Dig Your Own Begonia

Wow, hard to believe it’s May already!

Did you know that May is named after the Roman Goddess Maia who is celebrated as the goddess of spring, growth and fertility? Because she embodied growth, her constellation was used by Roman farmers to determine the timing of their crops. In Greece, May Day is a celebration to honor Maia and welcome Spring with flowers and wreaths.

May is a month of growth and transition for us here at Weidners as well! This means we are filling our rafters with colorful hanging baskets to brighten our customers homes. May is also the month that our Begonia fields are prepped and ready for “Dig Your Own Begonia” season. This is one of Evelyn Weidner’s favorite events… “It all started with the Begonia fields. The parking lot was where the office and greenhouses currently stand. The rest was all fields. Once the fields began to look bare I would transplant new ones and customers would always comment how easy they were to dig. Sunset Magazine did a full color page on our fields and that brought in a lot more customers!”

And we would be remiss if we didn’t honor Evelyn as the Matriarch of Weidner’s Gardens as we celebrate motherhood on May 9th. We might be a little biased but flowers and garden gifts make great Mother’s Day gifts. Bouquet’s are lovely but there are many other ways to use plants to create original gifts. Maybe you want to make a mixed container or start that vegetable garden she always wanted. Put together a gift basket with all the tools she needs to tend to her own garden. Or maybe you want to get artsy and make a one of a kind pounded flower print (look it up, they are super easy and fun to make). And if you can’t think of what to get her, time is always a great gift… spend some time with her doing the things she enjoys.