Taking Peonies from our Garden to the Cemetery

Every Memorial Day weekend my mother would cut peonies from our garden to place on the graves of relatives, after we wiped each gravestone clean.

Memorial Day Food & Marketing in 1940s Indiana

My husband & I would often drove up to the Amish market in Pennsylvania to buy plants for our Spring gardens. It looked so much like the City Market in downtown Indianapolis; where my mother took me, when I was a toddler. For family holiday gatherings. like Memorial Day, we would travel into town to the city Market to buy fresh fruits & vegetables for the holiday meal.

Since the city’s founding in 1821, Indianapolis had hosted a public market. The City Market connected rural farmers with the expanding urban inhabitants & provided social interaction & business opportunities for growing immigrant populations.

Images from Life Magazine

19C Spring by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902)

James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French artist, 1836-1902) Springtime

1644 Spring Garden Preparation by David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690)

1644 David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690) Spring. Love the Gardeners in the background moving pots outdoors and raking the garden.

During the early medieval period, gardens were primarily about food for the table & medicinal herbs. Calendars in the Later Middle Ages began to change garden illuminations for the Spring of peasants digging, ploughing, pruning & chopping their way through shrubbery & undergrowth, with those of people preparing for pleasure gardens & planting flowers. The pleasure garden had long been an important part of the houses & grounds of the elite. Calendars in the Later Middle Ages began to change garden illuminations for the Spring of peasants digging, ploughing, pruning & chopping their way through shrubbery & undergrowth, with the majority of those workers preparing for pleasure gardens & planting flowers. The pleasure garden had long been an important part of the houses & grounds of the elite. Now, however, it also became a joy for townsfolk & perhaps even peasants. Decorative flowers were planted everywhere. Now, however, it also became a joy for townsfolk & perhaps even peasants. Decorative flowers were planted everywhere.

15C Spring - Garden of Love & Earthly Delights - Illuminated Manuscripts

 

3rd Day, 10th Tale, from Boccaccio's Decameron, trans. Laurent de Premierfait. 15th C French MS with Flemish illuminations

1601 - Preparing the Spring Garden

1601 Gardener Preparing the for the Spring Garden - Die Hausbücher der Nürnberger Zwölfbrüderstiftungen. Here the gardener is expanding the cultivated landscape beyond the traditional geometric garden beds in the background, Calendars in the Later Middle Ages began to change garden illuminations for the Spring of peasants digging, ploughing, pruning & chopping their way through shrubbery & undergrowth, with the majority of those workers preparing for pleasure gardens & planting flowers. The pleasure garden had long been an important part of the houses & grounds of the elite. Now, however, it also became a joy for townsfolk & perhaps even peasants. Decorative flowers were planted everywhere.

During the early medieval period, gardens were primarily about food for the table & medicinal herbs. Calendars in the Later Middle Ages began to change garden illuminations for the Spring of peasants digging, ploughing, pruning & chopping their way through shrubbery & undergrowth, with those of people preparing for pleasure gardens & planting flowers. The pleasure garden had long been an important part of the houses & grounds of the elite. Now, however, it also became a joy for townsfolk & perhaps even peasants. Decorative flowers were planted everywhere.

Medieval Garden Myth & Reality - Spring - Preparing the Garden

1607 Gardener with a spade Die Hausbücher der Nürnberger Zwölfbrüderstiftungen

During the early medieval period, gardens were primarily about food for the table & medicinal herbs. Calendars in the Later Middle Ages began to change garden illuminations for the Spring of peasants digging, ploughing, pruning & chopping their way through shrubbery & undergrowth, with those of people preparing for pleasure gardens & planting flowers. The pleasure garden had long been an important part of the houses & grounds of the elite. Now, however, it also became a joy for townsfolk & perhaps even peasants. Decorative flowers were planted everywhere.