"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it brings."

Monday, November 2, 2009

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.

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27 comments:

  1. Great post, Catherine. I didn't think about the plants in my garden that came from the gardens of patients' families when I was making my 10 things: tiny cuttings now 10 feet tall, reseeders than never fail to return, perennials.

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  2. Good Morning Catherine, It's fun to learn more about you and how your love of gardening evolved over the years. Great photos to go along with the history too. I find as I grow older how much "company" a garden can be. As you say, different flowers remind us of loved ones and the garden is just a peaceful place to be. Enjoy your day.

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  3. These are very good memories Catherine. I especially like number 9...I love plants with (someone) attached tothem!

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  4. This is wonderful! I really enjoyed reading this interesting history. Also the front of the house in SoCal with the rock facade and fleur-de-lys tiles really rocks! That stuff is so cool to me now. I grew up in Santa Monica and have lots of visual neighborhood memories that are similar. If I can scratch up some extra time this week I will consider myself tagged and go ahead and write up something about my gardening touchstones. This was a great post, I really enjoy your writing.

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  5. What a nice and well thought out post. I loved the pictures from your past. My grandparents sound like yours. They lived on the border of Canada but my grandmother's family is all Canadian. And my grandparents also had a creek and saved coffee grounds and eggshells. Remember when they made the coffee in percolators? Such great memories. It is so nice you can remember patients and friends and family with plants.

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  6. I love this! I think I will have to do one too.

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  7. What a nice post! I loved reading about how you were influenced by those around you. Although my father had a love of gardening and plants it was really my Mother-in-Law that got me interested in gardening. She is so creative in her gardening that I couldn't help but to be inspired by her. -Jackie

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  8. What a wonderful post..and such an adorable photo!! aww! Lovely to hear more about you and your adventures! Great job!

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  9. How lovely to learn more about you, Catherine and the influences on your love of gardening.

    It's interesting that the tree stump was so important in the development of your imagination through play. And I like the idea of using walnut shells as boats! I think these kind of toys and imaginative play are so important - much more than the commercial toys one can buy!

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  10. Hi Catherine, this was so enjoyable to learn more about you and your feelings about gardening. I think of your mother trying to garden with all those moves. It sounds like the final move waa the best, being close to grandparents. A happy tale indeed. :-)
    Frances

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  11. Catherine, you are so clever! What a great way to do the 10 new things. I really loved reading how your passion for gardening started. You wrote it very well and it shows a great progression from child to amazing gardener that you now are.

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  12. Catherine, it is great to be able to know you better. That's why I like reading about these awards posts. You have written it well and thanks for peek into your personal life . Cheers!

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  13. It sounds like you moved as often as we did. We were military and moved at least every 3 years. But we loved it.

    I enjoyed your post very much. It is fun when we start remembering when we got interested in gardening, why the interest grew, and how we sustain it now.

    Thanks for sharing.

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  14. this is wonderful! I loved reading this and getting to know you better!

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  15. Catherine, I loved this post and learning about you~ I'm from St Louis and gardening there would be very different from the Pacific NW~~I have great memories of wildlife and adventures wandering around at my cousins country home. Letting folks decide to join the awards and memes is a great idea! gail

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  16. Girl, you moved around alot! I can sooo relate, being an army brat myself! It forces us to make friends more easily, does it not? I LOVE the pictures you dug up...cute youngster, you!

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  17. "Sharing what you grow and what you know," you said. I love that! What a wonderful thing for people to do. I love the idea of the White House victory garden. I was so in hopes they'd do that. Like you, I've been interested in growing things since I was young. Great post!
    Brenda

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  18. Great post as usual Catherine. Loved the pics of you as a child and of your Nana.
    Funny how we remember things in our yards growing up that we never forget. Now I think most kids just remember which screen they look at to play what game.

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  19. These were fun facts to read Catherine. My grandfather was my poppa too! He and my grandmother were both avid gardeners. I think I inherited some of my green thumb from them.

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  20. Catherine, I enjoyed reading this post about you and the events and people in your life that have affected your interests in gardening and birds and life in general. It is very true that our life experiences are reflected in our passions and interests... little reminders of great memories. You are such a nice person. Thank you for sharing. :-)

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  21. Hi Catherine~~ I really enjoyed this. You've got such a rich history of gardening and learning and evolving into the gardener you are now and teaching your daughters to follow the same path. Don't you just love having a fenced plot of land to call your own and do with as you please? It's one of the greatest joys, I think. And to see our little ones playing carefree, is a huge blessing.

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  22. This was so wonderful. I really enjoyed the spin you put on this it was very interesting. I really felt like I learned something about you and I have a deeper appreciation for why you garden. I wish I had such cherished memories of gardening. Thank you for taking the time to put this together and writing such a lovely post.
    OK after that niceness... I just can't help it, I must be honest. I am laughing with fondness at Nana's outfit. Man does that bring back memories! LOL ;-)

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  23. Catherine, I especially liked the part about your grandparents and their garden. The photo of your Nana is special. Nice of you to take the time to tell us all these interesting things about yourself. What a cute little blondie you were when young.

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  24. Catherine,
    What a cute little girl you were! I love these kinds of awards and learning fascinating tidbits about you is fun! Glad you shared it.
    Rosey

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  25. Hello Catherine,

    I loved your Honest Scrap! Guess what? I am from Woodland Hills, CA. Just a few miles from Sherman Oaks. Small world...

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  26. Hi Catherine, I really enjoyed reading your post today and seeing how you got to be the gardener you are today.

    I had a very outdoorsy chilghood too and reading about tree trunk stages and walnut shell boats brought it all back to me and has left me smiling :)

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  27. Wonderful to read about your formative years, Catherine. Those that had positive experiences in the garden at an early age most often try to regain that paradise lost.

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