Does anyone else remember the old-style Woman and Home magazine, that our mothers and their friends used to get? Before its makeover into empowered womanhood and a 'brand new attitude'? It was a 1950's time capsule of household hints, knitting patterns, soft-focus short stories, and flower arranging. Even in my childhood I knew this magazine was seriously out of date, but there was a certain comfort about it. Most of all, it has left me with a love of Forsythia, that brave winter flower that seemed to feature in all the 'arrangements' between November and March.
I long to have Forsythia in my garden or at the allotment. Not that I am into flower arranging, but a few sprays of it in an IKEA vase would brighten up the gloomiest December day. And hurtle me right back to my childhood.
For the moment I have to make do with this sunny patch at the entrance to the allotment site.
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10 comments:
A sunny patch of Forsythia at the entrance is more than I have. We won't see the yellow of a Forsythia bush until April/May.
This photo has already brightened my day and it's only 6:30 AM.
donna
I think you've hit on something here. I could so enjoy a magazine like that once again--one without sex "hints" (if you can call them hints; not much left to the imagination) or demands that I do everything (everything!!) that both men and women used to do...
I think that other women of a certain age might feel the same way when I see all the visitors to my blog that read my old posts about Gladys Taber who wrote lovely columns for those old magazines on subjects like the joys of gardening and having a home and raising dogs and cooking for friends...
Thank you for this post. I love forsythia, too, especially when forced for early spring/late winter flower arrangements.
Hello there - you have a wonderful winter jasmine there - I'm further north than yourself.......I think! and I have about 2 flowers open on mine.
Morning Linda,
Or perhaps ... late in the day in Scotland ;~]
In the urban environment of my childhood in Chicago,
Forsythia was among the few blooming plants to emerge in spring. After the bitterly cold winters, its flowers were a wondrous sight.
I rarely see it in Northern California, yet Japanese flowering quince is ubiquitous ... grows like a weed, actually! Another wonderful shrub for early winter flower arrangements.
It's a lovely cheery sight for a cold winters day.
Ah - we have one of those growing against the south facing wall. It's been flowering since November. I always assumed it was a Fortsythia, but a few years ago a friend told me it was definitely not - it was something else. I bowed to what I considered superior gardening knowledge, but i am so glad to be right.
Laughing at the 'brand new attitude' - this seems to have happened with all the traditional housewife's magazines. I think it was when all the Cosmo editors got too old for that market and moved on to 'emancipate' the older woman:)
I have this plant but it doesn't bloom very well every year. I have a neighbor whose bush blooms wonderfully. I guess it is the location on the side of the house that makes a difference. It is such a pretty yellow.
I've never seen a winter jasmine before. Its very pretty!
Definitely a shot of sunshine, but not a forsythia. We have a lot of them here.
Nice photo!
Kathy
yes, I think it's a Jasminum nudiflorum as well. Forsythia does not have those green stalks and flowers later than jasminum which is very very early (still winter). I find Jasminum a nicer yellow, Forsythia is of the you'll-love-it-or-hate-it-yellow ;-)
It's definitely a winter jasmugh ours hine, thoasn't flowered well this winter. the forsythia comes later in spring and is a real thug here in Glasgow and will grow from any twig stuck in the ground. My mum took those magazines too, and somewhere there's still a pile of knitting patterns from them!
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