Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Garden stroll , 1 by ViburnumValley

ViburnumValley wrote:
Well, good thing there were folks like Gertrude Jekyll, Beatrix Farrand, Marian Coffin, Lucy Braun, Mary Wharton, Julia Child, Marie Curie, Enid Yandell, and possibly a host of others who saw their way through such things and blazed a trail. I bet any of you could name a few or score.

I read about many of these kinds of women in little biography books that I used to carry home by the dozen from the Carnegie Library when I was in early grade school. Insatiable, I was.

Much of what is different today is that such things and people are discussed for inspiration, rather than ridicule or curiosity or stereotyping.

My 83 year old mother was recently observed on a stepladder cleaning her gutters/downspouts during a bout of heavy rain - alone at her home of nearly 50 years. Indomitable to a fault, she was a full time housewife to 10 of us and my cantankerous late father after completing her pharmacy degree at the University of Wisconsin (proud Badger class of '53).

In all her free time (!) she gardened. Loved her a flock of flowers, many of which she propagated from her mother's garden in Wisconsin - and still shares with us today. We had most of the bones (trees, shrubs) already in place when we moved to Kentucky, but she has added favorites as editing and vacancies created spots.

I think that there is a blend in all of us, tilting one way or another at times, but always a quest for some type of balance. Except maybe those people who remain in Wisconsin...

Mom, ever vigilant with replanting the front spring shrub border at Silver Hill (Malus 'Orange Crush', stage right).