Special Mom’s blog

It’s Mother’s Day Tomorrow. Instead of a gift and a bouquet I requested my husband I wanted a rose plant.

I never was interested in gardening growing up. My maternal grandfather was an avid gardener and my paternal grandmother and my Mom used to spend a lot of time in our small front yard. My Dad on his part had a terrace garden. I used to study up in the terrace and just hoped his bindi/okra would grow. But yes we had some flowers which we called pathu mani poo. Other than that exposure I had zero knowledge in gardening. Life changes as you grow old. My first attempt at gardening was buying some potting soil and sowing some coriander seeds. To my utter shock nothing grew. My husband even teased me saying how poor a gardner I was. I think that challenged me into trying again. Once we moved into our own townhouse I started planting zennia and marigolds. Slowly and steadily I started seeing wonderful returns. We lived there for 6 years and I think I learnt a lot about potted plants. Nine years ago we moved to Pittsburgh. I wanted a big yard not for plants but for my active boys to play around. We got a house built in the seventies and unlike newer homes had lot of garden space. In order to attract buyers our yard had so many different kind of bushes and shrubs . Our previous owner even had a vegetable patch in the back. I think myself and my husband were definitely overwhelmed by the garden. It was like having a newborn baby with no instructions. The next year my parents came for a visit. I think that was a game changer for us. My parents guided us and we started our vegetable garden. My Mom and my husband worked together and that year harvest was bountiful. We had tomatoes cucumbers and even my Mom’s bitter gourd. As the years rolled I understood which shrub blossoms when and we used outside help to maintain them. My cousin uncle and aunt visited us from Canada. My Aunt pointed we had a butterfly garden. Yes those plants attracted monarch butterflies. I started observing them and we started maintaining them too. We slowly started buying our own shrubs like hibiscus and roses. It was a trial and error finding where to plant. We even got a banana plant. Btw it didn’t last long. My younger one cried all that year saying we killed it. We found the exact spot in our house that could house our tulasi during winter. Touch wood first year the Tulasi survived. So today we went to a nursery across town to pick up a plant. But we returned home with a rose hibiscus and a tiny banana plant. My younger one was too surprised and happy to see the banana plant and rushed it inside. He is fifteen and a smile from his face for a plant means how much happiness a plant can give us. The weather is too cold. We had snow flurries this morning! But next week looks beautiful. All my indoor babies will be going out. I may or may not have a green thumb but gardening really makes a person so happy!