Happy Mother's Day! Every link in this article rates a so you may read this together.
It all started with the adorable little unidentifed sempervivum in a two-inch pot Nicknames: "Cats and kittens." "Hens and chicks." "Little goobers." How could a gardening mother say no? Then my daughter moved up to the unusual little sedums from the dollar table at the nursery. No harm in that! And then on to the cyclamen seedling (more dollars than she was old). But how charming!
Then the next year she wanted to plant potatoes, so we did that. Next thing I knew it was giant pumpkins. And watermelons and the cucumber from school and the bedding plants.... And to think some people complain about that one lonely little marigold!
Did I mention the umpteen types of green beans? The cherry tomatoes? The curly mint? What's a mother to do? My daughter is a plant collector in the making and it's getting crowded even in this big garden. She has spent so many hours with me at plant stores she knows more than the clerks do. She brings home garden reports when she visits friends. She even knows how to prick out seedlings. (Now that's a skill I can relate to!) But she brings things home and plants things on her own.
This is the same child who planted assorted brooms, rakes and other long-handled, brightly colored garden tools in my garden this week. They were planted business end up with great deliberation and care and really, the colors are cheerful. The tools are planted in the recycled blue plastic barrel where the dwarf bamboo grows because the bamboo is unkillable. It was too rainy to plant so...
We also grow the diamond plant (alchemilla mollis) and poppers (impatiens) - so-called after their explosive seed capsules - chives because they are pickable and daffodils by the dozen. Bouquets for all! Crabapples to float in the pond. Goldfish to look for and waterlilies to hide them under. "Lord Baltimore" hibiscus for the awesome "Mom-it's-as-big-as-a-plate!" red flowers which miraculously appear in the ditch garden.
Dandelions and milkweed to blow on. The mimosa tree for hummingbirds and French fries (the seed pods). Wild strawberries for "civil war stew" and real "Early Glow" strawberries to eat. Also peas for snacking, same for blackberries and raspberries along the edge of the woods. Then there are mixed violas and red tulips for early salads, nasturtiums and dill for tea sandwiches. Paths so overgrown it is over a child's head - truly a jungle. Black walnuts for fruitcake if we can figure out how to crack them.
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