The First Seed Planted

 

By Bess Taylor

 

 

The first seed of our garden was not planted by me, but by my mother. This seed came in the form of an idea, which she planted in my mind when she gave me a gardening book for Christmas in 1993.

 

The book was Mrs. Greenthumbs by Cassandra Danz  (Crown publishers, 1993), subtitled “How I Turned a Boring Yard Into a Glorious Garden and How You Can, Too. “My mother, in her usual subconsciously brilliant way, plucked the book off the shelf, decided it “looked like” me, and bought it. I know this because I was with her at the time. I suspected that she was buying it for me, because that bit about the “boring yard” hit close to home. In fact, it completely surrounded our house.

 

The Marshall bungalow that my husband Ken and I had bought a year or so earlier had previously been a rental house and no one had bothered much with the yard for quite some time. There was one old rose vine and some evergreen shrubs in front. The back yard was a vast expanse of patchy grass with a few old trees around the edges and an ancient lilac bush that had been almost entirely swallowed by a massive tangle of honeysuckle.

 

During our first year as homeowners, Ken and I had puttered around in the yard, installing snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds hither and yon. Mom gave us our first set of crocus, daffodil and tulip seeds that first fall and we rejoiced when they sprang from the soil in spring like miracles of color from the bare earth. My sister and her husband gave us a nursery coupon with which we bought a Weigela (flowering shrub) and a Corkscrew Willow tree sapling. Generous friends gave us various sprouts and transplants from their yards.

 

All of these plants were wonderful to have, but they were only a collection, not a garden.  I didn’t yet know that a garden first needs an idea, a plan, a sense of unity. Frankly, I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to know about gardening. It seemed complicated and persnickety, all that weeding and pruning and fussing. It sounded almost like housework to me, and if you’ve ever seen the inside of my house you know how I feel about that.

 

Cassandra Danz’s book turned me around completely. For one thing, it’s hilarious. It could almost be read for the humor alone. It’s also very encouraging. Her attitude is so relaxed and easygoing that I stopped feeling overwhelmed and instead became enthusiastic. After reading the book that January, I marched out into our boring back yard and mapped out my first two perennial beds with my boot prints in the snow. I couldn’t wait to get started. This enthusiasm I want to pass on to you. There are only a handful of things a person can do in this life that can create lasting joy and gardening is one of them.

 

I emailed Ms. Danz when she was still alive and told her how much her book had inspired me. She was very gracious in her answer.

 

Ever since starting my garden my yard has been anything but boring to me. Each morning I gaze out at it, even in the so-called dead of winter when it looks like only bare sticks, and am filled with awe.

 

Thanks Mom, for planting the first seed.