The Magic Yellow Rose

I have always liked flowers and gardening in general. Much of my appreciation for flowers stems from the magic of a yellow rose when I was about 4 years old.

We lived in a 2 story house on Sargent Ave in Klamath Falls, just a few houses down from a grade school. A driveway ran along one side of the house bordered by a fence which at certain times of the year was covered with blooms of a yellow climbing rose. A similar rose also climbed part way up the side of the house.

I recall that one time I picked a flower which had not yet opened and ran into the house to proudly present it to my mother. As mothers do, she thanked me for it and oohed and awhed over it even though it was not yet open and merely a green swollen bud. Mom placed this bud in a glass of water and put in on a shelf in a cupboard. She said that if we left it there over night and did not open the cupboard door, the rose would open fully by morning.

The next morning I ran downstairs opened the cupboard and gazed upon a beautiful, fully opened yellow rose.

For years after this I kept trying to force roses into bloom by placing buds in a glass of water in a dark cupboard over night.

I can’t recall how many years passed before I realized that the magic of this rose came from a Mothers love and kindness in substituting a fully opened rose for a bud so she could see the wonder in her child’s face.

Filed under: Family • The Early Years

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