Honest Scrap - 10 experiences that made me the gardener I am.

I was tagged by Lynn of Best in Bloom Today to tell about 7 things you don't know about me, then Janie from An Obsessive/Compulsive plant collector tagged me for Honest Scrap, then Noelle from Plant Tips and Guidelines for the Desert Garden tagged me as well. It's not that I didn't want to do this, but more about trying to think of 7, now 10 interesting things about me.

I decided I would try to make it garden related and share some of the experiences that formed me into the type of gardener I've become.


The 10 experiences formed me into the type of gardener I am:

1. When I was 4 our family moved from Washington state to Southern California. The first memory of our backyard I have was of a large tree stump surrounded by lots of grass. My sister and I used that stump as our stage to sing on. Looking back I realized how important having a place for kids to play outside was. That stump made us use our imagination and even though I remember there being a swing set, the tree stump is what I clearly remember the most.

2. The next house I remember living in was in Sherman Oaks, California. I think I remember it most because of the front yard. We had a huge Walnut tree that my sister and I would use the shells from to make sailboats. We would sail them down the gutter on rainy days. We had many large palm trees surrounded by white cinder block walls that served as our make believe horse stable. Another place to use our imaginations, we spent most of our free time outside playing.

In Southern California, I can still smell the geraniums that grew in this planter.

3. When I was in fourth grade we moved again, this time to St. Louis, Missouri for a year. There I remember a whole different type of outdoors. I remember seeing rabbits and snakes in our yard. A friend and I once found a nest of baby rabbits and before we knew better we petted them. Once we learned that we shouldn't touch baby animals we worried that the mother wouldn't come back. Here I learned about wildlife and the respect we need to have for it.

4. One year later our family moved back to Washington state to stay to a city about 15 miles north of Seattle. Here is where I remember my Mom really having the time to spend making our garden pretty. We had raspberries, an apple tree and a pear tree that came with our yard. She spent hours on the weekends weeding, edging, spreading compost, pruning and planting flowers. This part of being outside didn't appeal to me as a kid. I do remember her letting me help choose flowers and giving me my own space for a vegetable garden. That part seemed much more fun than the chores. Now I know that the chores need to be done so we can enjoy the fun parts of gardening. Too bad I didn't realize that then, and wouldn't have complained so much when my parents asked me to help outside.

5. My grandparents lived in Canada, just a couple of hours from where we lived. They always had lots of space to garden in. I enjoyed listening to them talk about all the things growing in their gardens. I remember my Poppa had a greenhouse and that our Nana sent coffee grounds, egg shells and other kitchen scraps to him to use in his compost pile. They had flowers and vegetables growing there. They had a creek running through their yard too where we would catch frogs. Maybe that's where my dream of having water in my garden came from.

A picture I took of my Nana with some of her roses.

6. For several years after high school I lived in different apartments with friends. Then socializing was much more important than gardening, but I do remember even then trying to grow houseplants. I think I actually had some luck with them and even bought some houseplant books and plant fertilizer to see if I could make them look healthier.

7. When I finally had an apartment with a balcony I couldn't wait to try growing my own flowers. I had window boxes and containers lining every spare inch of the small balcony. Unfortunately it was mostly shade and I didn't really know the difference between many plants then. I experimented with different types of plants until after several years I discovered what would grow there.

8. Once my husband and I were married we rented a very tiny house in Seattle with a tiny little yard. The owner had spent a lot of time on the garden and it showed. There I mostly tended to her irises, roses and camellias. I remember that being the first place I hung up a bird feeder and was amazed at how many birds visited. I saw hummingbirds and Northern Flickers there for the first time. I don't think I had really taken the time before that to notice birds in the garden. I bought a book on birds so I could look up what our visitors were. This is where I discovered how much I wanted birds to visit my yard.

9. While I was working as a visiting nurse and traveling around the city of Seattle I learned about another wonderful part of gardening. Sharing what you grow and what you know. Patients and their families would share seeds, produce and flowers with me. Some shared their own love of gardening by pointing out favorite plants. I remember one of my patients showing me a favorite of her's, Pulmonaria. I kept that plant in mind until I had my own garden to plant it in. Now certain plants remind me of those patients.

Pulmonaria

10. Moving into our home 10 years ago is when the world of gardening really opened up to me. Now it was our garden and we could do whatever we wanted with it, and we have! Learning to create flower beds, lay paths, dig ponds, plant trees and flowers. Here I've tried to use all the things I learned in my experiences listed above to create the important parts of gardening. A place to imagine, experiment, learn and share.

Now I'm supposed to name 10 blogs, but I know many people have either been tagged or choose not to participate in memes. If you want to share 10 things about yourself consider yourself tagged and I'd love to learn more about you.