Today’s guest post was written by Ed Ammons.
My wife and I had a habit of driving around in the mountains on pretty Saturday Spring and Summer mornings. I worked the night shift then so after I got off and got home I’d ask, “You want to go try to get lost?”
One morning, must have been sometime in 1994, we were driving some old graveled roads up in Northern Caldwell or Watauga County. We came across a stretch of dry stacked rock wall that ran right up next to the road. I was looking where I was driving while Yvonne was just looking. Suddenly she yelled “Look at that!” I couldn’t. She yelled, “Stop!” “Go back!” When I found a place to get the car off the road we walked back. Here’s a representation of what she saw.
“That’s the prettiest color, can I get some?” Here we are in the middle of a wilderness with no sign of human presence and nobody to ask; “Okay, get what you can reach from the road.”
We brought it home and she planted it along the road bank in front of our house hoping it would soon cover the whole thing. It didn’t! For the next thirty years it has just sat there, sadly lost in the landscape. A few blooms, now and then, served as a reminder that it was still there, but it never thrived.
After my Yvonne died in 2018 I neglected her hodgepodge of flowers and plants until last year I decided to try to revive this flower to the glory she saw in it. I pulled all the weeds and grass around it and put down a layer of thick cardboard to smother them if they reappeared. Of course I needed something to keep the cardboard from blowing away. I gingerly sprinkled a fine mulch around its little stems. I watered it with a weak mixture of Miracle Grow during the hot dry summer months. Over the winter the plant turned a dirty brown color leading me to think I had killed it.
Last Tuesday the 25th (March) was the seventh anniversary of my wife’s death and the 26th (March) would have our 59th wedding anniversary. That is always a sad time of year for all of us, but this year this appeared.
I don’t know much about flowers. I call it a graveyard flower because that’s where I’ve seen it most. I’ve heard it call phlox but I’m not sure. I do know it is a pretty color, and my wife loved it. I plan to care for it this year and for as long as I am able.
I hope you enjoyed Ed’s post as much as I do!
Granny has always called the low growing flower thrift. I have also heard folks call it phlox. What we call phlox has the same flowers, but grows on tall stems instead of close to the ground.
Many folks in my area grow the plant—I have some in my beds. It is often seen growing on banks and along rock walls. I know the person who planted the patch Yvonne and Ed found would be tickled to know it is thriving under Ed’s tender care.
Last night’s video: Roasted Hosta and Matt’s Chicken for Supper.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
What a beautiful story Ed. Thank you so much for sharing. I believe our loved ones who have passed on send us “signs” they are thinking about us. In my neck of the woods, people plant creeping phlox on steep banks so they don’t have to mow.
Such a sweet & beautiful story & plant !!!
Ditto from me Miss Lori. Lovely flowers and beautiful memories of your wonderful wife and your lives together Mr. Ammons. She is always with you. Easter blessings and remember, HE AROSE for all of us that we may be saved and be at his side, to give Him praise, honor and all glory. Praise God forever, Amen.
Ed, that was such a sweet story to share with all of us. Those flowers are beautiful. I call them creeping phlox. The best part of the story is how you took your wife on long rides to ‘just somewhere’. I love to do that. Taking a drive and traveling on roads you’ve never been down, is one of my favorite pastimes. Hubby and I have truly gotten kinda lost before—it’s so fun. We could drive forever and not see every little road here in WV—but I sure do enjoy trying. I am so happy for you that Yvonne’s flowers are thriving. Take care.
There is a tall phlox and a creeping phlox variety. The creeping phlox is a ground cover. the tall phlox are knee high or higher. Love both of them. I have seen them in varying shades of pink, purple, and white. Beautiful story. I lost my husband 22 years ago in June right before my birthday. I lost him 6 weeks after losing my Momma.
Such a sweet memory to have in your heart and that the thrift flower has come back so strong after you tended to it.
Well, I messed-up ….. ops!!
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NORMAN…sorry Ed…
Norman, your still a pup on the porch at 64…that was a very good year!!
Next time I will drink my coffee before I respond…again..ops!
Blessings to all on this coming Easter. May Jesus come soon!! Amen
Ed, that’s such a sweet story and what a precious memory for you! I have always called it thrift, but I have also heard it called phlox. There is some that grows at my old homeplace, and if I get the chance to ride out that way, I always look to see if it is blooming and any of the other flowers mama planted. Thanks for sharing this special story!
Good morning everyone!! Well, I’m so late in reading prior stories until this morning.
Ed, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, your still a puppy on the porch at 64…what a wonderful age! I hope you had a great day, and by all means your sweet wife was sending you a message…Live.. live..live…that sounds like the old movie “Auntie Mame” with Rosalind Russell!! Classic movie.
Anyway, do enjoy her flowers and smile
Love to all, Tipper..give Granny a hug and kiss for me!!
What a sweet and precious sharing from Ed Ammons this morning! And I also loved when my John and I would go ‘get lost’ on some back roads as he and his Yvonne once did.
What a precious story!!!!! I am almost positive this is the old-fashioned blooming plant I’ve always heard called “thrift” that I’ve also seen growing all around my area. In fact, there is still a small amount of thrift in my yard that is leftover from what was once a lot of it growing all around the edge of our house from where my grandmother transplanted quite a lot of it years ago from a nearby old home place. My grandmother used to always say thrift was an “old timey” flower.
Ed, Yvonne sent you a beautiful bouquet for your wedding anniversary. Yesterday was the first time I noticed the Creeping Phlox blooming in my area this year as I drove backroads for thirty-five miles to visit my brother-in-law in a nursing home. I didn’t drive the expressway as I knew the sunny day would make my trip a sightseeing adventure. And it did! Someone had planted three or four colors of phlox in a horizontal design on a bank in front of their house, which was a breathtaking sight. Birds must have carried pink, purple, and lavender seeds to at least a dozen more places along my route of mostly vacant land.
Ed, what a sweet & enduring story. I call the flowers Thrift, and you have given me an idea to plant it on my son’s grave. Such a coincidence that your wife’s Thrift bloomed at the time of her death anniversary & y’all’s wedding anniversary but then again, maybe it was not a coincidence. The Lord comforts us in different ways. Thanks for sharing this sweet story.
Oh, I love this story. Thank you for sharing a beautiful memory for you and your wife.
My Grandma Prince had a whole bank of thrift, all different colors. When we would go, I always weeded it for her,…I can just hear her saying, “Now don’t step on the flowers”. What a wonderful memory.
What a joy it was to walk over to Grandma & Grandpa Prince’s house with my Mother, we would go and
help her do the laundry in the tubs out front, I can just see my Aunt Bertie and Mother using the wooden
sticks to stir the clothes, when they got clean, they would put them in the rinse pot in cold water, let ’em
set a spell, then wring them out and hang on the clothes line. I was just a little girl, I treasure all the memories I have of them. Oh, how I miss them….they are in a better land now, but I will see them all
again someday. Maybe I can weed the flowers for Grandma in Glory !!!
Ed’s story brought a tear to my eyes and a smile to my face.
Mr. Ammons, sounds like you two had my kind of date, getting lost on a gravel road. My wife says I kinda count the day a partial loss if I don’t get on a gravel road. Unfortunately, they are few in this neck of what-used-to-be-woods. Taking a spring flowers hunting trip was something my Mom liked to do also. She loved flowers and wanted to rescue them from old home places. Dad did the driving, the digging (both up and planting) as well as the mowing around – which he dreaded like a trip to the dentist. You also made me think that “creeping phlox” would be most ‘thrifty’ if planted in the cracks between flat rocks which would be the weed and grass control. Seems to me I saw that done somewhere. But there must be a best combination of sun and water mixed in? Anyway, your picture of growing right out of the wall is better still. Another plant that would thrive there would be stonecrop which has white and pink varieties. Now I think I want to go get lost on a gravel road…..
Mama loved it and called it thrift. The phlox I see along some Florida highways is multicolored and, as Tipper said, grows on little stems.
That was a lovely story. kinda makes you want to cry.
Sweet memories, Ed. Thank you for sharing that with everyone. My sister gave me some thrift in a pot last year. I planted it in my flower bed and was very pleased to see it this spring!
Phlox subulata:
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/phlox-subulata/
Thanks for sharing, Ed.
That looks like what I’ve always heard called thrift, but is also known as creeping phlox. There are several places in the Bryson City Cemetery where it’s planted at graves.
There’s another plant that is called graveyard ivy which is more commonly called periwinkle. I think it’s botanical name is vinca minor.
I’ve always called it thrift
I enjoyed Ed’s post. The flowers are called phlox which I have the pink ones that have spread out at the end of my flower bed in front of the house, and they are beautiful. While growing up in Ohio we had the tall ones, like you said, Tipper. They were the same color as the above picture but about three feet tall. When visiting some older graveyards I have seen different colors of phlox. Some of the newer cemeteries/graveyards are picky about what you can plant.
I’ve always known it as Creeping Phlox and I am so glad that Ed was able to revive his wife’s souvenir from one of their “getting lost” adventures. It’s my favorite color of phlox, which I also know as Thrift. Tipper, I believe what you describe is Tall Phlox. I saw several colors of it yesterday at the Mennonite nursery. My mother planted Creeping Phlox along the bank near the road in our front yard but not much of it has survived all these years later. Just not enough water in recent summers. Thank you, Ed, for sharing your story.
We have always called it creeping phlox. It really is something to see right now. It’s beautiful flowers are covering the banks and hillsides on my drive every day.
Ed, this just shows that plants do want to grow as Tipper says. These plants are a special tribute to your wife. I’ve heard these called phlox and thrift and know of a few places where banks of clay soil have been covered with it. I love seeing flowers in old graveyards and cemeteries and wonder about the stories behind them. We have an old graveyard on our place with stones dated in the 1800’s. My husband’s ashes were placed beside a new stone in the midst of a carpet of periwinkle vine, what I’ve heard and read as being called graveyard vine. His brother brought Lily of the Valley he had once saved from where they grew up and they were planted beside the stone. My 4-yr old grandson even thought to water them from the water bottle he carried. I’ve been watering them and hope they live there.
I had a scarlet sage that appeared in my cat dung pile. It bloomed until frost and withstood HELENE. My grandmother always loved the scarlet sage and I knew she was letting me know from heaven she was with me through a most difficult year. There were times I’d just sit and stare and HANG ON because I surely did not know what else to do…In NY Murrman had an aunt who was a very sweet soul married to the devil who made her shlepp clothes to the laundry mat with 10 kids and he treated her with little regard. She died with every one of her kids by her side to say goodbye and when she was buried, all the ladies in the family got a plant. Every last plant died that I asked about, but Marilla’s flower planted atop her humble grave THRIVED like no other! It was something to see! I knew it was her speaking and letting us know she’s in a wonderful place! I tell you flowers tell the tale! And about Phlox-it’s a favorite of mine! I could smell it all day and all night with its wonderful scent!!! High or low growing, it’s just beautiful and the wife is saying HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FROM HEAVEN, sweetheart until we meet again… it makes me wanna cry not unlike Charlene Darling on Andy Griffith-still the best show ever!!! Lets make America Mayberry again!!! Love, blessings and flowers to all!!!
We always called the low ones “creeping phlox” and the tall ones “standing phlox.” Nice Story, Thank you.
What a lovely story and pretty flowers. Such sweet memories these flowers must bring to mind for Mr Ammons.
We call it thrift as well. My Granny had deep pink almost purple growing in the front of her house. It burned down in 2004 by an arsonist and our lives were changed forever.
Thrift is a favorite of mine because my grandma grew it well…she told me the trick to growing it was to simply keep it weeded…I miss her very much.
I also call this thrift. My Granddaddy had some planted on the road bank in front of his house. He also had what I always called wild roses on the road bank, they had runners on them like saw briars. I still have a small wild rose at the end of my driveway and there are a few spots of thrift my mother set out in her yard.
Ed, you were a better man than me, when I worked the night shift 7 days a month, all I wanted to do was get home and go to bed. I would be dog tired and would sometimes doze off during my 30 minute ride from work. I would go to bed and be back up wide awake within 3 hours. I ran a fan, stuff things in the cracks Aron the bedroom door, put black plastic over the windows but could never sleep in the daytime. If I tried staying up and going to bed later, it was worse, I couldn’t go to sleep.