By Shannon Williams
Ok, time for true confession. I love to have a garden, but I am not a good gardener. My mother always was in the yard working, I have such fond memories of her working on her rose bushes out front and my father sitting in the porch chairs (which came from my grandmother’s home ranch and now reside here in my storage). Dad would sit with the dog, “Mickey”, or “Snow Devil” or the dog of my childhood “Bruno” (family legend is he was named after one of my father’s old pre mom girlfriends, but I just cannot image a girl named Bruno, LOL). Back to gardening, mom would treat her roses, thin out her daisies and always make sure her hedges did not have disease. My first adult home was right up the street from my childhood homes, so I would always stop if mom was in the yard working, and mom would do her best to share her wisdom with me about gardening. So, I was always around a garden and love having a garden, but working in the garden is the issue!! I have never either had the time or taken the time. BUT I want to change that!! Gardening in West Texas is so different from here; you can really grow things here!! So when we built the house on Crystal Beach, I had my husband (who was also the builder of our home) built a small garden under the staircase. I really did not have a plan and just planted all of the things I have never been able to grow before, like hibiscus, plumeria and oleander. We added some palm trees, and I added some pots to grow herbs. It has been a work in progress, and I got a great gift of lilies of all kinds from the garden of my Gardening Idol, Charlotte Byus; several of those have been in her family for several generations.

So now it is all established and thus needs ongoing care!! Over the 7 years we have lived in this home, we have fought the weed battle in many ways – mulch, barriers, like wet newspaper, more mulch and finally Paul came up with the plan of roof shingles with mulch on top to control the weeds. It has worked well, but a pain when we need to dig up something or move a plant. Since I am nearing retirement age, I am working on my retirement habits, so am trying to work in the garden more!! I want to enjoy working in the garden as much as I enjoy having the garden. I got a great little stool to sit on and some kneepads and am reading all I can from Facebook groups and the Lazy Gardener and Friends website and newsletter. When I work in the garden, I do enjoy how I feel and how proud I am. I just have to start making time for it, which is hard to do when you are a fair weather gardener!! I love to talk gardening and to research and plan what I want to do and buying plants, well that is just FUN, anytime, anywhere! So I am going to work on being a gardener and not just playing at it!! Cannot have a nickname of Bumble Bee if I cannot have a garden for them to enjoy.

“Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.”
-Sigmund Freud

[Sept-28-2021]