Since launching Heirloom Acres in 2021, I have talked to literally hundreds of gardeners. No two are alike. Some walk the greenhouses searching for what’s new or different. Some have their favorite plants that never let them down, so they go straight for those. There are gardeners who absolutely love time spent working in their flower beds. They go out at dawn and spend hours watering, weeding and deadheading. It’s therapy, they say. Others want as low maintenance as possible.
In my own family, differences are just as stark. I am fortunate to have both grandmothers living, and until fairly recently, both were active gardeners. However, their styles could not be more different.
One grandmother treats her garden as a museum of sorts. She is a collector. She scours catalogs and nurseries searching for plants she doesn’t already have and no one she knows has. Her beds are expansive and beautiful. But they are to be enjoyed outside. She doesn’t like to pick the flowers. My brother and I once picked a bouquet of her freshest flowers. She was not pleased. Apparently we picked a special bloom she had been watching for weeks! Her pleasure was derived from being outside amongst her collections.
My other grandmother has a much more sentimental approach. She buys very few plants— most come from family and friends, and have been in her beds for years. She has a special spot she calls ‘Momma’s Garden “ that is filled with perennials she got from her own mother decades ago. She also has Martha’s asters, Jeanette’s white rose, Helen’s beauty berry, Mammaw’s peonies, and Aunt Eunice’s pink rose bush. She keeps fresh arrangements in her house year round. If no flowers are in bloom, she may have tree branches and blossoms, red berries from the woods, evergreen stems, dried weeds, seed pods or twigs.
She also loves the challenge of nursing a sick plant back to health. My mom, who is one of the plant it and forget it gardeners, brings her neglected plants on a regular basis!
Personally, I stay so busy with the plants at Heirloom Acres, I have no idea what kind of home gardener I am!
What’s your gardening style?
Please share!
In my own family, differences are just as stark. I am fortunate to have both grandmothers living, and until fairly recently, both were active gardeners. However, their styles could not be more different.
One grandmother treats her garden as a museum of sorts. She is a collector. She scours catalogs and nurseries searching for plants she doesn’t already have and no one she knows has. Her beds are expansive and beautiful. But they are to be enjoyed outside. She doesn’t like to pick the flowers. My brother and I once picked a bouquet of her freshest flowers. She was not pleased. Apparently we picked a special bloom she had been watching for weeks! Her pleasure was derived from being outside amongst her collections.
My other grandmother has a much more sentimental approach. She buys very few plants— most come from family and friends, and have been in her beds for years. She has a special spot she calls ‘Momma’s Garden “ that is filled with perennials she got from her own mother decades ago. She also has Martha’s asters, Jeanette’s white rose, Helen’s beauty berry, Mammaw’s peonies, and Aunt Eunice’s pink rose bush. She keeps fresh arrangements in her house year round. If no flowers are in bloom, she may have tree branches and blossoms, red berries from the woods, evergreen stems, dried weeds, seed pods or twigs.
She also loves the challenge of nursing a sick plant back to health. My mom, who is one of the plant it and forget it gardeners, brings her neglected plants on a regular basis!
Personally, I stay so busy with the plants at Heirloom Acres, I have no idea what kind of home gardener I am!
What’s your gardening style?
Please share!
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