Bloom Where You’re Planted

I have to believe I came by my love of gardening through genetics. My maternal Czech grandfather(Bobo) was an avid gardener. My mom, although she was a busy pharmacist raising 6 kids, found deep pleasure in gardening. I hold fond memories of both of them down on their knees tending, planting & weeding. My Bobo would sift the soil in his flower beds until it had the consistency of brown sugar. I don’t recall ever seeing a rock in his gardens. To this day, I picture my mom with her dark sun kissed shoulders as she hand troweled a hole for planting a rose or beating a dirt clod into submission. One generation down, she may have let a few rocks slide, and the soil wasn’t powdery smooth, but her beautiful flowers didn’t seem to mind.
  
I first became a Master Gardener in 1997 through the University of Idaho. Later, in 2015, I was certified through a more advanced Master Gardener program at Washington State University.  With a yard of my own, I began to follow in the footsteps of my mom & Bobo. I Love designing & implementing gardening practices. 

Annabelle’s garden spot

All of this leads me to one of my most rewarding volunteer outreaches. Garden Mentoring with senior citizens in a senior community. Most of the time, I’m not sure who is mentoring who. There, I find a rewarding mixture of learning from seasoned gardeners & sharing their life stories. Some of them left acreage & farming to tend a small balcony of potted plants. The thought of letting go of all that one had planted & cultivated to live in a confined space with little to call their own would seem disheartening. However, there are some kindred souls who plant beautiful annuals & perennials. There are colorful pots placed on every available landing spot from March until late October. They plant bulbs before hard frost and buy every imaginable piece of garden art to express their love of gardening. 
A friend of mine once told me I had “an eye” for garden design and I had to agree. I inherited it! 

Garden Gnomes across the generations

I have gleaned a treasure of gardening gold from my mom & BoBo. It now continues on with my dear senior citizen gardeners who have taught me to bloom where I am planted. 

Sweet Sally’s husband’s work boot