The celebration of Mothering Sunday takes place on the fourth Sunday in Lent. It was a day, celebrated by both the Protestant and Catholic churches, when people would return to their mother church or cathedral. As the years went by and many young people were in service they would be permitted the whole Sunday off to return home to visit with their family. They ere said to have gone a mothering. On the way they would pick the wildflowers along the hedgerows to take to the church and to give to their mothers. This is likely how the tradition of giving flowers began.
As a child on Mothering Sunday I would go to Sunday School and every child would be given a bunch of violets to take home to their mother. How things have changed. In England Mother's day is still celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent but in the USA it is on the second Sunday in May. Both have now become secular events although still celebrating mothers. Gifts are often more elaborate than a bunch of violets.
I am reminded of that childhood bunch of violets by the native Texas violets blooming in my garden this week. I bought the plant at Madrone Nursery many years ago and love its neat clumps of heart-shaped leaves and delicate springtime blooms. Of course this is another one of those plants which likes to be sure of propagating itself. Just to make sure it participates in a form of seed production called cleistogamy, meaning closed seed. Later on in the year white buds will develop but never open into flowers. They need no color or scent because the seed will be fertilized inside the pod. The more normal kind of open pollination is called chasmogamy. It's just a way of making sure that the plant will reproduce.
Elsewhere in my garden there is a sprinkling of spring color. Just the odd flower here and there. Enough to keep the bees happy now that we have a warm sunny day.
Thanks to Carol at Maydreams gardens for hosting this day. Happy Bloom Day everyone.
