Whenever I Garden, I think of Mom
- on 04.19.08
- Gardening, Mom, Simple Pleasures
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
The weather has been beautiful the past few days, the sun is shining and it has been warm this week, earlier than usual this year. So today I went out and purchased a flat of Petunias to put in my hanging planters, and old wooden bucket that I use as a planter next to the front door, and planter on the deck.
Whenever I garden, I think of my Mom. She loved gardening, and still does though it is a little harder for her to work in the garden these days. She still always has something growing in her gardens, and something starting in the house under her “plant lights” on shelves.
When we were young children and lived in our home in Nixon/Edison area of NJ, she used as much of the property to garden as she could. In the back, our yard was surrounded by a chain-link fence. Before they decided to put in a shopping center, there were woods behind the fence at the end of the property. When we looked from the house, along the fence on the left was Mom’s rose bush garden. She had beautiful rose bushes, and our job was to go and tap the Japanese Beetles into a little jar that had Kerosene or some such thing in the bottom to kill them.
To the right, she had a wonderful vegetable garden with tomatoes, lettuce, pole beans or bush beans, and other goodies. Next to that, she had Concord Grape vines growing on the fence. And up against the house a honeysuckle vine crept up a trellis. Outside the picture window in the front, she had ivy growing up against the house, and grew Coral Bells and other pretty flowers and bushes.
I was to young when she put in those gardens, I’m sure with help from Dad, to appreciate how much work went into doing this, but I know she loved it, and has given me great memories in the process.
For me, it’s my grandmother. She had cannas, freesias, marigolds and lots of other things in her garden. I used to love wandering amongst it all as a child.
Whenever I eat fresh vegetables from my garden or from a garden market I think of my mother. She loved tending to the peas, green beans, tomatoes, potatoes etc. I used to help her, or at least I thought I was helping when I was a child.
Gardens and flowers always bring memories of my mother - especially Irises. My mother loved Irises, all the bulb flowers really, and her gardens and yards were always awash in the lovely colors of purples, magentas, lilacs, orchids, peaches and pinks during the Spring.
Right here the irises are beginning to bloom and fond memories of my mother are blooming with them.