Making memories and traditions - Blooming In the Dahlia fields.

At different intervals throughout the year we tend to go on visits to the same local garden centre close to where we live.   Usually It's a tradition to go with the family just before Christmas  as it somehow seems the perfect atmosphere for Heni.... she enjoys seeing all the sparkly ornaments and  the multitude of pretty coloured fairy lights that attract her attention.  We also enjoy seeing what "theme" of decorations the garden centre  has put together to collect money for local charities....
BUT NO.... It IS still too early to be talking about Christmas for my liking.... and so I would like to tell you about our  Autumnal visit to the garden centre and their beautiful  Dahlia fields instead ; )

If you ask me, Garden centres are the perfect "sensory room" with lots of colour and movement going on as people push interestingly shaped and coloured trolleys here there and everywhere.

The garden ornament sections are usually a fun stop off with Heni as she 

likes looking at the statuary....here she is intrigued with the dog and wondering why its not moving....

 and especially interested in the tortoise below.....

 She loved the colour and the smell of the flowers as we pushed her slowly past all of the  displays. We wait and watch for any reactions that she makes to indicate if she likes what she is seeing.... and if we need to slow down and stop for a while to look a little closer.

I used to tell my children not to touch anything whenever we went out shopping as they may break something.... but I quickly came to realize how hypocritical that was of me.... on one hand I  would be picking things up and putting interesting objects in front of Heni....  encouraging her to look at them and touch everything... and then I would be telling the others not to do it.... It somehow seemed a bit unfair, so I gave up on that rule! (unless its something really fragile and breakable!)

So I guess the other children have grown up exploring everything along with Heni.....Even daughter number 2 enjoys our garden centre visits and is really just a big kid who likes to stop for a play!

The fountains and water displays are another favourite stop off. There seems to be a lovely sound quality and atmosphere around them and Heni (and I) love to sit and listen, watching the water cascading down and dripping in to the pool below... 

 ....there are bright flower displays over head...

tunnels to explore....

 and bright colours to look at everywhere.... AND things to try and grab on the way by....

 ....but this years trip was better than usual as we noticed that there was a Dahlia field that had been planted up at the back of the centre for visitors to walk around and explore. It had been planted with over 60 different types of Dahlia in all sizes and colours.  The plants are usually used as the centre pieces of the Dahlia Festival held each year in September.

 ...so we decided to try and navigate the field with the wheelchair and got up close and personal with the pompoms....

 Here are some of our favourites....

 

 The field of dahlias was stunning.... and the colours so vibrant... anyone would have thought that the flowers were artificial because they were so perfect in colour and shape. It was a real treat to experience seeing them all lined up and planted majestically as we wandered up and down row after row.... 

...until the rain decided to make its appearance

 ...and then daughter number two danced with the flowers in the rain....

...and we made Heni water tight in her poncho!

We quickly made our exit, aided by one of the  kind gardeners (who took us through the back of the centre so we didn't have to push the chair all the way across the field again in the mud!) We headed home again uplifted by the wonder of nature and spending some fun time together.

I was totally shocked and saddened to discover in a local paper that last year thieves stole a Land Rover and drove it through the fence and across the dahlia beds, totally destroying them. Even though staff tried tidying up the damage and replanting, the new plants did not flower in time for the 2014 festival.  This year the Dahlias looked magnificent and  were a beautiful way to celebrate the garden centre's 60th anniversary. A positive outcome after such mindless vandalism. 
 As I read about the damage, one of the quotations from last years paper stuck with me.....  it said:

“Machines you can sort out and fences you can mend but plants have to have time to grow.” 

It reminded me of how precious time is and how you can't get it back.... just like flowers need time and attention to grow...so too do our children....(all of our children...not just the ones with special needs)... each child's bloom is unique and different and equally beautiful and can be destroyed quickly by "mindless vandalism" or lack of attention. 
Time spent with our loved ones is precious.   Time spent on making a memory or building a tradition ...doing "simple" things, like our low key visit to a garden centre, are what can add  "fertilizer" to help our children blossom, bloom and add beauty to our own and other peoples lives... 

Why not spend some quality time and go nurture a bloom today...
  


 Jx