When my sister and I cleaned out our parents’ home, we
had to make many decisions about what to do with all the stuff. Which things are
truly “valuable” and which have only sentiment in their favor? Should we sell
it, keep it, or throw it away? To help ensure a future for our family’s
heirlooms, I plan to leave a booklet for my daughters telling the stories of
what they will inherit one day. (Not TOO soon, I hope!) With this challenge I
begin my book of Heirlooms.
is for yard tools. I did not inherit my grandmother’s
green thumb, but I did get her grubbing hoe and watering can.
My maternal grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis always had
beautiful flowers and delicious tomatoes growing side by side. Her garden was
not the beautifully planned and dedicated space that drives aficionados of
Pinterest to pin and repin. But she did know the value of digging a $5.00 hole
for a 50¢ plant.
As I looked for pictures to show off Grandma’s beautiful camellias and peonies, I just laughed at the sorry state of her flower beds.
Sadly,
we didn’t catch them in their glory. Our pictures are of beds that needed
weeding and a little mulch. In my mind’s eye, though, I see the sparkle of
white Spirea in bloom. Camellia bushes
bursting with pink and red blooms. Blue hydrangea bending under their own
weight. Tulips and daffodils. Tall
gladiolas in pink, purple, white, and yellow held upright with a stick.
Forsythia in March. Azaleas in April. Creeping Phlox and Candy Tuft dotted here
and there to mark the outer limits of foundation beds.
 |
| Me in Grandma's backyard |
Grandma didn’t invest a lot of time in a vegetable
garden. She simply made room in the flower beds for a few tomato plants because
even in the 1960s good tomatoes, “real” tomatoes, were not to be had in the
grocery store. She also had a reliable fig tree that supplied all she needed
for everyone’s anticipated gift of fig preserves.
I’m no master gardener, but I like changing my flowers
out with the seasons. Grandma always emphasized the importance of frequent
watering to get new plants established, and so I try to follow her advice. Admittedly
the watering can requires more trips than the garden hose, but I do believe
flowers prefer its soft rain. And the hoe - it is always by my side if I need
to chop out a stubborn root or dig that $5 hole.
Wendy
© 2018, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Ah, I love the theme of leaving stories of family heirlooms! And I like the old photographs too. I have my grandmother's garden tools as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliment and for visiting.
DeleteYou have reminded me that I need to get out a 'modern' watering can to water recently planted bulbs.
ReplyDeleteGet on it!
DeleteYour Grandma was sure right about the tomatoes - my Dad grew beefsteak tomatoes and picking one warmed by the sun, one slice fit in a sandwich.. yum! I admire people who make beautiful gardens, I'm more of a weedy woman!
ReplyDeleteMy A to Z Genealogy Challenges
I grew beefsteaks a couple years ago. Yep, one slice will do it!
DeleteMy grandmother was an excellent back and front yard gardener - her entire back yard and beyond. Everything watered by hand from a cup dipped in a big bucket. I didn't inherit her green thumb, but I'm always surprised when I pop out the name of some flower I didn't realize I know. How nice that you have her gardening tools!
ReplyDeleteYou were learning and didn't know it.
DeleteLOL on the $5 hole for a 50 cent plant. Real tomatoes...still a favorite in our garden, too. Great pictures of flower beds and YOU!
ReplyDeleteThanks Miss Sue!
DeleteWhat great memories. I am not a gardener though my dad was a florist and we had lots of plants around our house.
ReplyDeleteJanet’s Smiles
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I learned to sew, but my mother had the passion for it so I didn't NEED to sew - she would make things for me. Maybe that's how it was in your house. You didn't need a green thumb because your dad had it.
DeleteBeautiful way to leave mementos for your children! I have to go back and read many wonderful blogs from this year's challenge and yours is definitely on my list :) So much to do so little time.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Finnell
@randallbychance from
Katy Trail Creations
Yeah, I won't know what to do with myself in May. LOL
DeleteMy dad always loved a fresh tomato and would eat it like an apple. I, on the other hand, will do just about anything to avoid them.
ReplyDeleteIn summer I can eat tomato sandwiches all day every day - if I have enough tomatoes, that is.
Delete