Just a short-short story this time:
J.E. Malan...made five trips back to Florence and each time he brought back, securely wrapped, a variety of seeds for the flower garden. His pride was the hollyhock. They were one bit that reminded him of the Quaker garden his people left behind on the old Brandywine in Pennsylvania. Many times my grandmother has been called from her busy round of household tasks to answer the door and have someone with eyes filled with tears ask to be allowed to sit among [the] hollyhocks...
Note
The author of this little story seems to be getting people mixed up. I can't find any "J.E. Malan" in Utah or in the registers of the pioneers. The closest is Jean Daniel Malan, and he was from the Piedmont in Italy. Carter must mean someone else from the Brandywine, but although the people are all mixed up, this is a tender snapshot of the homesickness some of the early pioneers must have felt.
Sources
Carter, Kate B. Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 19, 531-532, as quoted in "Early Salt Lake City Flowers," TheAncestorFiles [blog], September 16, 2010, accessed September 12, 2013, http://theancestorfiles.blogspot.com/2010/09/early-salt-lake-city-flowers.html.
Noffsinger, Wayne. "Hollyhocks," Accessed September 16, 2010, www.flickr.com/photos/knottyboywayne/3797067268/#/. Available for sharing and remixing with attribution under a Creative Commons license.
Noffsinger, Wayne. "Hollyhocks," Accessed September 16, 2010, www.flickr.com/photos/knottyboywayne/3797067268/#/. Available for sharing and remixing with attribution under a Creative Commons license.
I can only imagine how much pioneers and other immigrants missed flowers and landscapes from home. We planted some Iris (aka flags) in my yard to remind me of my grandmother's huge iris garden in Provo.
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