Have I mentioned that this is how I got started gardening, about 42 years ago? So, I was 14 and we moved into a new house with no front garden. My mom asked if I’d like to help her design and plant grass, flowers, and trees to make our new front yard. I suggested a long, arcing flower bed that cut a curve right through the proposed lawn, and I didn’t really think she’d like the idea. She said it sounded great! Surprised by that, I was suddenly invested in making my decision come to fruition.
We decided to plant marigolds in the flower bed, since she knew they were easy to grow. It worked! And every year around now, we started gathering seeds from our flowers and putting them in a big paper grocery bag. The next spring, we’d sprinkle them through the bed and voilà! We always had nice flowers there.
There’s parenting advice hidden in this story :)
I don’t know if Mom was intentionally trying to draw me into a new hobby or if she just liked my ideas, but I love the lessons of:
Let the kid make a big decision and just run with it; and
Pick something easy to grow so the kid has success and gets hooked.
Smart mom! I wish I’d often been this wise in raising my own kids — I’m not sure I would have let my teenager decide to place a flowerbed right across the middle of the new lawn! So, I need this lesson as much as anyone (we still have one young teen in the family).
She’s been gone for 32 years now, we all miss her, and I wish I’d had the benefit of her wisdom when my kids were younger.
And I love marigolds!
Thanks, Mom!