The Gift of a Garden for Mom

Say your mom, in need of some new interests at this point in her life, tells you she just might like gardening if she only knew where to start. You’d like to help but you live 200 miles away.  Most of us, myself included, would let it go at that but not the son who called me last month from NYC looking for someone to teach his mom to garden.  His search had started with calls to garden designers here in the D.C. area, where he grew up and his mom still lives.  Well, the notion of teaching a client to garden is apparently so alien they reacted as if the very notion were nutty.  But with a combination of persistence and chutzpa that surprises the Southerner in me but is essential for hailing cabs in Manhattan, he researched and found the D.C. area’s one local gardening magazine and called its editor.  Now would you do that, even for dear old Mom?  Me, neither.  And luckily, the friendly editor of Washington Gardener Magazine is my buddy Kathy, who was more than happy to refer him to me.

So we talked and at first I didn’t quite know what to make of this guy but after meeting his sweetheart of a mother, I was sold on the endeavor, whatever the hell it might turn out to be.  See, the goal here would be to teach and excite and create a gardener far more than to create a beautiful garden or add value to a piece of real estate. In fact, don’t create too much garden and overburden the student; just a little something to tend to and enjoy.  Okay.

So where to start?  The backyard, with its old patio overlooking blank walls and a large AC, was the obvious place, the kind of fresh start that makes for great before-and-after pictures.  And after our first three afternoons together, I’m happy to present a colorful but manageable little garden of spireas, both ‘Anthony Waterer’ and ‘Little Princess,’ Hypericum shrubs, dianthus, scabiosa, and coreopsis, all chosen by Mrs. R.  Turns out this 70-something gardening newbie has a terrific sense of color and an eye for foliage, too.  As lovely as this is, imagine those shrubs blooming, not to mention a year or two older -  Sweet!  We’ve since moved on to the front, so stay tuned.

And before leaving this aaah-inspiring Mother’s Day Story, let’s ponder the question raised in my last post, namely how DO you create a gardener? 

In this situation I could have hired workers to install borders all in one visit, then left instructions for care and been done with it, but how much learning and inspiration would that have accomplished?  So we made several trips to the nursery together, an essential gardening activity that can be intimidating to the uninitiated.  And after drawing borders with my handy spray paint, I broke my own rules and removed the sod myself, amended the soil and planted Mrs. R’s new garden, all under her watchful eye and chatting away about what I was doing and a million other topics.  And I’m hoping to arrange an educational outing together, like a garden tour or a visit to a public garden or even my own.  So, Readers, any other ideas?

Oh, and funny thing about this story.  Turns out Mrs. R’s son has done lots more with his persistence and chutzpa than find a gardening teacher for his mom.  He’s an entertainer, seen and heard all over TV, radio and even on Broadway.  Too bad he’s too modest to let me name him.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mrs. R!

2007 UPDATE
This story was originally posted on Mother’s Day of 2006, so an update is in order.  Mrs. R’s garden is  looking good and being added to gradually - recently some Flower Carpet roses, with 2 large weigelas coming soon.  And more importantly, she’s become a friend.