# What are your favourite garden flowers, either ones you grow admire or associate with childhood?



## merlin (Apr 17, 2015)

.
I have three I particularly associate with childhood: 

Michaelmas Daises




Love in the mist (Nigella) which readily self seed on the terrace here and are growing rapidly now, I love the lacy foliage and the intricate flowers.




Nasturtiums which I particularly love as they will grow on very poor soil, which we had in our garden when I was a child.




My father grew salvias which I never liked, still don't, but he planted them every year in neat single rows, which I think that generation often did for some reason, all very orderly 



What are your favourites and what do you grow now, or would if you could?


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## Josiah (Apr 17, 2015)

Not very original, but give me the humble zinnia.


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## Cookie (Apr 17, 2015)

My mother always had pansies in her garden, I love the fragrance.


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## Josiah (Apr 17, 2015)

I didn't read the OP carefully and failed to see that it specified favorite of childhood, in which case I must pick the pansy. I can vividly remember the early spring tradition of going with my mother to a local nursery to buy a flat of pansies.


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## Josiah (Apr 17, 2015)

Sorry Cookie, I didn't see your post until after I entered mine.


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## Cookie (Apr 17, 2015)

Thas ok Jos - can't ever have too many pansies! LOL


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## QuickSilver (Apr 17, 2015)

4 O'clocks..    Remember them?   My mother had them planted all over the yard and I used to go out and harvest all the black seeds


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## QuickSilver (Apr 17, 2015)

Also the Rose Moss Flower..   The shady side of our house had a huge bed of these..


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

I remember loving pansies my mother grew.  

I couldn't really pick my favourites now - but I'd say orchid, iris, clematis, aquilegia, magnolia, rhododendron, azaleas, daffodils, and a dozen or so more. 

A few from our garden. 





A few of our April flowers


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## Jackie22 (Apr 17, 2015)

Great thread......mine would be the wildflowers of Texas, the Indian Paintbrush and Texas Blue Bonnets.


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## merlin (Apr 17, 2015)

Cookie said:


> My mother always had pansies in her garden, I love the fragrance.
> 
> View attachment 17062



Yes I love the fragrance of pansies too Cookie, talking of which sweet peas are one of my favourite flowers for making the whole house smell lovely


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## Warrigal (Apr 17, 2015)

My grandfather grew Iceland poppies and my dad grew dahlias and gladioli.
These flowers always bring back very warm emotions whenever I see them.

Golden Wattle lifts my spirits because it is in bloom when it is still Winter and it is a sign of warmer weather on the way.

This is the wattle tree outside my bedroom window when it is at its most glorious


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## merlin (Apr 17, 2015)

Dame Warrigal said:


> My grandfather grew Iceland poppies and my dad grew dahlias and gladioli.
> These flowers always bring back very warm emotions whenever I see them.
> 
> Golden Wattle lifts my spirits because it is in bloom when it is still Winter and it is a sign of warmer weather on the way.
> ...



Yes a gorgeous tree, I looked it up and see its in the acacia family, which I like a lot, though the more exotic ones won't survive here, we have a false acacia Robinia Frisia, which I like but the last couple I planted died after a few years.


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## merlin (Apr 17, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> I remember loving pansies my mother grew.
> 
> I couldn't really pick my favourites now - but I'd say orchid, iris, clematis, aquilegia, magnolia, rhododendron, azaleas, daffodils, and a dozen or so more.



I would have all those on my list Annie, the beautiful magnolia stellata variety particularly, flowering on the bare branches in spring and the delicate flowers make it special.  The problem is they grow so slowly that if I planted one now by the time it was six feet tall, I would be six feet under.
Its a time of life when fast growing plants seem much more attractive 

 *  These must be older than I am* ld:


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

Gorgeous!

We have a big magnolia tree and a couple of small ones of a different variety.  Don't know the names, have to ask DH as he's our gardener. 

Really love the Michelmas daisies.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

Some of our magnolias

The tree is much bigger than it looks in this photo


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## merlin (Apr 17, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> Gorgeous!
> 
> We have a big magnolia tree and a couple of small ones of a different variety.  Don't know the names, have to ask DH as he's our gardener.
> 
> Really love the Michelmas daisies.



The one that is often planted in gardens near me are what we call tulip trees, due to their tulip like flowers



I remember the delicate scent of Michaelmas daisies, it always brings back memories of my childhood autumns, with leaves and the smell of bonfires and and the slowing down of everything


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

Love that tulip tree!


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## SeaBreeze (Apr 17, 2015)

I can't say that I have one favorite flower, I really love them all.  Thanks so much for this thread Merlin, the photos here are amazing.  As a child I remember liking to see the Hydrangeas very much, especially the blues.


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## merlin (Apr 17, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> Some of our magnolias
> 
> The tree is much bigger than it looks in this photo
> 
> ...



I can't see a stellata amongst them Annie, but what an amazing setting, you are lucky!! Your garden looks very well tended by your DH, going by the glimpses I caught in the earlier photos.


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## merlin (Apr 17, 2015)

SeaBreeze said:


> I can't say that I have one favorite flower, I really love them all.  Thanks so much for this thread Merlin, the photos here are amazing.  As a child I remember liking to see the Hydrangeas very much, especially the blues.



I love hydrangeas SeaBreeze, though not from childhood, never noticed them then. I have bought several as house plants, all blue and I plant them out in the garden eventually. The problem is because of my soil alkalinity they slowly turn a purplish pink. I am watering them with an acid soil liquid feed and vinegar, but everything is so slow so I am getting used to various shades of purple


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## AprilT (Apr 17, 2015)

I have a thing for calla lilies, but, there are others  up there I find as beautiful, but, I had number of these as plants and I just fell in love with them. 

calla lily

View attachment 17095

View attachment 17094

View attachment 17096


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

Merlin, DH is a master gardener!  He says we have magnolia stellata but I don't seem to have a photo of it.  If you _really _want to see our garden, I tried to record everything we have by month in 2011 - when I bought my DSLR.  
https://www.flickr.com/photos/anniedanny/collections/72157626074273741/


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

April, those lillies are lovely!


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## Cookie (Apr 17, 2015)

April lilies are so beautiful and calla lilies are so designer decorative and artistic looking.

My mother was a flowerholic - she loved flowers and had everything you can imagine in her garden.  She had gorgeous peony bushes that grew very fat and full.  Apparently they are considered very auspicious with the feng shui people.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

SB, beautiful hydrangeas.  We have those as well, but not so many.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

Beautiful Cookie!


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## Shalimar (Apr 17, 2015)

The flowers I remember most from my childhood are trilliums. They grow wild in lightly wooded areas here on the island. They are very fragile, and somewhat endangered. It is illegal to pick them. As an adult, I loved the poppies (suspiciously similar in appearance to opium poppies), in my mother's garden. There were many bluebells as well, so many that they had seeded themselves into the municipal lot next door. One of my favourite memories involves standing in  the yellow kitchen of my childhood home, staring out through many paned windows at an explosion of blue flowers. I miss them very much. In my own balcony garden I award geraniums and sky blue lobelia first place, closely followed by dianthus. Within a month, I should be able to plant for our long growing season. Loved the pictures on this thread!


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## AprilT (Apr 17, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> April, those lillies are lovely!



Thanks, another on my list of craft projects is recreating those out of paper too.  LOL,  I already tried making one, and it came out pretty good,  just need to perfect it and make a bunch.  Someday, I'll attempt to grow them again.


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## Cookie (Apr 17, 2015)

Shali, that sounds gorgeous.  My mom grew poppies too, she  would dry out the seedpods in the fall and grind the seeds up to use in the poppyseed  cakes she would bake (being Ukrainian and all) poppies are a real eastern  european thing.  So our family garden was very old country style with dill and cucumbers and poppies and sweet peas and beans, you name it, it was in there.  Your balcony garden sounds really sweet and will be fun to work on.  I had one here for a while, but don't get much sun, so limited to only certain plants.


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## Cookie (Apr 17, 2015)

This thread is turning into a flower show extraordinaire! SB, those blue hydrangeas are really blue! Love them.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

Lovely, April!  Photos when you are done!  My stuff is restricted to photography and now colouring books!


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## Shalimar (Apr 17, 2015)

Thanks, Cookie. I had forgotten the beautiful peonies  that grew next to the Jesse tree in my mother's garden. This year I am going to try wall planters on my balcony as well, for summer greens. I already grow a small selection of herbs. Cat grass and cat nip for the catterorrists! Lol. The fuschias in the hanging baskets draw many hummingbirds in the early morning, and at dusk. Much to their disgust, the cats are relegated to purdah during these times. Butterflies love the impatiens. Cats love gardens.


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## Shalimar (Apr 17, 2015)

Love your lilies April!.


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## merlin (Apr 17, 2015)

> Shalimar
> As an adult, I loved the poppies (suspiciously similar in appearance to opium poppies), in my mother's garden. month



I love poppies too especially in a field, they are almost too beautiful to capture in a photo.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

We get lots of poppies as well - yellow, red, white.  I really, really want to get to France with my camera when the all the lavender is blooming!


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## Shalimar (Apr 17, 2015)

Merlin, those poppies are so beautiful it hurts. Sigh.


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## Cookie (Apr 17, 2015)

Those poppies are magnificent, Merlin.  I guess poppies are prevalent all over Europe.  One of the things about my mother's homeland (Ukraine) is that the poppy and cornflower motif was very dear to her, and now to me.


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## Shalimar (Apr 17, 2015)

Ohhhh, those cornflowers!


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## Pam (Apr 17, 2015)

The flowers that take me right back to early childhood are London Pride, I loved them and they are still one of my favourites.


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## ndynt (Apr 17, 2015)

I miss the lilacs, peonies, bleeding hearts and lily of the valley of my childhood.   Here in the deep south I am unable to grow them.  Right now my Jasmine is blooming...greeting me with their fragrance as I open my front door.  My Wisteria is also blooming, with yellow Carolina Jasmine accenting them.  My white azalea have lost almost all their bloom.  The yellow day lilies are sending up new shoots and the purple Creeping Lantana have set out a few blooms....mostly trying to sprout out new foliage.  My succulents are all intact, from the winter....and my hostas are sprouting new leaves.  I see some buds starting on my Gardenia hedges....There are some buds on my yellow Peace Rose bush also.  Guess it is evident that I am not fond of red or pink flowers.
 Sorry I cannot take pictures.  My cell will not, try as a may, allow me to send or load them onto my pc.   My nephew asked me to send him a pic of my large gopher turtle friend that comes out and greets me, waiting for his treat of dried cranberries.  Have some shots of him...but, unable to send them.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

More from our garden - I'm so looking forward to more and more blooming this year!

May bluebells



Magnolia tree and azaleas



One my faves - aquilegia - I really love this shot



Crinodendron



Poppies


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## Shalimar (Apr 17, 2015)

Please, what is a gopher turtle?


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## Shalimar (Apr 17, 2015)

Love aquilegia!


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

ndynt said:


> I miss the lilacs, peonies, bleeding hearts and lily of the valley of my childhood.   Here in the deep south I am unable to grow them.  Right now my Jasmine is blooming...greeting me with their fragrance as I open my front door.  My Wisteria is also blooming, with yellow Carolina Jasmine accenting them.  My white azalea have lost almost all their bloom.  The yellow day lilies are sending up new shoots and the purple Creeping Lantana have set out a few blooms....mostly trying to sprout out new foliage.  My succulents are all intact, from the winter....and my hostas are sprouting new leaves.  I see some buds starting on my Gardenia hedges....There are some buds on my yellow Peace Rose bush also.  Guess it is evident that I am not fond of red or pink flowers.
> Sorry I cannot take pictures.  My cell will not, try as a may, allow me to send or load them onto my pc.   My nephew asked me to send him a pic of my large gopher turtle friend that comes out and greets me, waiting for his treat of dried cranberries.  Have some shots of him...but, unable to send them.



They sound so lovely.  Wish you could share the pics.  I'm guessing you don't have an android or iphone?


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> Love aquilegia!



I think we have just about every colour of those.  Love them!


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## Cookie (Apr 17, 2015)

Great shots Annie, - the bluebells are so sweet.  Such beautiful flowers - I want to eat them - or paint them. LOL


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

More aquilegia from our garden

View attachment 17108

View attachment 17109

View attachment 17110

View attachment 17111

View attachment 17112


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

Cookie said:


> Great shots Annie, - the bluebells are so sweet.  Such beautiful flowers - I want to eat them - or paint them. LOL



Thanks!  Love capturing flowers.  Bluebells are such a challenge since they are so tiny. In May you see about a zillion of them all throughout the woods here and in gardens. But mostly carpets of them between trees. In Scotland it is illegal to dig them up!


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## AprilT (Apr 17, 2015)

SeaBreeze said:


> I can't say that I have one favorite flower, I really love them all.  Thanks so much for this thread Merlin, the photos here are amazing.  As a child I remember liking to see the Hydrangeas very much, especially the blues.



Sea, I don't remember if it was Hydrendias or marigolds, but, as a teen, I had several neighbors that had the most beautiful big colorful flowers and I always love walking past their yards because the aroma was so glorious.  BTW, I thought that avatar you had a week or so ago was stunning, I forget what flora they were, but, of course my favorite color blue. I meant to tell you thought I would get around to it, but, you changed the pic twice since then. 

Everyone, thanks for posting all the beautiful pictures.


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## ndynt (Apr 17, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> Please, what is a gopher turtle?


It is a large tortoise...that burrows into a hole.   They cannot reproduce until they are around 25 years of age and live to be around a 100.  I cannot tell is my friend is a male or female.  Civilization has forced them out of most of the US.  The only ones remaining are supposedly in sandy Florida.


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## ndynt (Apr 17, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> They sound so lovely.  Wish you could share the pics.  I'm guessing you don't have an android or iphone?


  My cell takes pictures...but, cannot get them off the phone.  Perhaps because I only have a prepaid service.  Just have a cell for emergencies.  So love everyone's beautiful pictures.  All so lovely.  AM...to live so near water and still have all your wonderful flowers....you are so blessed.  Do you sit outside to have your morning coffee and just breath in all the beauty surrounding you?


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## Shalimar (Apr 17, 2015)

So sweet,ndynt. I love the serious expression on the little face.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 17, 2015)

ndynt said:


> My cell takes pictures...but, cannot get them off the phone.  Perhaps because I only have a prepaid service.  Just have a cell for emergencies.  So love everyone's beautiful pictures.  All so lovely.  AM...to live so near water and still have all your wonderful flowers....you are so blessed.  Do you sit outside to have your morning coffee and just breath in all the beauty surrounding you?



Hmmm...there must be a way to get them off, otherwise what's the point of it being able to take photos?  

Don't sit outside in the morning as it's rarely warm enough to do so.  Sometimes it's pleasant by 9 am which is a good time to take photos of the flowers.  We have breakfast in bed though and enjoy the view of the water out the windows.


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## oakapple (Apr 17, 2015)

Flowers that remind me of childhood are....... Bluebells (in the woods)
Michaelmas daisies in the garden, also London Pride, and Johnsons Blue hardy geraniums and Sweet Williams.
harebells (on the moors)
Also in the garden,pale pink rambling roses and lilac trees.


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## SeaBreeze (Apr 17, 2015)

AprilT said:


> Sea, I don't remember if it was Hydrendias or marigolds, but, as a teen, I had several neighbors that had the most beautiful big colorful flowers and I always love walking past their yards because the aroma was so glorious.



Marigolds are much smaller April, but they're pretty too and easy to grow.


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## AprilT (Apr 17, 2015)

SeaBreeze said:


> Marigolds are much smaller April, but they're pretty too and easy to grow.



I've tried growing marigolds from seed, never once have I gotten past just a few leaves.    But then, it's difficult to grow many types of flora here in my area, while others thrive.  I'm not much of a green thumb, but, I did try my hand at patio gardening for a while, only thing I had any really great luck with was basil and somewhat with green beans, my lettuce always seem to bolt, forget the tomatoes.


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## NancyNGA (Apr 17, 2015)

I sort of like plain old yellow chrysanthemums for two reasons. My mother planted them all around the front of our house where I grew up and they lasted for years, and they bloom in the fall after most everything else is gone, so the yellow cheers you up when summer is over.   I've not had much luck with them.  The new ones only seem to last a few years, and have smaller blossoms. Maybe it's the clay soil here. Or maybe I should stop shopping at the box stores and go to a nursery.


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## Tom 86 (Oct 11, 2021)

"My father grew salvias which I never liked, still don't, but he planted them every year in neat single rows, which I think that generation often did for some reason, all very orderly"

  I grow a lot of them because they attract hummingbirds & honey bees.


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## Pinky (Oct 11, 2021)

We had a lot of marigolds in our garden when I was very little. They don't seem to be popular anymore.
My garden in Australia had Bird of Paradise and Gardenias growing abundantly. It was the only time in my life that plants didn't croak on me. Having an automated watering system may have helped.


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## RadishRose (Oct 11, 2021)

Childhood favorites
lilacs and marigolds.

Others
peony, hydrangea, iris among many others.


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## Pinky (Oct 11, 2021)

RadishRose said:


> Childhood favorites
> lilacs and marigolds.
> 
> Others
> peony, hydrangea, iris among many others.


Love peonies, lilacs and iris too .. used to get prize iris from hubby's late aunt & uncle's garden. We also had  lilacs in our backyard when we lived in Niagara Falls. The fragrance was beautiful.


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## Jackie23 (Oct 11, 2021)

I like iris is the spring.....zinnias in the summer, they do well in the scorching heat.
I've just discovered thrift roses and I love them...I planted white ones this spring and they have had bloomed profusely ever since they were planted.

As for flowers of my childhood,,,,,,I remember picking honeysuckle flowers and sucking the sweet nectar out of them, I remember the mimosa trees with their lacey blooms....mimosa trees, you hardly ever see them now and I remember the beautiful iris by the rabbit pens in my grandmother's yard.


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## Tom 86 (Oct 11, 2021)

This is my wife's memorial flower garden I have out front.  She loved to plant & take care of the flowers out there so Now I do it in remembrance of her. 

I should say there are two toilets in there.  When she got sick with cancer I had to retrofit all bathrooms with HiRISE toilets.  I ask her what should I do with them.  Jokingly she said put them in my flower bed.  So I did & planted flowers in them.


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## WheatenLover (Oct 11, 2021)

I like peonies the most.


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