Once There Were Beautiful Gardens

This is the current state of my property. I know it is disgraceful, but my mower is broken, and I am on the list to be mowed by a company but they are behind because of all the rain that has been in the area. My property is just now drying out enough to be mowed. What amazes me is that I am not freaked out by all of this.

At one time I had beautiful gardens all over my property. The local natural science and wildlife sanctuary would actually tell people to drive over to look at the gardens we had created with native plants and flowers. (Raymond tilled the ground, but I was in charge of the gardens.) The front and back yards were full of red, pink, purple, blue, yellow and white flowers. There were butterflies and hummingbirds every where. I was so proud of my gardens. I wish I had pictures of the gardens, but back in those days all the pictures taken were of the boys. I never thought the gardens would go away.

On weekends Raymond would play with the boys and I would get up early and weed my gardens. They were my only outside responsibility. Raymond did everything else, the mowing, the pruning, and the tree planting, I just had to take care of my gardens. Eventually the garden beds became so full that there was very little weeding necessary. My favorite plant was Gregg's blue mistflower because monarchs would be hovering overhead waiting to get a chance to sip the sweet nectar. I had one whole garden devoted just to this plant. http://www.pbase.com/image/81297087

The front garden beds were laid out in a semi-circle out from my bay window. Raymond, the boys and I loved to watch the dragonflies come in around dinner time as we sat at the table and ate. I was living a dream.

In the back I had a large garden at the end of the patio. It has evolved over the years. It is currently a rose garden, but it has held many different flowers in the past. Off to the back, close to the wild area Raymond created as a windbreak, I had tea roses. Raymond built me a trellis out of branches he had cut from trees on our property and I planted tea roses along the trellis. They were glorious. They grew so huge! I had reds, pinks, yellows, and whites. It wasn’t long before they were a row five feet tall, seven feet long, and about four feet wide. One particular bush had really nasty thorns and Raymond complained about how it loved to reach out and grab him each time he mowed. It was the most impressive display I had ever seen. We marveled over how I never did anything to them, and yet they were perfect. Unfortunately, they had to be torn out and could not be replaced when it turned out that area was the only part of the property we could place the swimming pool. It was heartbreaking, but we still had the other gardens.

Then Raymond was diagnosed with cancer, and we left to spend a year in Houston. I really did not expect anyone to take care of my gardens, and I certainly did not ask anyone to try to keep them up. All I wanted was for someone to take care of my children.

When we came back from Houston the gardens were still here. They needed pruning and they needed weeding, but they still existed. Once we got settled back into life, I brought my gardens back to life. It seemed as if we were back to normal. Yes, Raymond was missing a leg and a hip, and adjustments had to be made, but we were back to our life, our home, and my gardens.

That life lasted for approximately eighteen months. Then the cancer returned and we went back to Houston. When we returned, Raymond was in a wheelchair full time. There would be no more mowing for him, and my responsibilities grew. The gardens became neglected as I was in the process of helping my mom deal with widowhood, driving the boys to their activities, and trying to keep up with the house and the acreage. Eventually I could take it no more. The gardens were no longer beautiful. They were just beds of struggling plants that needed more care than I had could give them. I mowed the gardens down; the beautiful gardens were no more. We had entered a new phase of our life.

A couple of years ago I decided to start planning roses again. I planted several beds of roses throughout the front yard and a big bed in the back. Raymond used to take his banjo out on the patio and play out there while looking at the roses. I would sit on the swing and we would reminisce about the roses we lost when we put in the pool. Raymond did not miss the thorns.

Now the rose beds are full. The neighbors often come over to see them, and many people have stopped and asked me to share the names of my roses, and/or ask how to care for them. I always have to say, I do nothing.

This fall the roses are going to need a great deal of pruning and care. The rains this summer have sent them into a tailspin, especially since all my roses are drought tolerant; and are not used to large amounts of water. I did not water them at all last summer when we were in the drought.

I don’t know if I will ever go back to all the flower beds. I have sketched out some plans and I have done some research about which plants I would put in the next time, but I just do not know if I want to do that again. It would be hard to have beautiful gardens and not my beautiful husband.

At least I can say that once there were beautiful gardens, not everyone has been lucky enough to have had that experience.