Gardening Tips from my Mother

If we don't learn about gardening from our parents, who do we learn from? We can go to college, become an apprentice, and work as a horticulturist for many years. But some gardening skills can only be learnt over time in the garden.

My mother has spent most of her life in or around gardens. As a snow bird she grows plants on the bumper of her trailer. At home, she and her husband have a very productive vegetable garden, and an ever-changing herbaceous border.

For a few years now, I have chosen to give my mother a plant for her garden. The first year I remember doing this, it was a bearded iris. That has now spread along the bank sloping down to the mighty Fraser. Another year, I gave her an Osteospermum daisy, which thrilled, but only for one year. Yet another time, there was a grafted Japanese wisteria, which perished in the cold Hope winter. The next year it was replaced by a real old-fashioned one, which still hasn't bloomed, but is still living, fills a trellis very nicely, and protects the side bed from wind. There were rose-of-sharon, a clump of unknown potentilla, and many others. This year, I was wondering what to give her; alas - her garden is full.

Instead of a plant, this year I give my mother a reminder of all the useful advice she has given me over the years, from day one in Toronto, to the present day in beautiful East Vancouver. Happy Mother's Day Mum - I love you.

1969 to 1974

• Wait till the grapes are ripe to eat them please
• Don't walk on the newly-seeded lawn at the Cohens' place
• Hens and chicks are full of water
• Ants crawl up and down yuccas to find the nectar

1974 to 1980 - Vancouver

• Slugs are slimy and hard to wash off, so just leave them alone
• Snails are just slugs in a shell, so they can be picked up
• Mrs. Lily's apples are so good because they are special hybrids and probably grafted. Mr. Cook sprays them with something too.
• Quinces look pretty in the spring but they are very sour to eat
• Cut off rhubarb flowers when they grow
  The copyright of the article Gardening Tips from my Mother in Perennials is owned by Jojo Sigurgeirson. Permission to republish Gardening Tips from my Mother in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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