Description
Flowers can provoke many memories of childhood. My parents grew stocks along the front fence – it was one of those old cyclone fences that were the fashion of the time. I cannot go past stocks in bloom without stopping to inhale their perfume, and remember my childhood garden.
A symbol of happy life and contented existence, the stock flower, with its sweet, heady-scented blooms, is often used in wedding bouquets and arrangements.
Stocks are native to Southwestern Greece and the Mediterranean, but are now found all around the world.
Stock flowers’ botanical name is Matthiola, believed to be named after Pierandrea Matthiola, an Italian botanist and doctor who cultivated these flowers because he thought they might have medicinal values that promoted love and lust due to their strong scent.