Gardens

When I was a girl we lived on the eastern tip of Long Island in New York State. The yard around the house I grew up in was mostly moss and sand with a little bit of grass trying to grow. It wasnt anything that wouldn't be like most houses out there where there were 5 children in the household along with an assortment of neighborhood children that would play at each others homes. We had oak trees for shade and they did shade the yard well. I never really thought about it, it was just our yard.
When I was married and moved out on my own, most of my siblings were no longer in the house full time either. I guess Mama decided it was time to do something with the yard. She began to plant. There were gardens all over the yard then. I don't know for sure what she planted and where other than knowing that she had a few azaleas that were from my wedding and some hostas that I gave her from the front of my first home that my husband and I had purchased. I didn't take much interest in it truthfully other than to be glad that Mama enjoyed what she was doing. The front lawn didn't have much moss anymore as she had grass and assorted plants. She put in a walkway down to the transplanted mailbox in front of the house. The oak trees were still in the front yard though and provided shade still.
The backyard had an assortment of plants waiting for their beds or already in their areas. Papa, my stepfather, was a tree surgeon who also couldn't resist a plant that needed care. He brought home many a free plant that others felt were past their prime. Somehow in that sandy soil, Papa and Mama made them grow.
As an adult with land of my own again, I find I have married a man who enjoys finding bargain plants, many of which others would think well past their prime. They maybe are past their prime for this season or the times when he purchases them, but I take them and put them in the ground and see what will happen. Sometimes they grow and give me blooms and joy the following spring. Sometimes they die.... but that is the nature of plants. I never thought I would be one to enjoy digging in the dirt and trying to figure out flower beds and where things will do best.
Honestly I don't plan much. I sort of look and see where I think I would like to see flowers the next spring or where something looks a little too bare for my taste. Then I put a plant in the area. I have a lot of bulb plants. I like them because they don't take a lot of care. You plant them in the ground and they grow. Sometimes you have to split them off after a while, but I love the look of a very full bulb bed as I call them. Mixtures of crocus and daffydils and tulips and iris and hyacinth bless me every spring when they come up. The little shoots of green leaves coming up through the frosted earth and then the buds bursting forth into a riot of color give me such joy.
The summer months bring my roses to bloom. They grow and send forth buds and flowers in an assortment of colors and varieties. The fall brings me mums and pruning of my other flowers to get them ready for winter.
Oddly, I am turning into a gardener of sorts.... or maybe I just like the sight and scents of the flowers.