May 10, 2004

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  Thinking On My Love Of Gardening...
  Spring also meant the British neighbor lady, Mrs. Grant, an avid gardener, would be out in the garden weeding and planting. Like any young child I was fascinated with the act of putting seeds in the ground and winding up with large, flowering plants. It amazed me how chopping most of the growth off a rose would cause it to flower beautifully just a few weeks later.  I was amazed how she would gather the leaves that had fallen from the trees and had collected along the gutters and curbs to bed her flowers down in the Fall, and in the Spring those same leaves would have broken down and become part of the rich soil that was in her gardens.               Thank you Mrs. Grant, for sharing with me the love of plants and gardens that you brought from England, and that I now share with my daughter and friends. Like a planted seed, that sharing a love continues to grow and flourish, and produces many more seedlings.	By now, anyone that has read anything in this blog knows that I am nuts about gardens and plants. I really don't know for sure why that is, but I think I can trace a good amount of it to when I was a child.     I was born and raised in Baltimore City. Baltimore is unique from other large urban areas in that it has a large number of parks and green space, except for in selected inner city areas. I was lucky enough to grow up across the street from a very large golf course. The golf course is circa the 1930s, and has rolling hills, streams and ancient trees that just beckon children to climb them. My favorite times were spent as a child, climbing ancient oaks or mulberry trees, and coming home covered in purple blue juice stains. Spring's  arrival meant the trees would bud out and wild flowers would start their growth along the Herring Run stream that runs through the golf course.       I learned a lot from Mrs. Grant. I learned how to plant and harvest. I learned about the blooms and scent of plants, about different types of leaves, and how to grow terrific tomatoes.   Most of all what I learned from Mrs. Grant was a love of plants and gardening, and how a woman could influence a young girl.

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