be able to remember. We had severe weather when I was 2. Tornadoes in the summer and a very hard freeze took many of her plants. Since she was no longer living in her home, she didn't replace these. There are several plants that I have seen and gone to extremes to obtain. Without fail, these are some of the plants my grandmother lost that year. Do I have some memories of these plants? Not consciously but my mother has begun to suspect that I do remember somehow.

Aquawise, thank you for prompting me to take a moment to think about your question. I remember my maternal grandmother who grew a mophead hydrangea, a tiny spreading sedum and grew fragrant, old time petunias. I now grow the sedum and the hydrangea which came from her house. Last summer my wife hung a fragrant petunia in a basket by the driveway door. Every time I past it and smelled it I thought of my grandmother's wide banisters on her front porch where the petunias grew and the huge rocking chair on that porch where she rocked me 55 years ago.

I also think of my paternal grandparents home which we could see from our kitchen and across the pasture. They had three fig trees on the south side of the house, two Chinaberry trees (Melia azedarach)in the front yard next to the road and lavender sweet peas tumbled down the rock wall from the yard to the road. We boiled Chinaberries to get to the seeds, dyed the berries red and strung them on thread to make Christmas tree decorations, and "Indian" necklaces and bracelets. On a hillside beside the local interstate there is a retaining wall where sweet peas grow. I think of my grandparents' every summer when they bloom or when I see a Chinaberry tree.

Finally, when my mother sold her home 6 years ago and moved in with my sister, I dug several plants from her yard. I have a prostrate yew that came from a neighbor of my aunt to my aunt, to my mother and now me. I have lots of inherited plants which I will never part unless I they die or I die. Many of these plants came from Mother but she received them from a sweet neighbor who was like a grandmother to me.

Thanks Gayla. I have never thought of this I guess because I fell in love with flowers in the past 10 years or so. I will think of things like this in the future. I know that one grandmother loved westeria and the other one loved what we call sweet shrub, that has a brown flower.
I do know my wife loves yellow roses as that was the main flower used at our wedding 32 years ago. My favorite is "Tropicana" roses and any type of red flowers. My parents are still alive and I will find out what their favorites are tonight as a matter of fact, as they are coming for CHRISTmas dinner tonight as we could not get together yesterday.
Thanks again Gayla and GOD bless you and yours.

I hope this prompts others to think about this and find out before it is to late.

I just remembered that I have red spider lily bulbs that I dug this fall ( probably 50-75 of them) and they are from next door and they were planted by my wife's great grandmother or her mother, no one remembers anymore as it has been so long ago. That makes them go back 4-5 generations.
I love them because there will be nothing there one day and then the next there will be these beautiful red lilies blooming that last about a week or so and then there is nothing again until the next year.

I just had to mention my grandfather here. He was a successful businessman and yet he still had time for his rose garden, and he had dicondra for a lawn, he was so proud of it. My mom didn't garden much but every year she and grandfather would each plant sweet peas and have a contest to see who could grow the best patch!