Trillium at Longwold Gardens

After my mom was diagnosed with cancer she could no longer make the trip across the country to visit me; so, I made trips back to Washington to spend time with her. On one of those trips, knowing that my mother had always been a lover of gardens and flowers, I did a little research and found a lovely place to take my mother on an outing. The trip included a scenic drive (on Gravelly Lake Drive) in Tacoma, WA - our destination: Longwold Gardens.

We went on a Monday morning and when we arrived we were the only visitors. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm, perfect for a garden stroll!

As we walked through the gardens we saw many beautiful plants and flowers but one in particular caught my mom's eye and made her stop. In that moment, my mom taught me about a flower she learned about as a child called Trillium. She told me how her teacher taught the children not to pick the Trillium because it takes the plant many years to recover.

When the Trillium blooms it is a beautiful white flower.

as the days pass the Trillium begins to change - turning to a pretty purple shade.

and in its final stages the Trillium turns to a deeper shade of purple.

There was a connection for my mother in this plant called a Trillium. She fostered a special place in her heart for this fragile flower that cannot be picked or moved without consequence. She passed that connection to me on that day at Longwold Gardens. I'll never see or think of a Trillium without thinking of my mother.