Mother's Day Memories: It's the little things.
This episode is a different kind of Mother's Day show — no marketing checklists, just Vonda and Lori swapping memories of the mothers, grandmothers, and mothers-in-law who shaped them, plus a peony trick every flower lover will want to steal and a piece of Mother's Day history that surprised both hosts.
A peony trick worth stealing
It starts with a text from Lori's mother-in-law: photos of her blooming peonies. That sparks Vonda's memory of her Dixon, Illinois home, where a whole side of the house was lined with peony bushes split and shared by her father-in-law, Papa Bill. Her trick for stretching the season: cut the stems when the buds are still tight knobs just showing color, wrap about ten at a time in newspaper, and store them dry-pack in the cooler or refrigerator. Bring batches out every couple of weeks, and you can have peonies long after the garden is done — one year Vonda kept them all the way to the Fourth of July.
The surprising history of Mother's Day
Vonda's research turned up a twist she didn't expect. Mother's Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914, rooted in honoring the sacrifices mothers make — though Jarvis herself was never married and had no children. She envisioned a personal celebration: wearing a white carnation as a badge, visiting your mother, attending church. But once florists, card companies, and confectioners commercialized the day, Jarvis turned against her own creation and spent the rest of her life — until her death in 1948 — trying to undo it. Vonda's take: perhaps Jarvis never got to feel how much a card, a box of chocolates, or a bouquet can mean to a mom, especially now that families are so often a sixteen-hour drive apart.
Corsages, poems, and a red Honda Accord
Both hosts grew up with whole-family Mother's Days — church, corsages (Lori remembers her grandmother ordering carnation corsages for herself and all three daughters from the corner flower shop), cousins playing, and the moms still doing all the cooking on their own holiday. Lori's standout memory is the Saturday her dad surprised her mom with a red four-door Honda Accord, the kids honking up the driveway with a homemade sign. But the gift that lasted longest was a poem she wrote at eight or nine — her kindergarten-teacher mom kept it in a photo album for decades and showed it to every visitor. Homemade was her mom's love language. Vonda's version: 25 years of store-bought cards saved not for the cards, but for the handwritten messages inside.
Mother's Day from the other side of the counter
As a shop owner, Vonda's Mother's Days were about recovery: her shop delivered all week but not on the day itself, so the holiday meant staying home with the kids who had all worked the rush — cards, yard work, and, famously, relaxing on the riding lawnmower. The hosts also commiserate over proms scheduled the Saturday before Mother's Day, a frustration florists still know well — not because of the workload, but because mom gets shortchanged.
What we'd say to our moms now
Both hosts recently lost their mothers, and the conversation turns tender. Lori, whose mom played on the Oklahoma women's senior Olympic basketball team even while battling Parkinson's, wishes she could have given her one more game — and treasures that she always sent flowers, which her mom kept "way beyond the expiration date." Vonda wishes she'd simply bought the plane ticket and taken her mom to Cabo, no excuses accepted. The lesson they land on, echoing the book The Precious Present: it's all about being present. And for levity, Lori closes with the breakfast-in-bed disaster involving Daddy Waffles, a toddler, and a full pitcher of hot syrup — the last breakfast in bed she ever got, though she did get new carpet out of the deal.
Key takeaways
- Extend peony season by cutting tight buds, wrapping them in newspaper, and storing them dry-pack in the cooler — bring them out in batches for weeks.
- The gifts mothers keep are rarely the expensive ones — handmade poems, handwritten notes, and kids' collaborations outlast every store-bought present.
- Don't wait on the big gestures: buy the ticket, make the call, take the trip while you can.
- Share your own Mother's Day memories with family, coworkers, and your community — the stories are the point.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist