Spring 2024

It seems that this year’s spring has sprung!  Trees have leafed out.  Spring flowers have blossomed.  The grass has had two haircuts.  My tree guys have taken out the dead wood from the soft maple and the box elder trees.  They have promised to return to take care of the European linden in the fall.  Its branches are very close to high voltage power wires; the tree trimmers really don’t want to tangle with them.

I do have some favorite plants in my yard.  Of course, Larry was the gardener, and his yard was spectacular.  Iris.  Tulips.  Big, orange poppies.  Peace rose, as well as others, but I don’t remember their names.  At the corner of my garage is a gorgeous white spirea bush.   I always called it a bridal wreath, but Larry insisted it was just spirea.  The flowers cascade down the branches just as they would in a bridal bouquet.  I’ve looked up both bushes on the web and can’t really tell the difference between them.

Late winter, Larry received many catalogues from nurseries throughout the nation.  I would pour over them and find plants that I wanted to have him plant.  He always looked at the “HARDINESS ZONE” assigned  to those plants and either approved or rejected my wishes.  Where we live, the plants have to be hardy in Zone  5b-6a (whatever that really means).  I don’t remember the b and a attached to the zones when Larry talked about the zone, so the definition must have changed in the past seven years.  Global warming may have had something to do with that.  I always wanted a magnolia tree and a red bud tree in our yard.  And, even though he tried (one magnolia and two red bud), he was never able to get either to grow.

It’s interesting the things we remember about certain times.  The magnolia tree required a certain kind of soil.  The only way to get it to grow is to surround the roots with that specific soil – which, of course, is not what is in the part of the yard where the chosen tree was to be planted.  So, Larry dug a hole deep enough for an empty 55-gallon, plastic barrel.  He put the barrel into the hole and filled it with the required soil.  And, then, he planted the little magnolia tree that he expected to thrive.   Of course, before placing the barrel into the hole, he cut drainage holes for excess water to escape from the barrel.  All of this proved unsuccessful.  The tree did not live.

And, now, the space is where the gazing ball garden is located, along with tiny, blue scilla in early spring.  And Echinacea (or Coneflower) after the scilla are gone.  They are really good for the bees and other pollinators’ lives.  Because the gazing ball garden is by the steps leading to my front door, I have to be very careful not to disturb the flowers or the bees.  Thankfully, the bees are very tame and not looking for a fight – only honey-making material.

I also remember that it was while digging the hole for the barrel that Larry learned he would need a pacemaker and, eventually, a valve replacement.

Larry was a very thrifty person.  Living with his parents (also thrifty), he brought those characteristics into our joined lives.  He wanted to expand the beauty in our yard; the yard front and back is actually quite large.  I live on a square block.  Houses were built around three sides of the block, leaving the land in the middle for my house.  Lots of space.

When he wanted to add many flowering plants to our space, he thought they should go in the back yard.  I, on the other hand, asked him to put them into the front yard.  The front yard is the part of the yard we would pass through every day, going to and coming from work.  So, it made more sense to me to have the color there.  He agreed and set about planning for the flower beds in the front yard.

It took three years for the front-yard flower gardens to come into being.  The first year, we drove around the metropolitan area to see what was growing when.  This gave Larry the idea of what he might plant in his gardens.  Larry was a French-intensive gardener (that’s another long story), so the second year was spent double digging the beds across the front yard on both sides of the driveway.  He also put the first split-rail fencing in those beds that, because they are wood, had to be replaced many years later.  With that preparation finished, he spent the next winter combing the gardener’s catalogs for just the right flowers to plant.

One flower that he really, really wanted to buy was an iris – a truly beautiful salmon-colored iris.  Very special!  The kicker was that it cost $30 for one rhizome.  Thirty dollars!  In those days, that was really a lot of money.  So, being the thrifty person that he was, he decided not to purchase that iris.  But, I knew that that iris was his heart’s desire.  I was not happy about that decision.

So, he had to listen to one of my speeches.  “Listen,” I said to him.  “You have spent three years of your life preparing for this garden.  We drove around this city so many times.  You spent all of the energy to double dig the earth.  You built the split-rail fence.  And, now, you refuse to buy this $30 iris!  You WILL buy this iris!”  And, he did.  Buy the iris.  Which proved to be a wonderful addition to the color of that part of his garden.

I’m also reminded of a neighbor who actually stole one of his plants.  Larry was very willing to share his extra plants with people who asked.  In the back yard, he had built seven vegetable garden spaces for peas, tomatoes, squash, beans, peppers, eggplants, onions, etc.  (Never corn; it simply wouldn’t grow there.)  At the north end of each bed (4 x 20 foot raised, double dug beds), he planted flowers.  Marigolds and more iris.  One of the iris was a special flower that he had ordered from our local iris grower.  The neighbor saw the blossom and liked it.  She asked Larry if he would share a piece of the rhizome with her; he assured her that when he divided the roots in August, he would be happy to share a piece with her.

Apparently, she could not wait until August.  Larry came home one day to find the entire plant was missing.  He knew, of course, who had it.  But, he was a gentle soul and did not confront her about her theft.  That was when we started locking the gate to the back yard.  When she sold her house to Bill, Larry explained the situation to him.  Bill was happy to let Larry take home his iris; of course, Larry only took part of the plant leaving most of it for Bill’s garden.

One of the purposes of double-digging a garden is that plants can be crowded.  This crowding allows the gardener to grow far more product than can be done with regular planting.  Larry’s seven vegetable beds produced so much more food than we could possibly use, a lot was shared with others.  I always could tell that summer had arrived when I could make ratatouille from the garden.  Of course, Larry could never understand why I gave away some of his vegetables.  I do think that the recipients of our overflow appreciated the fresh vegetables.

I can’t possibly keep the gardens the way Larry did.  Even with Rita who is diligent about working in the yard, there is so much work, it can’t all be accomplished.  However, my hope is that if you enjoy gardening, your efforts are successful!

Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are appreciated.