Thursday, March 29, 2012

Me

Here is my green onion experiment. Growing nicely.


I was on Vintage Garden Gal's blog and she did a review of Sunset's new garden guide and asked for us to share what their garden books have meant to us. I thought this was written just for me. Mine is my gardening bible and I have had it and poured through it for almost twenty years.
I thought I would share my comment as it it so perfectly explains me. Sometimes I think I have been born in the wrong era and most certainly the wrong part of the country. My dream has always been to be a country girl.
But I grow where I am planted and that is a lesson a long time coming. You have to make the best of where God has placed you on this earth.
Here was my comment:

What a treat for you. As for my old, about 20 years old, Sunset garden guide, it is so dog-eared and underlined. I have studied that book many a year. I may not know a Marc whatever purse and rarely visit a Nordstrom, but take me to the nursery and I know the names of most flowers and can get lost in the aisles of blooming color and veggies. My guide has been by my side as I have tended a garden as a newly wed and now 23 years later, I still refer to it to see if I can plant a tree here or shrub there. I always save all the plant markers that come in my pots if I buy a new to me plant and then pull my guide to read as much as I can on the plant. I guess with all the new plants introduced, I could use a new guide. I would never part with my old one as my notes in it journal my garden's journey and my tastes over the years. 


My garden is my refuge. If my house is crazy I just step outside and pull of few weeds. The soil and plants get me. When both my parents were dying from cancer and I knew I was going to lose both of them very close together, I maintained my garden and had my most beautiful yard ever that year. It was as if the only place I could totally forget was at the nursery and tending my blooms. My yard was stunning. When my dad passed we had his memorial on the patio he put in and I had zinnias blooming all over perfectly timed for that day. As if God had it all in His master plan. They have never bloomed as pretty since.


My old neighbor sends me pictures of my old wisteria every year blooming in our old back yard. She can see it perfectly on our former patio cover. It is stunning. We moved before it really took off. We have been enjoying warm sunny days this week out back with the chickens and I just sit and for some reason I can breathe deeply out there. It is for sure my stress reducer for life. What is yours? Do you have a garden addiction like me?

Linking to:
Thrifty Thursday
A Glimpse Inside
Home Sweet Home
Show and Tell Friday

22 comments:

  1. Oh I too LOVE being outside in the gardens!!
    It certainly soothes my soul.

    I wanted to invite you to my new blog (the old one is staying private.. just for the fam).
    It's pretty much the same ol me :)
    Click on my name next to my comment, or find me at
    always fixin never sittin blogspot.

    Looking forward to your visit :)

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  2. I don't have a garden addiction, but my dad did. He had the most beautiful yards, wherever he lived, and people used to drive by just to see his rose garden. He had an 11 acre peach orchard, and when the trees bloomed, it was a sight to behold. I wish I had inherited his love of gardening. He also died of cancer, much too young.
    nancyr

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  3. Interesting post. My husband, who died of cancer 2 1/2 years ago, planted a hydrangea in our front yard. I have a picture of us standing in front of it the last spring of his life and that bush was never more beautiful and bountiful. It has never bloomed to that amount of glory again. I always wondered why.

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  4. Me too although it's been really hard to garden down here but I'm getting used to it. When you come from the Midwest, it's easy to be a good gardener...in the South it takes real talent to make stuff grow so my hat's off to you Southern gardeners with red soil and rocks! LOL!
    My favorite gardening book has always been The Victory Garden and I have 2 of them. One, about 30 years old or older and then I got the newer addition about 10 years ago. I grew up around stoic, hardworking people who worked their hands when things got tough.....there was no gossip or blaming and complaining....they just worked it right out of themselves and I try to do the same.

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  5. I love flowers and do have some, but I am not a gardener. I don't like the creepys in the dirt....but I admire anyone who has a beautiful garden...I know it is a lot of work and love that goes into it.

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  6. hi
    i love gardening too. i love the blue
    white and pink flower in the pott,
    the radish and the green onion looking great.
    happy gardening,
    love regina

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  7. You sound so much like me! I am so addicted to gardens and plants! I could sit outside forever. We don't have much lawn left. It has all been made into beds. We travel alot in our state to find new plants and have found some that I don't see for 5+ years after we already have them in our gardens. (in nurseries for this part of the state). Somehow they all seem to make it. My husband laughs as I never seem to go out there without my camera. Plants just amaze me! I am a country girl at heart.

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  8. what a beautiful post, this is the reason we love you, you write as you are,

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  9. I love a beautiful garden - but am NOT a gardener. I usually can get potted plants to grow and I have a few out. However, we have concentrated so much on the interior of our home since we bought it about a year and a half ago (completely gutted the interior and started over) that we have not done that much outside. Maybe we will start on that this year! I "hopped" over from Thrifty Decorating blog hop - would love if you can come visit me!
    Thanks and Hugs -
    Carol

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  10. Everything looks so beautiful and green for you already!
    I gardening and canned 'big time' when our children were at home, but
    when we got into business I didn't have time. I miss it so...much. I come from a family of farmers and gardeners.
    I love your story you shared of your father's memorial service. God does surely work wonders with his hands, and just when we need it.
    You got your chickens???

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  11. We are still in a bit of a cold snap so the plants have stopped growning at this point.
    Can't wait lucky you. You have some wonderful colors
    Cathy

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  12. We are still in a bit of a cold snap so the plants have stopped growning at this point.
    Can't wait lucky you. You have some wonderful colors
    Cathy

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  13. I don't have a garden addiction but you are seriously leading me into one! Love your flowers, and love the idea of having that book to teach me how-to. My thumb has never been green, but perhaps with that book! Thanks for sharing. Hugs ~ Mary

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  14. I'd love to see pics of your garden areas! I live in the desert and gardening is a struggle here, but I plant veggies every year.

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  15. You have a green thumb girl! I grew up in a crowded neighborhood of bird boxes. I remember telling my mother once that when I left to be on my own I was NOT going to live in a bird box like she did. Yes, she was not happy when I said that. I got married to a Southerner and he was raised on his families good old garden produce, but it took us many years to get out here in the country to raise a garden. The very first one was planted while we were putting in our basement. I remember my father-in-law walking through our corn and bragging about "what a fine patch of corn we had!" It was over his head and he was a tall man. Our children planted seeds, radishes and carrots, and they loved watching the seeds grow. They loved helping when it came time to dig the potatoes, and they loved picking strawberries. My family became spoiled with home made spaghetti sauce and our own potatoes. We always shared, because there was plenty of extras to go around. One year I filled every canning jar and freezer container I owned. If times got hard there was always something in the freezer or the pantry. Even if people don't have a garden space they can do container planting. Where there is a will, there is a way. I am so sorry to hear that you have lost your parents. I imagine when you worked among your flowers and in the yard there was a lot of prayers being whispered.
    (((HUGS))) Susanne :)

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  16. At the worst times of my life I went to exactly the same place. If I couldn't keep the beings I loved alive, I could nurture some plants. Aw, you made me cry. ~ Maureen

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  17. Oh Elaine, you have such beautiful flowers and gardens. I am a little weepy eyed right now knowing about both your parents, but love knowing you have such sweet memories of your flowers and garden to make it easier. My thoughts are with you and love knowing your gardens make you happy. Mine do too, I love to garden and plant flowers and watch things grow and bloom. Don't know what I'd do without it. Hugs sweet lady.

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  18. We are kindred spirits, Elaine! There is something about gardening that just warms my soul. It's actually hard to describe, but I love everything about it, even weeding.
    I enjoy seeing pictures of your gardens and the chicks. Thanks for sharing this part of your life with us.

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  19. I have a garden addiction, but it's not to my own garden. It's to the gardens of others. I do love to see things growing. I just have a brown thumb.

    I can grow squash well. That's about it. But I try!

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  20. Your flowers look so beautiful. I can't wait until we can safely start planting here.
    Laura

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  21. I love the garden too. I hate the cleaning up which I am having to do now but I love the picking the flowers and making bouquets which comes later. I think it is so sweet your former neighbor sends you pictures of your previous wistera!

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  22. So beautiful! Thank you for linking up to Home Sweet Home!
    Sherry

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