Allow me to make a few confessions about my gardening:
1) I’m a gardener in April, maybe May. By June I’ve lost interest and everything dies.
2) I rarely plant anything besides flowers. I don’t eat vegetables unless they are in salsa or pizza sauce.
3) I chose my flowers based on sentimental reasons, not because they add to the appearance of my yard or are suited to our climate (see confession #1).
So as I’m out weeding this spring, praying that we don’t have another summer that competes with oven temperatures, I’m reminded of some special people who’ve left me with sweet memories… as well as seeds, clippings and bulbs.
In the shade of our giant crepe myrtle are the rangy columbine with the delicate blooms that came from my Grandma H.’s house. Her brother lived in Colorado and brought her a different strand every time he visited. Grandma had a lot of columbine.
The daffodils that line the walk from the drive to the side door remind me of my former roommate, but current cousin and friend – Lori. She’s always had a green thumb and is an awesome photographer. All these pictures are hers, but when I’m cleaning my daffodil bed I don’t think of the pictures. Instead, I think of the sleepovers we had that always included romance books smuggled in our suitcases.
The tiger lilies haven’t bloomed yet, but they look thick and strong. Those bulbs are from my friend Jennifer – the product of a day spent thinning out her flower beds. She lived on a golf course and we were frequently interrupted to get lemonade for friends making their way around the 12th hole.
I’ve tried to get clematis going like my Grandma Carol’s. Hers is strategically placed to cover the waterspout from the laundry room. Maybe that’s why it won’t take. It needs some Tide as fertilizer.What plants in your flower bed have special significance? What flower would your friends and family associate with you?
I’ve heard that the key to Clematis success is that they like to be in full sun but like their “feet” (roots) shaded. I think there may be something to this because mine never did that well until I happened to plant a shrub nearby the Cleamtis that hangs over the lowest portion of the plant. Seems like that was all the shade it needed and its done very well since then. Sometimes I feel like giving up on my garden… especially when the rabbits and squirrels take out my Lilies that I adore. Why can’t they munch on the black eyed susans?!
Flowers are just lovely! 🙂
I’ll answer your last question first. What plant reminds others of me. Anything dead. I don’t have a green thumb, mine is black. If I touch it, it dies, end of story. I’m not even allowed to water my husband’s ivy.
My grandmother on the other hand…her front yard always over flowed with color. My favorites were alway the little moss roses. She alwaays claimed that you couldn’t kill them.
I used to have some…
Sharon – You crack me up! “Something dead.” I’m sorry about your moss roses. 🙂
Chris – Thanks for the tip. That sunny/shady combo might be hard to find, but I’ll start looking. And I wish we had bunnies. All we get are skunks and possums.
We have a few plants that were given to us by friends and family, but the big thing in our yard that reminds us of loved ones is all the native Kansas limestone that borders our flower beds and fills the rock gardens. My dad and my husband hauled the rock from my hubby’s grandparents’ pastures in the Smoky Hills near Ellsworth, KS and they are a permanent fixture in our Kansas prairie garden now.
Thanks for the clematis advice, too! We just planted our first one yesterday and we “accidentally” got it right: head in the sun/feet in the shade so hope it flourishes!
Even something as simple as some sun loving annual flowers may do the trick in terms of shading the roots of the Clematis.