Gardening–A Summer Delight

Gardening—A Summer Delight

By Alice Jane-Marie Massa

                When I was growing up in my small rural community of Blanford, Indiana, every house had a garden; and from early spring until late autumn, gardening was a major topic of discussion.  I come from a long line of gardeners.  The bountiful gardens I recall were picture-perfect—no weeds, no unwanted bugs.  Besides the plentiful vegetable gardens, flower gardening brought extra touches of beauty to our rural community’s landscape.

                Although my container gardens are much smaller than the gardens of my ancestors, I get a lot of mileage from talking about my gardens, one located on my front porch and the other displayed behind my townhouse.  People often tell me that I have a green thumb.  Then, I wonder:  “Only one green thumb?  I thought I had at least two green thumbs.”  Perhaps, I am just a lucky gardener who finds gardening easy, but immensely relaxing and satisfying.

                Each year, I try to plant something new in at least one container.  Last summer, following the tradition of my maternal grandmother, I planted zinnia seeds for the first time.  Just like the year when I grew parsley, I discovered that I was allergic to zinnias.  This year, following the tradition of my mother’s growing marigolds, I planted one large and one smaller container of marigold seeds on June 15; within five days, in the midst of one of our heat waves of this summer, my marigolds sprouted.  News flash from the garden!  Finally, on August 1, I felt a bud midst the lush foliage; alas, on August 3, the first little marigold blossomed after an overnight rainstorm.  Now, my marigolds have a wealth of buds.  However, these marigolds seem to be a different variety from the ones my mother planted. 

Since I have discovered that I enjoy planting from seeds, I think future gardens will involve more seeds and less transplants.  At the grocery store of my grandmother and Uncle Pete, when I was a child, numerous packets of seeds were arranged in a two-decked display.  My cousin Carole and I used to play a pretend game of selling seeds.  From the colorful pictures and names on the packets, I learned a variety of flowers and vegetables, some of which were never grown by anyone whom I knew.

Never  on one of those seed packets was the herbaceous perennial Lamb’s Ear, which became another new addition to my 2022 garden—thanks to my friends Sue and John.  This herb, indeed, added a new touch to my garden because Lamb’s Ear has thick, fuzzy, and especially soft foliage which is silvery (silvery green) in color.

The typical other herbs in my garden are two containers of basil, two of rosemary, one sage, one spearmint, and two containers of lavender.  For several years, I have kept the tradition of purchasing lavender plants around Mother’s Day; thus, the lavender plants are the harbingers of my gardening season.  Now the lavender plants have grown so large that I should really have them in an even bigger container—a plan for my 2023 garden. 

Besides the fragrant herbs, my garden spotlights pink, white, and coral geraniums—six in all.  I must say that I greatly enjoy playing “Musical Chairs” with all of my containers, statue of my “Garden-ian Angel,” statue of Saint Francis of Assisi, and lawn furniture (including three café tables).  Yes, I really like to arrange and re-arrange my container gardens as the flowers and herbs grow and change and as the weather changes.  Of course, I also am quite pleased to give garden tours in person or via Facetime. 

Rosemary is for remembrance; and while I am gardening, I often lovingly remember my relatives who were outstanding gardeners.

Happy gardening!

Alice and Leader Dog Willow

August 10, 2022, Wednesday

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