Horticulture

The gardening catalogs keep coming in the mail. I still look through them and plan my imaginary garden even though I know it will never come to be.


I was fortunate enough to grow up in a part of Pennsylvania where you could just sort of look at a spot on the ground and think about what you'd like to have there, and it would start to grow spontaneously. My mother always had flowers. And when I was a child, each summer I had a little vegetable plot with a row of carrots, a row of beets, and one of parsley.


In my twenties, I moved to New York's Long Island. Again - no problem with gardening. I never read a book on the subject. Just went by instinct. Our garden was always full of whatever flowers took my fancy each year. Everything thrived.


Then I moved to New Jersey. The "Garden State". For several years I filled the yard with flowers and sometimes tried new things, out of curiosity. One year I grew peanuts and cotton successfully. One summer was filled with Jerusalem artichokes.


But now I am an old lady and unable to stay out in the sun very long and cannot do much digging or weeding. I miss having my gardens. But I do have my bulbs to present me with spring gifts, and a few perennials to bring the butterflies. And there are lots of pots here and there. I still like to try new and different things now and then. A dwarf orange tree might be fun.


It never ceases to amaze - a simple little seed, eventually turning itself into something so very beautiful. I cannot imagine a life without the opportunity to watch things grow - plants - or children. They are both exciting to observe and bring so much pleasure to our lives. And, of course, sometimes frustration and/or disappointment. But there's always hope for the next season. Something to look forward to - to plan for. Anticipation is what keeps us keeping on.



To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. - Anonymous