(WantabeGardener) Diana Grundman

Diana Grundman, known to all of DG as WantabeGardener passed away on the 18th. Diana was one of our longest active members, having signed up Sept. 12th, 2001. She was a true ambassador and was responsible for assisting many of our international members with access to our community. Many people from around the world consider her a dear friend and mentor. She was also on hand to wish each DG member a happy birthday and never failed to welcome new members to the community. She was one of those unselfish folks who loved to give and loved sending surprises to her friends. She was a credit to our community and we should all aspire to be more like her.

Our dear friend Jianhua in China wrote this beautiful tribute to her and I have his permission to repost it here.

I wish I could say I knew her personally, but I didn't. I did see many of her posts over on the birthday forum, and thanks to her diligence, I remembered many a birthday through her birthday greetings.

She's what gardening is all about. She's certainly sowed and reaped more than flowers in her garden. I know she continues to garden in God's garden. Thanks for sharing your memories with us, Jianhua. I'm so sorry for your loss and am sending my sympathy to her family.
Hugs&blessings ... ~Susan

Sorry to hear this. She sounds like she was a very sweet lady.
Will be praying for her and her family.

First of all, thanks very much for Melody to start this thread in which we gardeners can recall this friendly lady and gardener. And thank all who join in and share with us.
As a long time testing friend of her, though we never met with each other face to face, we developed a deep and steady friendship via gardening issues in Dave's Garden. In the following posts I will bring to you some of my recollections of the yesterday's happy journey between us.
Picture: Daylily (xuan cao) blooms taken in my yarden on June 21. Daylily is traditionally regarded as a bloom in China for an elderly female , especially for Mom.

She is a kind grandma.
After graduating from high school, Maegan her granddaughter got married and divorced, leaving a baby for her to take care of. ' Maegan makes me worried most,' Diana told me in an email, 'I must do what I can to help her for I am her grandma.' Later I knew that she regularly sent her money and that the grandma often invited her and the baby to her home. It was her money and words of comforts that helped granddaughter through the hard time.
Picture: Diana with her granddaughter Maegan (2001)

She is in harmony with her husband.
At their 45th wedding anniversary, she emailed me: Gary and I have lived through hand in hand 45 years, and we are always in harmony.
True. I once received a few pictures of them doing gardening or birding or cooking together. What a good couple! They set an example.
Picture: The couple at a party

She likes giving.
When she heard that I would arrange my yarden, she immediately sent me a few kinds of seed for free including the postage. And now I keep the plants out of the seed in my yarden as memory plants to her. Her unselfish doing will live in my heart.
Picture: Balloon bloom out of the seed sent by her (taken on 21th, June, rainy)

Diana and I shared the postings on the Birthday forum for some time, she was such a sweet and caring lady. I am very sad to hear that she is no longer with us, I will miss her.
Josephine.

I am so very sorry to hear of her passing. My sincere condolences to her family.

Frostweed, I know you and Wantabegardener both were always being active in Happy Birthdays. Your work is always appreciated by all, but now she has been summoned up with God and her former family. I think the good job of hosting birthday celebrations will fall upon your shoulders all alone.
IO1, you are right. 'She's certainly sowed and reaped more than flowers in her garden.' She also sowed the seeds of fun and friendship, so she reaped fun and freindship as well.

Zinniared and Gardenpom, your prayers work. Surely I think my friend is busy serving in the grand garden of God and at the same time meeting her former family memebers and her lost birds (She lost her mother when she was 9, she told me).

Hello Jianhua, I am no longer doing the general Birthdays, there is another lady doing those, I now do only the ones for the Texas forum together with my friend Sheila-FW.
Josephine.

For many a time, she liked talking to me about her bird the parrot. She and her husband had a good bargain of purchasing a big African parrot from a guy who had raised it a few years. When they bought it home, the parrot could only talk dirty words. They took great trouble getting rid of its bad habit, and finally it could say thank you instead of **** you, and welcome instead of step away. She was very proud of training the bird into a civilized gentleman.

--When you send someone a rose, the remaing fragrance will still be in your hands.--
When she heard that we Chinese like planting bamboos, she sent me this giant book on bamboo. This book greatly enriches my knowledge of bamboo.
Picture: the book

Picture: Lesser bamboo growing in my yarden. (taken on June 27)

Juanhua - I spoke to WantabeGardener many times, but did not develop the friendship you did with her. I wish I had. She was a lovely lady, and I know that God is happy having her with Him. His gardens will surely flourish under her care.
I can picture her putting all the flowers she loves in it. You can share the joy of knowing they are ones she's shared wtih you, too.

Tallulah B, She is a lovely lady. I think you are right, and those who know her will think so too. Thingking that she serves God and His Eden makes my heart pleasant again. She must have taken with her the seed I sent to her to the UP and is sowing in there now.
Michigan gardening is full of challenges, and first of the first to consider when I sent her seed is hardiness. I chose Chinese wolfberry and an edible chrysanthemum (for its leaves) called C Nankingesis and she was successful.

Here is the wolfberry in my yarden.

That wolfberry looks good - I wonder if it would work in zone 3b?!

Jianhua shared this great picture with me and I'm posting it here for everyone.

Diana was such an ambassador...her help and friendship is an excellent example of what the Internet was meant to do.

yes, a truly lovely lady........ her smile says it all - it's so warm and loving

I am so sorry to hear the sad news of Wantabegardener. She must have been a wonderful person to have such dedicated friends, especially Jianhua.
I do wish I had known her. Jianhua, I am so sad for you.
Connie

I am so sorry to hear of her passing. She sounds like a wonderful woman who left a long legacy of love and friendship and truly made the world a better place.

Thank you for sharing such kind memories of her.

Kathleen

Thank all of you sharing with me!
Tallulah, Almost all Chinese know that Gouqi or Chinese wolfberry is good for health. We drink the tea, we use the berries in cuisine and especially in traditional Chinese medicine. As a gardener, having the plant with bright red berries in your garden will be a highlight in late fall, and I am sure birds will love visiting your garden on account of the berries. Last February, my son's girlfriend brought me a package of good gouqi seeds which were picked from her up-north hometown Xining where the temperature can reach -30C in winter. I think this kind of seed should be no problem for zone3b, but first I will have to have a test to see if they still have germinating ability.
Jianhua

They say Internet is a jungle full of evil and fraud and danger, but it is not always so. From the 10-year + friendship between Diana and me, I witness that in such a jungle there is true friendship. And this friendship is based on honesty and common interest. It is not about materials but about feelings. We often shared with each other happiness and sorrows. As time went on we cultivated an oasis in our inner world.

How sad it makes me to learn of her passing....I see that Jianhua, me and Wanabegardener joined DG the same day...the day after the terrible thing happening on 9-11-01.

I know she had a lot of interaction with Evert, and was close to him. She was so good to all of us. She will be greatly missed here in this Earthly garden, but is busy now in the Heavenly Garden!! Jo

After our second boy was born, DW and I decided to cut down our daily expenses. We saved a patch of our yard for vegetables. After Diana heard of this, she voluntarily sent us several kinds of veggie seeds. The picture below is the yard long bean growing in my yarden out of her seed.

Yes, I have always thought that gardeners are wonderful and generous people.

Awww this is so sad. I didn't have the privilege of knowing her personally, but I've seen her posts often, and admired her for being so sweet. She will be missed.

I just visited the prayer forum after some time away and saw this news. I'm so saddened to read this, especially after learning of SoCal's death this night as well. Diana was a sweet lady, one who was always an encourager both at DG and in emails. I'm sorry I lost touch with her.

Special thoughts and prayers for you in your grief, Jianhua.

I just now learned of Diana's passing. I am heartbroken. She was a very good friend to many. I am just speechless right now.

Roadrunner, Gardenwife, Badseed, ...
I am feeling comforted seeing in here you my familiar faces.
Deaths often happen on this globe, but a person is still remembered by the family and friends after his/her death, we say that the person dies a good death. Diana did many good deeds in Dave's Garden for many gardeners, and that is why she is in our minds. Just two years ago my second boy was born, and I wanted to add some elements of a kindergarden to my yarden. When she heard of it, she sent me some seeds of lamb ear to let the kid feel the fussy ears. How thoughtful! Now the ears bloom and grow but the sender is gone. I will tell little Changchang that this is from far-away Granny.

So good to see you Jianhua and thank you for sharing. I know you and Diana were close. I know your heart must ache. She was such a kind and thoughtful and giving person. We still laugh about the cute little clothes she sent when my 7th child was on the way. She will be missed.

so sorry to hear of her passing,. she was truly a wonderful lady..

I'm sorry to hear of WantabeGardener's passing. A loss to the community as a whole. Although I did not know WantabeGardener, my condolences to all the DG members who did know her and her family.

I am so sorry to hear of Diana's passing! She was a lovely person and a generous trader, always offering to help others! She participated in a couple of seed swaps I did and she even offered to pay postage to send seeds from one of the swaps to a person she knew wanted seeds. :-) Always thinking of others! I loved her screen name and will miss seeing her posts. My sincere condolences to her family. She will be greatly missed. ♥

I just found this thread, and I am in shock--I didn't know she was even sick! I only chatted with her briefly when she was leading the birthday thread, and she was always so cheerful. I didn't know she stopped because she was ill. I feel so sad.
How sweet to see all the wonderful things posted here about her, though. Thanks for sharing them. I wish I had known her better.

Badseed,
Diana did talk of the clothes to me. When she heard that you were having your 7th girl, she presented to the baby a set of little cute clothes. A little thing means a lot. From this action, we can see what a person she is.
Diana now has been an immortal working at Heavenly Garden (I think she is.), but still she must be concerning about this garden down here. So here I post my yarden picture (taken July 24)called a Corner of Jianhua's Yarden for her to see.
Jianhua

Oh, how beautiful! I am very sure that Diana is smiling down on your gardens, Jianhua.

Tallulah-B,
The wolfberry seed has a good germinating rate after a test. If you and other gardeners here need the seed, Dmail me, telling your addresses.
Picture: the wolfberries breaking through the shells.
Jianhua