In Bloom

Have I ever mentioned that I have a brown thumb? Seriously, I can kill a plant just by looking at it. Last year, my Mom got into gardening. Big time. She orders flowers/plants like I order yarn. And we all know how much I like to order yarn. Sometimes she drove me nuts talking about gardening, showing me plants. But it wasn't long before I realized her hobby was like mine and I should support it, just as she did for me. My Mom lives like me. We don't work, we don't have any friends. Just each other. I took more interest this Spring when the real gardening began for her. She had trees cut down to make more room for her garden. Visits to the flower nursery were almost a daily excursion. The results, which she is still adding to, is inspiring. I started feeling envious. I mean, who wouldn't want a big beautiful garden to relax in, maybe knit a little? But me, garden? Ha!

So on one of our little shopping trips, I fell in love with some hanging baskets. Petunias. I decided to give it a whirl. I bought 2 yellow and a purple and hung them up across my front porch. They really are quite nice. And after a month, they are still thriving. They survived some late season frost. And me. It wasn't long before Mom decided I needed my own garden. (I suspect part of this is because she ran out of space in her yard, and thought she could start on mine.) We tossed around a few ideas, and that was the end of it.

Fast forward to this past week. I took Mom to Lowe's to look at more flowers. I saw this huge orange one and I fell in love with it. next thing you know, Mom was putting it in the cart. "Happy Mother's day!" she said with a smile. And on we went. Before you knew it, I saw a huge pink flower that I loved. Again, it was put in the cart with a smile from Mom. In no time, the cart was full of flowers. For MY garden. The one that doesn't exist. We worked our way inside the store where I saw a garden decoration that I *had to have*. With that same Motherly smile, it was added to the cart.

The next day, Mom came over. And we planted my very first garden. We had fun. We laughed. Especially when I found a ton of worms, some grubs and a spider whose abdomen was bigger than a quarter. Each time, I jumped and ran away. I'm such a girlie girl. Mom stepped in and killed the spider, moved the worms and the grubs and on we went.

It was a labor of love. We sat there, in our matching blue shorts and white shirts, which was totally unplanned. *we do this a lot actually* A hobby that before bored me, has now taken me over. Something that my Mom loves, I've grown to love. We made wonderful memories that day. I can only hope that this garden will grow and grow, over the years. (Yes, we planted some perennials.) It's truly one of the most wonderful gifts I have ever received. I will treasure it forever.

To the best Mother in the world, I love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Now...how about some pictures of my new garden?


Here we are working away. The hubby had to take a picture as proof that I actually did some work.


The finished product. I'd tell you what was planted, but I can't remember most of the names. Let's see: Lavender, rosemary, portulacas, African marigold (they're huge!). There's four more, I don't remember. I'll look in the morning (I did remember to keep the labels in the garden), and let you know. There's also a lemon verbeena on the table. I didn't want it in the garden, since I plan on using it in the kitchen. There's a cat who likes to play in our yard, and I don't want him peeing on it or something. And of course, my fairy statue from last year.

Close up of the big pink one I fell in love with. It's a vine. It came on a smaller trellis and it took us a good ten minutes to unwind it. We're hoping it will get tall enough to wrap around the column.

The big orange plant I fell in love with. This is my favorite in the whole garden.

And the decoration I had to have. I'm sure you can see why. It's my homage to knitting, my first love. I like how it looks like the sheep is grazing in the meadow. (that poor marigold in the back. They're so big and heavy they can't hold themselves up. Her head popped off after planting.)


When I went out the next morning to put the kids on the bus, I couldn't help but smile. It sure is nice to have these bright flowers greeting me in the morning. Now...where else can I make a garden in my yard? It's addicting, I tell ya!

Happy Mother's Day to my readers. xoxo