GARDENING

What is funny to me, when I finally got around to thinking about it. I always liked flowers. Growing up we didn't really have a garden. But, my Grandma did. She had a lovely garden. Lots of variety. They also grew vegetables for food. But, we didn't have a garden perse' at our house. I do remember growing various vegetables at different times. Including potatoes, just for the fun of it. The only flowers were Hollyhocks. Mom liked Hollyhocks. They are quite a nice flower. Just the name is unfortunate. Later we had a rose garden of twenty roses.
When we were first married, I became heavy into potted plants. We lived on the top floor of an apartment building. On one end and there was an iron railing. I bought a small metal flower cart and soon had it filled with begonias, fuchsias, colored leaf geraniums and coleus. That was outside. I then found African Violets. Well, I ended up with fifty of them. They were a lot of work. However they are so beautiful. They were in the front room and took up a quarter of my Hb.'s desk in the bedroom. Under the 'Gro-lux' light.
When ever we moved, I never really looked for a good place for gardening. I looked for space and floorplan. I then just utilized whatever outside space there was. As long as there was a small space where I could have some flowers I could look at. Something beautiful.
At our first house, we planted a rose garden. I also had fuchsias and pansies. they attracted several pretty hummers.
The people who bought that house tore out everything and put in a cement slab. Cut down the peach tree too.
At our second house. There was already an easy care type garden. We left it that way. Just added a few roses. We were too busy to garden much anyway. Oh, I did have a very nice Pieris Japonica. It died. Hated the move.
So where we live now. I am just going to use potted things. As long as there is something to cover up the dirt. My alyssum is not in good condition at all. I am hoping it will come back. About five of the roses are putting out a few buds.
I end up not being able to do any yard work anymore. At our first house, I worked a lot outside.
After I began my making dolls and soft toys. The gardening went down. My Hb. does most of it now. It's true, plants respond well to intense attention.
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Orig. Collage by: CGZ
2004