December 13, 2014 Advent with SusieJ

Garden

Before Mom and Fred sold their house, Mom had me dig up all the hostas she had bought and Fred had planted in their back yard. Most were miniatures. She told me how to divide them, and gave some to her neighbor, and some to me. Over the years, she gave me more hostas as gifts. We both liked the varied shapes, colors and sizes they grow in. The first winter after planting them, I was sure I'd killed them, not knowing that most plants die back in the fall. In tune with the rythms of the land I am not. Mine have survived several transplantings, repeated summers of deep shade, bulldozers burying them while re-grading the yard, leaf collection trucks driving over them, droughts. When the buried ones started growing in the middle of the lawn this summer, they moved to one of the new flower beds by the house. They survived the summer, and should fill out in the next couple years.

Jake likes gardening with me, as long as someone keeps an eye on what he's doing. He never seems convinced that the hole should be dug in the flower bed; in the middle of the yard is fine for him. He has carefully transplanted red maple and oak seedlings into the yard too, never realizing they'll be mowed over in a week. He will happily weed, without knowing exactly what is a weed, versus what is a peony that will bloom in another month.

Our yard has two patios. The back patio has a fieldstone fireplace like the brick one in my grandparents' back yard. It's shady and far away from the road noise. It has two chairs, a small table for drinks, the indoor-outdoor rug I bought with Mom this year, and, supporting a fuchsia, the plant stand Fred made from wrought iron. We eat on the second patio by the kitchen door, because it's not safe for the glassware to travel much further. It has a small patch for herbs; that somehow overwintered in some pots Mom and I bought at Ikea.

In the retirement home, Mom's apartment had a balcony. We joked with each other that it was very European, very German. She called the complex "the Villa." On the balcony were Fred's folding chair and radio, a few pots of herbs before Mom stopped cooking, and her window boxes. Over first weekend of June, it was always my job to plant Mom's choice of vining flowers. A few weeks before the start of this summer, I had planted white and purple petunias (alternating) at Mom's behest.

My sister has her houseplants; my friend Suzy took the alternating petunias. I have her hostas, and my little gardener.

[Mom and Jake. Copyright Susan J. Talbutt, all rights reserved.]Mom and Jake. I'd had a rough day, and she told me to come up for lunch. She saved my sanity.

The recipe: Spritz

These are great for kids to decorate. Press the cookies (no more than two kids per tray of cookies), and put colored sugars, jimmies and other edible decorations into small bowls or tea cups. Use one-eighth and one-quarter measuring teaspoons.

The craft: Melted snowman ornaments

What else are you doing with that Elmer's glue?