Possible Clues:

• Employer acquiring liberal award in flourish
• May, for example, flourish without sons
• Flourish, but see deprivation amidst returning rabble
• Do well or do badly, almost having to accept defeat
• '-ed Sarah, and I / -. Is that thing alive?' (John Berryman)
• Ripen
• Girl - flower(s)
• Thrive? In Ulysses' family, sons not getting on
• Smartest of the cartoon professor's daughters
• Flowers