Memories of the flower garden

A few weeks back, I visited this rather wealthy family with lots of expensive plastic flowers all over their living room and in their compound. In all honesty, the plastic flowers only killed the grandeur and beauty of all the other interior décor of the house and that of the compound. These plastic flowers just looked so off and unsightly. My childhood memories rushed through my mind in a flood—I remembered the beauty of my childhood flower garden and home. Reminiscences of the natural flowers that lay on the dining table and living room in those fine-looking flower vases were so vivid. Back in the day, almost every decent home owned a flower garden either in the backyard or besides the house. It was almost impossible to find a beautiful home without a flower garden. Flowers bring life to a place; brighten up the scenery of any given home setting. Flowers give have the power to create an exquisite colourful look and change the aura of a space with rich fragrances. Homes with natural flower gardens have a fine fragrance and vibrant appearance. Flower gardens bring beauty and life to any home. Flower gardens were a fascinating past time for children as they guarded them jealously from the butterflies. Children always chased around butterflies that were also attracted to the flowers. Mothers and fathers alike spent a lot of time taking care of the flowers. They would water them, prune the weeds and plant more beautiful flowers to add glamour to their flower gardens. However, these days, a few people only plan for space for flower gardens when building their houses. One can hardly find a home with natural flowers in their flower vases. The natural beauty brought by flowers is now a thing of the past. All we are left with are memories and picture albums with snapshots in our flower gardens. Chantal Kabasinga, a 28-year-old resident of Kisementi, Remera said that they a childhood filled with flowers. “My mother was obsessed with flowers and we had two flower gardens. My siblings and I each had a day of watering the flowers. Picking flowers from that garden without mum’s permission was an offence,”Kabasinga recalls. She says that her favorite memory was taking photos from the flower garden during birthday parties or on Christmas. She says that on such days her mom would even allow them to pick their favorite flowers to have a picture with. Tom, an engineer with MTN says flowers bring back sentimental and great memories for him. “We had a flower garden at home and mum would almost kill you if she caught you with her flowers. However, I used to steal flowers and give them to my childhood girlfriends to impress them,” Muvunyi remembers. He says that flower gardens add beauty and glamour to a home though few people think of them these days, unlike in the past. Flowers brighten homes with colour, glamour, and charm senses with their exquisite fragrance. So why not revive the habit of having flower gardens in our homes! m.kaitesi@yahoo.com