Jonquils, Iris, Chinaberries, and Figs...

Granny loved her flowers. I always think of her with jonquils, two long rows of them out in that huge front yard, and the thick cluster around the pecan in the front yard. She called them King Alberts. Eggs were hard to find around the pecan tree. After the tree fell in the front side yard, she planted a bed of iris there. She knew the colors of her iris, and collected them. She had beds along the north side yard of the yard. Whenever I stayed with her alone, we would take the iris tour. There were also iris and daylilies separating the side yard from the back yard, and in the back there was the fig tree and the grape vines. And of course, at the very back of the yard, were the dewberry patches. And the long iris bed along the border of the back yard. Scarlett was right about the china berry tree. It was very accessible for climbing, but very brittle. Someone was bound to come hurtling down out of that tree. One year Aunt Pearl and Aunt Pauline made china berry necklaces. Uncle Ross might have helped. I never got the hang of it, but they looked like little wooden beads. Very fetching. We just used them to throw at each other. And the mimosas in the front corner of the yard were very easy to climb. There was a black walnut on the north side yard....oh, yes, she had a jonquil bed cutting off the front yard from the north side. Ooops...the black walnut had come from the family place in the hills, but she had it cut down because it was trashy. And she had hydrangias on the side, under the dining room window. One year she started either camellias or gardenias with a bloom cutting put into the ground and covered with a gallon glass jug. She let me help her put down the brick for her patio. That's when I noticed how she said aege for edge, and I would wait for her to say it because I loved the sound of it. I think the Terrell boys came over to cut her yard after Yogi left.