PLANTING SOMETHING IN SPRING BRINGS REWARDS AND JOY....
By Olivene Godfrey
I love Spring with its new greenery and flowers in bloom and warm weather despite allergy attacks at this time of year.
For years, my late husband, Ralph, had small, but bountiful, vegetable gardens at the edge of our yard near a wooded area where the soil was rich and good for growing veggies. Ralph's tomatoes were beautiful and tasty and perfect for slicing. His tomato plants produced more than we could eat so we gave a way a lot of them. Ralph also grew good crops of squash, okra, green beans, cucumbers and more. Some years he planted potatoes and corn and one year tried growing watermelons but that didn't turn out too well. He enjoyed working in the garden until he got ill. Even then, the first year he wasn't able to plant the garden himself, he gave son Barry instructions of how to plant a garden and that was his last garden.
Now the trees near the garden spot are so large they shade the garden spot and it doesn't get enough sun to grow a garden.
This year, our second spring without Ralph, Barry planted two tomatoes plants in a large container which he put on the patio in a sunny spot so he can keep a close watch on them. If the two plants produce a lot of tomatoes, we will once again give some away for the enjoyment of our friends.
For years, I had a flower bed near the house. At that time, my mother, who died in 2000, lived a few miles from our house. In the spring, I would pick her up one pretty day and we would do to a nursery that has healthy pretty bedding plants and hanging baskets of flowers. We were like kids in a toy store as we browsed in the greenhouse. When we left the nursery, my car and trunk would be filled with plants and baskets. As soon as possible when I returned home, I would plant the flowers in the flower bed that had been tilled by Barry or Ralph.
I had to work on my knees in the soil but I thoroughly enjoyed it and watching the small flowers and baskets of flowers grow brought me much pleasure.
One year, after the flowers in the bed had died. I filled several large paper bags with seeds. The next spring, I sent seeds to relatives in Georgia and Florida and they had pretty gardens that year from my seeds. As I grew older, and arthritis began to plague me, I could no longer have a flower bed. Now, I have pots of plants on the patio which we bring into the garage in the winter. This past Mother's day Barry gave me a pretty basket of white impatiens. (He also took me out to lunch at the Piccadilly Cafeteria in Chattanooga which I enjoyed very much.
Barry rescued a pitiful looking impatiens plant that had refused to die last fall. He has been putting Miracle Grow on the plant and it is perking up.
I have three pots of what Mother and I called the "purple plant"
because of its rich purple leaves. In the sunshine, the plants also produce a tiny pink flower. Mother had given me a cutting and from that, I have three large pots of what I now know is commonly called Purple Heart and the scientific name is Setreased purperpurea. It survives the winters in the garage after being trimmed down a lot. Ralph's sister, Agnes Nichols, who lived in Florida for many years, says that the Purple Heart lived in her yard there. Barry told me this week that he saw pots of the Purple Heart on sale at a K Mart store in nearby Dalton, GA. I have never seen the plant in a gardening center or nursery and had never heard of it until Mother gave me a cutting from one of her plants.
I have a large asparagus fern that I started from seeds 26 years ago and it gets huge every summer on the patio. It has red berries on it during the winters in the garage and pretty tiny white blossoms in the summer.
My Christmas cactus is about 20 years old and is a huge plant that is spectacular when in full bloom around Thanksgiving.
It is rewarding and joyful to watch something grow and thrive under our fingertips.
See you next week.
By Olivene Godfrey
I love Spring with its new greenery and flowers in bloom and warm weather despite allergy attacks at this time of year.
For years, my late husband, Ralph, had small, but bountiful, vegetable gardens at the edge of our yard near a wooded area where the soil was rich and good for growing veggies. Ralph's tomatoes were beautiful and tasty and perfect for slicing. His tomato plants produced more than we could eat so we gave a way a lot of them. Ralph also grew good crops of squash, okra, green beans, cucumbers and more. Some years he planted potatoes and corn and one year tried growing watermelons but that didn't turn out too well. He enjoyed working in the garden until he got ill. Even then, the first year he wasn't able to plant the garden himself, he gave son Barry instructions of how to plant a garden and that was his last garden.
Now the trees near the garden spot are so large they shade the garden spot and it doesn't get enough sun to grow a garden.
This year, our second spring without Ralph, Barry planted two tomatoes plants in a large container which he put on the patio in a sunny spot so he can keep a close watch on them. If the two plants produce a lot of tomatoes, we will once again give some away for the enjoyment of our friends.
For years, I had a flower bed near the house. At that time, my mother, who died in 2000, lived a few miles from our house. In the spring, I would pick her up one pretty day and we would do to a nursery that has healthy pretty bedding plants and hanging baskets of flowers. We were like kids in a toy store as we browsed in the greenhouse. When we left the nursery, my car and trunk would be filled with plants and baskets. As soon as possible when I returned home, I would plant the flowers in the flower bed that had been tilled by Barry or Ralph.
I had to work on my knees in the soil but I thoroughly enjoyed it and watching the small flowers and baskets of flowers grow brought me much pleasure.
One year, after the flowers in the bed had died. I filled several large paper bags with seeds. The next spring, I sent seeds to relatives in Georgia and Florida and they had pretty gardens that year from my seeds. As I grew older, and arthritis began to plague me, I could no longer have a flower bed. Now, I have pots of plants on the patio which we bring into the garage in the winter. This past Mother's day Barry gave me a pretty basket of white impatiens. (He also took me out to lunch at the Piccadilly Cafeteria in Chattanooga which I enjoyed very much.
Barry rescued a pitiful looking impatiens plant that had refused to die last fall. He has been putting Miracle Grow on the plant and it is perking up.
I have three pots of what Mother and I called the "purple plant"
because of its rich purple leaves. In the sunshine, the plants also produce a tiny pink flower. Mother had given me a cutting and from that, I have three large pots of what I now know is commonly called Purple Heart and the scientific name is Setreased purperpurea. It survives the winters in the garage after being trimmed down a lot. Ralph's sister, Agnes Nichols, who lived in Florida for many years, says that the Purple Heart lived in her yard there. Barry told me this week that he saw pots of the Purple Heart on sale at a K Mart store in nearby Dalton, GA. I have never seen the plant in a gardening center or nursery and had never heard of it until Mother gave me a cutting from one of her plants.
I have a large asparagus fern that I started from seeds 26 years ago and it gets huge every summer on the patio. It has red berries on it during the winters in the garage and pretty tiny white blossoms in the summer.
My Christmas cactus is about 20 years old and is a huge plant that is spectacular when in full bloom around Thanksgiving.
It is rewarding and joyful to watch something grow and thrive under our fingertips.
See you next week.
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