Gardening

I am not a gardener. I find weeding as unsatisfying as housework. Everything looks good for the moment, and then you have to start all over again.

But once a year, in time for Memorial Day weekend when it is finally safe to plant here in the Berkshires, I visit my local nursery to buy plants. I buy three hanging plants for the front porch, two for the shade and one for the sun, varying the color, the texture of the leaves and the shape of the blossoms. I hang them with my wind chimes, a metal sculpture of a dove and a hummingbird feeder I rarely fill because the hummingbirds find the plants attractive enough.

I fill two large pots on the back deck. Last year I filled one with clematis that I wrapped around the railing.

I buy rosemary, thyme, basil, lavender, and lemon verbena that I keep in small pots just outside the kitchen. I love their scents and the ability to walk out and snip them as needed for whatever dish I am preparing.

And, as I wonder through the aisles, I often succumb to the temptation for a new color to fill in a spot in the garden I started when I moved back here.

I also admit that gardening intimidates me. What grows where? What plants complement each other? What blooms in spring, summer and fall so I won’t have brilliant color one part of the season and nothing the next.  When I confessed my confusion to a former faculty member at Berkshire Community College, she asked me how I went about writing a speech.

“I just write down all my thoughts,” I said, “and then I move them around and add and delete until I’m satisfied.”

“Then you know how to garden,” she said. “Plant what appeals to you. If it doesn’t work, move it, or rip it out. Add what you see in someone’s garden that you like.”

It was great advice for the perennial garden I was creating at the time, which was just beginning to flourish when I moved away. Twice more I took the plunge and twice more the people who bought  my house got to enjoy the garden I planted. I hope this time I can stay long enough to see my garden thrive.