We welcome back Mary Dixie Carter to our Mother’s Day Author Blog series. This time, she turns her attention to roses and why her mother was so fond of them. As a tribute to her mother, the titular character in Mary Dixie’s upcoming novel, MARGUERITE BY THE LAKE (which releases on May 20th), has a deep love of roses. The book is about the death of a glamorous garden designer, a widower trying to keep his secrets buried, and the beautiful young gardener who finds herself entangled in their lives.
My mother loved roses. She grew them in her backyard. She would go outside and cut the flowers and arrange them herself. She had strong opinions on the subject of how to arrange them: Not too many roses in one vase, she would say, so you can see and appreciate the lines of each flower. And always an odd number. One color, or possibly two that are close in tone. Deep pinks were her favorites, but she also liked white with a pale pink hue and dark red. You have to pay attention to how each flower is bending, she would say. She gravitated towards loosely cupped roses with a shallow shape.
Occasionally my mother would buy roses when they weren't in bloom, but I never saw her buy a floral arrangement for herself. The whole point was arranging the flowers herself. It was a form of self-expression and one of her signatures. She took great pride in creating a home that was a reflection of her. She never stopped rearranging furniture, rearranging the crystal vases and silver objects on her end tables, purchasing a new lamp shade, changing out a photograph, or reupholstering something.
A home is a living, breathing thing, she would say, and it needs constant attention. If you’re away from your home for too long, it will languish. She thought having beautiful flowers inside her house was the best way to make the rooms come alive --- the most tangible sign that she was living in and caring for her home.
In my new novel, MARGUERITE BY THE LAKE, Marguerite has a deep love of roses. In most respects, Marguerite does not resemble my mother. But that deep love of roses is one trait they share. After Marguerite’s death, her namesake roses take on a life of their own. They are an extension of Marguerite --- inhabited by her. They channel Marguerite’s spirit.
On Mother’s Day, I always miss my mother. If I receive roses on Mother’s Day, hundreds of images of my mother arranging flowers in vases come flooding back. Those memories are perhaps more vivid than any other memories I have of her. In my mind, my mother and roses are forever entwined.
