Vegetable Bouquet

A Tribute to my Favorite Vegetable Gardener

My great grandmother loved gardening. My grandpa would talk about it all the time. He always told me he admired how she viewed plants as friends. Maybe that’s why he would sacrifice his summer weekends taking care of the vegetable garden my siblings and I were supposed to care for. When I was young, I hated spending my Saturday morning in the hot sun, watering the garden for what felt like a life time. I could never figure out why my grandpa would do it voluntarily—especially when he would never take any of the harvested veggies! I think I get it now.

When he passed, I made this bouquet for his funeral as a tribute from me and the rest of his grandchildren. Traditional flowers didn’t feel right, so I chose to combine flowers with carrots, kale, lettuce, and artichokes. I finished the bouquet with garden stakes with the initials of all of his grandchildren.

There’s a lot to be said here about my grandpa and how he helped things grow. But I think those thoughts are better left to interpretation.