WhAt’s in a name?

I really wanted to pay homage to my Mom, my garden muse and inspiration. I had the privilege of growing up surrounded by gardens in bloom on a property abutting miles and miles of wild, magical forest.

My mom, Linda Saint, had her own perennial design business called Stonehouse Gardens through much of my youth. I have memories of running through the hoop house with my friends and rocking out to Whitney Houston in the greenhouse with my mom. With three older brothers ruling the roost, I soon discovered that the one place to get mom all to myself was the greenhouse my Dad had built for her.

It was a refuge for both of us.

I can close my eyes and smell the rich, earthy fragrance of the dirt; feel the warmth of the humidity on my skin; and see the benches filled with green, growing life-always a welcome sight when the winter cold pressed in on the foggy windows that surrounded us.

So it was only fitting that she came up with the name.

On my parents’ property there is a historical site called Echo Rock, where people would once visit back when the house I grew up in was home to the Tomaquag Indigenous Museum. Visitors would take in the views of the rolling farmland (which is now dense forest), while calling out on Echo Rock-which was famed for producing a double echo when standing in just the right spot.

In my lifetime it’s been the perfect vantage point to see my mother’s gardens from. In fact, I remember standing on Echo Rock and making the peacock call (Ooo-Ahhh, Ooo-Ahh) to Anther Living’s house, and their peacock would always call back.

So it was decided. The name of my new business would be Echo Rock Flowers.

Thanks mom, for planting the seed so very long ago.