Every Spring, the arrival of mayflowers sends me back to childhood. Time collapses and I see that girl, sitting with her brother in a tree lot, snacking on tea berries, collecting big clutches of mayflowers for our mother or for my grade one teacher, who happened to be named Daisy. The girl is somewhere between bored and utterly wild. Every Spring, I say Oh, I remember you.
If I took a poll, I bet that mayflowers would rate pretty high as plants that evoke childhood on the South Shore. Which plants cue your memories? If you have children, do you think that particular plants will call up their childhoods someday?