Tuesday, August 17, 2010

in spring, we'll plant flowers.

My mother-in-law Lorraine (aka Nana) knows a TONNE about gardening. You’d never guess it. I don’t say that because her garden doesn’t look wonderful (oy – double negative), because, it is a very lovely garden. I say that because she doesn’t talk about it all that much. Not until you start working in the garden with her. Then you realize, holy shit, this woman knows her stuff. This summer, as I hacked and slashed my garden down to nothing, she stood back and let me have at it. Once I was done, she let me know what the names of each of the remaining plants were, whether or not they would grow back next spring, or maybe take a year to recover from my plantslaughter. She showed me how to deadhead the lilac bushes. She hypothesized that the tiger lilies that I had trampled on would probably be just fine (and they are). She reminded me to water the transplanted hostas and new cedar bush and purple fountain grass every day. She also knows when each plant will flower, and what colour it will be. When I was tempted to fill in all of the empty spaces I had just created she gently reminded me that I should wait, because “in spring we’ll plant flowers”.

So I want to remind her of that, because I’ll need her help and her guidance. Stay strong Lorraine, and remember – in spring we’ll plant flowers.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:07 p.m.

    sweet post. very meaningful, kat. hugs!

    - dalia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vanessa8:33 p.m.

    I can't say it better than Dalia said, so yes, what Dalia said.

    ReplyDelete