Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Mountain Laurel (aka: Spoonwood)

I love Mountain Laurel, and it's at it's peak right now in Connecticut. The buds have such a pretty star shape, and the flowers look like little cups with 10 indentations. Growing up in CT, I spent a lot of time playing with these flowers and watching them float in water like tiny boats.

This is the state flower of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. I planted this little shrub a month ago on our building lot in CT, and took this photo to show you. I plan to plant tons of it.

Do you have a favorite flower from childhood?

12 comments:

marlene@ByTheSeam said...

I love the Mountain Laurel. I remember them from growing up near Pennsylvania. I remember my Mom had Sweet Williams, lots of them. They were pretty, even now when I see them I think of her and the Hens and Chicks she had a lot of them from my Granddad's. I like them a lot too.

blushing rose said...

It is such a gorgeous plant ... love them. TTFN ~Marydon

Selvage Quilter said...

Oh yeah! Hens and Chicks - My Mom likes those, but when my sisters and I were little we thought they were the ugliest rubbery things. Now I like them too. Thanks for reminding me of them.
Karen

Jean said...

I like all flowers, but we used to love to play with the flowers from the hollyhocks...mom taught us how to make dancers out of them.

Amy Friend said...

As a child, lilacs were my favorite because we had a ton of them in our yard and because my mom's perfume was lilac scented. I still love them!

Betsy said...

God that flower is stunning.
Here in Florida we are roasting from the heat and all the poor plants are wilting.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

I had never seen Mountain Laurel before. Very pretty. Hollyhocks on the way to the outhouse are my only flower memory as a small child. Later I think Nastursiums were my favorite because they were yellow and orange and so sweet looking.

Donnelly said...

My favorite is clover. My grandma and grandpa flood irigated their yard. When I stayed summers with them, I would lie out in the water in the grass and pick bouquets of clover. In fact, I don't put yard chemicals on my lawn so I can have clover.
Have a great day.

RebeccaMom said...

my faves are: lilacs, cactus flowers (especially the yellow ones), and columbine.

Little Lady Patchwork said...

I have never seen this flower before. They are gorgeous!

My favorite flower will always be the daisy---simple, sweet, and happy.

Thanks for sharing!

Anya said...

I love Mountain Laurel. My town, Wellsboro, PA, hosts the PA Laurel Festival every year (the parade is this upcoming Saturday). It's so common around here that my guild named itself the Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild.

Unknown said...

Oh, I saw same flowers at Zoo the other day. Now I know the name:)