I read an article that asked, “What kind of a gardener are you?” and set me to thinking.
My gardening started as a hobby, a rest from my work as a seamstress. I began buying flower magazines in 1957 at a Times Square Subway newsstand, usually on my for a fitting. Reading garden magazines gave me an outlet to the hectic pace of New York City. After reading a few issues, I began to yearn for a garden. I tried planting flowers for some friends and relatives, but it was wasted effort. Either they neglected the garden or moved away, leaving the wonderful plants I had put in.
Finally, in the fall of 1961, I found a place of my own, 2 acres of wild tangled scrub oak and pine. I cleared off a spot and planted twenty-five tulips. All winter in the city I made plans for the lovely garden I would have. But in the spring came the rude awakening – no tulips. Moles or mice had had a nice time eating them.
But never say die! Even before the house was planned, I had enough land cleared off to plant about 200 gladiolus. They did surprisingly well, due to a wet spring and good bulbs. The soil I had was sandy, acid, not very fertile, and when the bulbs were dug they showed very little increase.
I cleared a little more each year, grubbing out the roots, and made plantings among the trees, adding old cow manure and working in leafmold. I wanted a naturalistic garden. But after a few years the flowers did not do well, as the trees grew larger and cast more shade.
A friend of mine who had a lovely annual garden in an open sunny spot told me I must make up my mind whether I wanted flowers or trees. I told her I wanted both, and set out to prove I could.
But it was not that simple. In 1967 we had a forest fire which came very close. It scorched my fruit trees, some evergreens and French lilacs. But still I would not give up. By this time I had help with the roots. I had met a man with ambition enough to grub out the undergrowth and cut down some of the undesirable trees. We had been married only a week before the fire.
My house had been only a 24×32-foot shell, not even shingled, and used only as a home in summer and on good weekends. But now it began to look better and I planted a lawn and a vegetable garden. We added to the house and it became more livable.
In 1975 we moved from the city and came here to make it our permanent home. The first thing we did was to put up a fence to keep out rabbits and dogs: Our vegetable garden flourished and we bought a freezer. We were able to grow enough to keep us in food over the winter.
I would spend most of the daylight hours out in the garden, doing my sewing till late in the evening.
When I read some articles on garden planning, I began making a plan for a border. A small inside curve is where my trees and shrubs create a shady nook. I have rustic seats and a table there and it also affords shade for some wildflowers – bloodroot, shortia, ferns. Solomons-seal, trilliums and many others. My plants are more or less shade tolerant and I planted my tulips in 1/2-inch wire mesh baskets in order to protect them from moles and mice. I can also lift them out and plunge them in again in an out-of-the-way place to ripen their foliage. I put a clump of day-lilies or other soon-to-flower plants there instead.
I have made a lot of changes in the border for the better, I hope – adding azaleas and more tulips for a greater display.
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