How does your garden grow?

On the 4th we had a last minute, come-if-you-have nothing-to-do, holiday picnic. It ended up being just family and a couple of friends, but we had an awesome, relaxing time (minus me dumping over and shattering the ice tea dispenser). One of my favorite parts of the day was doing the requested “garden tour.”

We have a fairly large yard and lots of gardens. Lots of gardens means lots of plants. Lots of plants can get expensive but when you “shop” in families’ gardens the cost goes down tremendously and the memories go up exponentially. It was fun walking around pointing out plants that originated from both people that were there and those that weren’t.

The garden on the side of the driveway had traditionally been a catch all garden – where we put plants that we didn’t know what to do with. Up until the last couple of years it has been a mishmash of all sorts of perennials. When I was still doing the flowers at church I brought home spent Hydrangeas and azaleas after Easter and put them there. I moved some flowers from other spots in the yard to this garden. None of them survived.  

Funny thing how that garden turned out. One year mom split some of her lilies. She carefully marked each pot with the name of the plant and took pictures of the blooms on hers. They didn’t do very well for a while, barely hanging on. Last year I added in a number of bearded iris that dad split off of the plants in his back yard. This year the lilies are absolutely loaded with buds and blossoms. When they finally open it’s going to spectacular.

Last year when we became Godparents of Sara, Sis and BIL presented us with a shrub rose bush after the party. Since Sara’s Irish middle name means ”little rose” or “rosie” it was a most appropriate gift. Right next to it I planted a small, grocery store rose my aunt gave me for my first (God)mother’s day. She was so pleased to see that since May the plant has at least tripled in size.  

I caught my cousin checking out the butterfly bush in the backyard. Himself and I brought back a “volunteer” from my aunt and uncle’s yard when we visited them in Tennessee. This aunt is sister to both my mother and my cousin’s mom so it was fun to share its origin.  

While we were walking around I pointed out several plants that I either wanted to remove completely or thin out. My dad, cousin, and friend each went home with Scabiosa (doesn’t that sound like a disease?) to add to their gardens. Dad also pointed out several cone flowers that he liked. Once they are big enough to split, he’ll have a little more orange in his garden.  

I love wandering the gardens. Not only is it a joy to see the beautiful blooms, remembering where they came from is special too.

Now, if only someone would take those darn Hostas I’m trying to get rid of!


AMDG