Following the lead on a question posted by Catherine Hillen-Rulloda from Avante Gardens, a local florist and blogger based in Anaheim, CA, I am writing about my three favorite Mother’s Day flowers and how my mom inspired me in my business.
I was introduced to flowers and gardening early on in my life. At the place where I grew up in my hometown in Boeblingen, Germany, my parents had a beautiful, if not to say stunning yard in the organized by still messy English style. Just to give you an idea, one of my mother’s icons in the flower world is Vita Sackville-West and her Sissinghurst Garden. Picture a mini-Sissinghurst and you’ll have my parent’s yard. 
This garden was my mother’s sacred place. This was were she would forget about the world and spend hours after hours working and tweaking and making it even more beautiful. We children did not have a place there. Playing was pretty much forbidden except for games where thrown balls would not accidentally behead a row of tulips or French Lilies. We were allowed to help but only under the supervision of my mom. Although I must admit, that my desire to help was rather minimal back then. I only came to appreciate it much later in my life.
When asked which flower she likes best my mom usually says that she cannot choose one of her “flower children” over another. There are however, a few special flowers that she is very attached to. One of which is, what we call in German a ‘Moosrose’, not to be confused with what is commonly known as Moss Rose in the English language. It is a very old species of a rose that is often pictured on old chinaware. The pale pink color of the full bloom against the stems covered in small moss green leaves, which give it its name, paints a very pretty picture. However, it is not only the looks for which my mom cherished it in the above described garden, but rather the fact that her early deceased father planted the rose at that very spot. I remember that this plant turned out blooms upon blooms the whole season and for special occasions such as Mother’s Day a small branch or a bloom was carefully cut to be put in a vase for the dining room table. Therefore, my first choice for Mother’s Day flowers: pale pink roses, if no “Moosrose” handy!
When my parents took me to see Paris for the first time, I must have been around 14 years old, we strolled along the Seine river, where in spring the first booths open, with merchants selling used books, souveniers and, believe it or not, plants. Of course my mom could not walk past those stores without buying something so she got herself a bunch of lily bulbs of the type Lilium Regale, the queen of lilies! Those were carefully transported back to Germany and planted on site. 
Over the years, they became her whole pride! Every summer morning she still goes outside to carefully search for and eliminate those pretty red bugs that love to eat lilies down to their bare roots. The “Queen of Lilies” is my second choice for Mother’s Day flowers.
By the way, when the whole family moved to our new house almost 15 years ago, my mother could not part with her rose nor her lilies, so both plants were exhumed with the utmost care as to not even tear apart one root or branch - and that was quite an endeavour. If you have ever seen the root system of such a rose, you know what I am talking about. We must have spent a whole morning to get every last part of it!
Finally, THE Mother’s Day flower par excellence to me is Gerbera! My mom hasn’t received flower bouquets very often as a gift. I guess people think they cannot compete with the abundance of flowers in her garden. However, for the rare occasion that my dad or anybody else did buy her flowers, she would usually ask for peach colored gerbera and thus my final pick for Mother’s Day flowers.
The reason why people like certain flowers better than others is often because there is a story or a particular meaning attached to them. To me those three flower types and in fact flowers in general will forever and ever be attached to my mother and her beautiful gardens. She inspired me to create my own little garden paradise and to finally even work with flowers for a living. Happy Mother’s Day, Mama!
