It’s Mother’s
Day. My sweet children are still
asleep. That would be because our family
has slipped into our growing season routine of staying up late because Mom is
working till dark every night. This
moment of peace, and the concept that it is a day I should take life at a
slower pace being it’s Mother’s day and all, mean that I have a moment to
write. But don’t let that fool ya. I still have tons of planting on the schedule
for today. I’m just giving the family a
chance to wake up and order me back to bed for breakfast prior to getting
covered head to toe in dirt for the day.
For weeks
now, I have been having a reunion out in the flower beds with dear friends and
family. Japanese Roof Iris and Columbine
from Susie, Rose Campion from Grandma Sally, Lily of the Valley from my mom’s
old house over on Lily Place, Obedient Plant’s tall spikes also from Grandma
Sally, Bearded Iris from Suzanne, lush Black Eye Susan’s from Daniel….I could
go on forever here. My point is, the
plants in my garden remind me of dear people in my life and on more than one
occasion I have found myself in tears remembering someone special.
One such
plant is an annual that my family calls “Granny Pauline” plant. I actually looked up the real name once and
promptly forgot it. It is related to
Baby’s Breath and is airy and delicate like Baby’s Breath but has tiny hot pink
flowers. The family story is that Granny
Pauline was at a funeral, saw this plant in an arrangement and slyly stole a
piece of it, carefully sandwiching the tiny seed heads in the pages of her
Bible. She got the plant started and it
has just kind of been in the family since then.
My Grandmother LaMuriel really liked this plant. When she passed last year, my sister &
Mom harvested big armfuls of this plant and jazzed up the traditional arrangement
that the florist had done for Grandma’s casket.
It was beautiful. Grandma would
have loved it. So this year, I’ve been
waiting to see Granny Pauline show her lovely face. I had it in one of my raised beds last year
and since it is an annual that freely self seeds, I’ve just been waiting for it
to make a debut before cultivating and planting that bed. I spotted her yesterday. So today, friends, that bed is first on the
list. I will gently dig her out, cultivate
that bed and put her back in that newly enriched composty goodness. And probably shed a few tears for Grandma
while I’m at it.
I will not
be driving home to visit family today. I
will save that for a rainy day or a day a few weeks from now when the majority
of my summer garden is already planted.
I could get discouraged about this…the lack of time. But just last night our two youngest kids
played “Peter Rabbit” in the garden while I worked. Of course I was Mr. McGregor and all I had to
do was say “Stop thief!” and wave my hoe wildly in the air a few times to keep
them entertained. I have to remind
myself that I am present while I earn money and food and that is exactly what
we wanted for our family. So today, I
will reunite with the plants and keep that Granny Pauline going for the next
generation. One day, in a future closer
than I care for it to be, I will help my children get it started in their own
gardens. Happy Mother’s Day all!
