Gardens (And Garden Stores)

There’s much to be concerned about these days. (These Days, Nico, played that CD over and over. It’s probably in storage now.) Meanwhile, summer on the way. Write as much as I can, get outside, move. This is my time of year. Sunlight earlier, sunset later, on the mansion street where I live.(I surely do not have a mansion, but it’s serene here and a gorgeous evening walk.)

My Father was the most enthusiastic gardener. Nothing but his family made him happier. And he was good, really good, at it. One summer my parents went on a sailing trip and my son and I watched over my Grandmother while they were away. And cared for the vegetable garden next to the lake. Gosh my Dad grew a lot of vegetables. Big, really big, garden. We got a lot of his tomatoes there and roasted by the fire pit. Fresh homegrown tomatoes are so much the best. and with a few mini peppers, a little charcoal, the best summer salads.

A lot of fruit trees, evergreens, peonies, and my life long favorite, pussy willows. Spring.

His Father, my Grandfather, grew raspberry bushes which I actually remember even though I was probably only six or seven years old.

Summers, we would pull blueberries into buckets in Michigan and eat half of them on the car ride home. My aunt would look at our tongues and told us we’d got blueberry-berry, which we found hilarious.

Summer coming, the pull of garden store oases is absolutely irresistible.

In Austin, it was The Great Outdoors. In Champaign, it is Prairie Gardens. Wander, wish, soak up the peace, take home living greens. My go-to-s are jade plants and a home-sized cypress tree in my Father’s memory.

I’ve still got mulch in rose gold pots from my last time in Austin. Came in the moving van. Love those pots. Probably could ditch the mulch, clean the pots, buy new potting soil. And those jade plants and that cypress tree will be perfect for the early morning sun, the all day light, the evening sunset. No frying those on an apartment balcony here as I sadly did in Austin. It gets hot there. I’ll take better care. My Dad’s voice will help me with advice.