Today, I’m participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop, and I chose this prompt:
3.) Do you have a green thumb? Tell us what kind of gardener you are.
You may recall I’ve mentioned that my Mom was one of twelve children. They were a farming family, and most of them continued to have vegetable and/or flower gardens when they were well into their eighties.
Although I don’t claim to have inherited their green thumbs, I do enjoy dabbling with flowers. Many times when I’m out planting, watering or trimming, I’m reminded of the flowers my mom, her sisters and my grandma grew.
So, what type of gardener does this make me? I’m not sure, but definitely one who’s reminded of her ancestors as she goes about her little gardening tasks.
When we’re in the midst of a “dry spell”, and I’m hopeful praying for a rain shower, it’s the same feeling I’m sure they had many times. And when I smile at a perennial’s first little green sprout in the spring, I know it’s something they smiled about, too.
They, too, saw times that they were dirty, sweaty and exhausted after working outside, but knew all that work was necessary in order to avoid losing something they had planted.
With all that in mind, here’s what’s growing around here these days:
My grandmother always grew gladioli. Mine are doing well this summer…thanks to Liquid Fence. Without that, the glads would have been deer dinner weeks ago.
The little yellow vine is a black-eyed susan. It has quite a task this summer to climb that trellis, but it’s off to a good start.
This huge flowerpot is filled with yellow portulaca and a citrus-scented geranium (mosquito plant).
Marshall gave me this hydrangea a few years ago. When he gave it to me, the blooms were blue, but because of our soil, they’re now pink. (My sweet mother called hydrangeas “high geraniums”.) The deer have enjoyed some of the leaves (top right), but left the blooms for me to enjoy.
In honor of my Mom’s family, I’m sharing this next picture, taken recently at Bacon’s Castle. This hydrangea has both pink and blue blooms on the same shrub. Visitors to the Castle have suggested that the lime in nearby bricks may be the reason. I have to wonder if this was growing here all those years ago when Mom and her family called Bacon’s Castle home.
This is a close-up of one of the blue blooms: my very favorite. One day I’ll attempt to adjust our soil, so our hydrangeas will be blue, rather than pink. Or perhaps, I’ll have both colors on the same bush!
No, my thumb would never be that green.
Linking up to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop.
these days of mine 