I opened my mailbox today to find the Lowe's Creative Ideas Catalog staring me in the face. Normally I look forward to receiving the free publication, but as I am feeling the spring itch become more fervent, I reluctantly perused the pages over an afternoon cup of coffee. Bright blooms and creeping ground cover stared back at me from nearly every page and all I wanted to do was get to my car and head to the local store to stockpile my barren gardens, pots and planters with all the color that I could find! I do this every year, sometimes two or three times per year, depending on how many times I kill everything in my garden.
Luckily, though, my mother in-law is a fantastic gardener! Now, I'm not talking about your run of the mill home gardener, she worked for a landscaper and acquired a lifetime of botanical knowledge in a few short years; her gardens are a testament to her tremendous patience and love of all things growing. Living out in the "forest", as my two year old says, each season that comes gives way to a new performance in her gardens. Trees, shrubs, seedums, grasses, blooms, "moonbeam coriopsis", all alive and thriving in harmony with the seasons. It is like my own private paradise when I travel to their home. The mornings are especially fantastic in the spring and early summer. I get up before the kids and take my coffee out to the wrap around porch and I truly feel as if I might melt into the scenery. Whenever I feel like the world is closing in on me, I know that I can hop in my car and be in my own slice of heaven in less than two hours. The simple thought of knowing that it is there and within reach, even if I don't go, makes it that much more special- like I have a little secret that no one else knows. My mother in-law is the closest thing to family that I have in the whole area. She seems to understand me and is nurturing and accepting, funny and adventurous and a wonderful grandmother to my kids. But it is her gardens that make me stop and think; slow my life down to a crawl and just be.
Seeing as how I am forever pestering her for tips and advice on what I should and should not plant, where to plant and how hardy it is (ie: how easy will it be for me to kill it), she has started giving me trimmings and clippings that have, for the most part, worked out well as long as I follow her instructions for care and maintenance. Now, me being me, I often forget my instructions and have to call her and describe the plants' symptoms and what I did not do and she tells me if I can save it (or not). She is so patient with me, God love her. She will be in town tomorrow. I wonder if I can convince her to go plant shopping with me? I think I know what she will say- that it is too early, yet. But I want some color! I'm dying in this sea of dreary bile green that is supposed to be my lawn! The garden is a mud pit! My mulch chips need to be refreshed with fresh cedar! All of my herbs have died! I wonder if they will come back? I will have to ask her about that.
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