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Sunday, April 15, 2007
How does your garden grow?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I remember growing up watching my Granddaddy Bass garden around my grandparents’ home in Orlando. He was a truly gifted gardener who could grow anything. His specialty was tomatoes which he could grow in plentiful amounts and some the size of a small child’s head! Their house was also surrounded by other plants such as hibiscus, elephant ears and various palms.
It wasn’t until I was in my late teens that I opened my eyes and saw just what a gift he really had. I tried to learn as much as I could from him, but I am afraid he could have forgotten more in one hour what he could have taught me in a lifetime.
It is amazing how just a few plants and flowers can make the most unsightly of areas be perceived as interesting, inviting and invigorating!
Although Mother Nature is torturing us with 30-degree temperatures in April, it is officially spring and I can finally get out and work in my own garden.
Unfortunately, I have two problems to contend with.
The first is that in the front of my house I deal with full, direct sun most of the day and I’m limited to growing plants in containers. The second is that in the back of my house there is partial-to-full shade with an area to plant about three feet deep by 18 feet wide with clay as hard as a brick.
I have been to numerous websites, emailed the Gwinnett Extension Service for advice, visited all the big box and home improvement stores and nurseries in the area in an effort to grow a dream garden that is as beautiful as my grandfather’s was.
This year, my master plan for the front of the house so far includes a collection of cacti and succulents, several cayenne pepper plants, orange gerber daisies, a small herb garden and of course, some hibiscus.
Behind my home I have decided to go with an all white and green landscape, which so far includes some dwarf gardenias, caladiums, calla lilies, eucomis, and white daylilies with elephant ears and hostas still left to plant.
My hope is that at least a smidgen of my granddaddy’s botanical genius rubbed off on me so I have something to enjoy and a garden for all to admire.
How does your garden grow? Do you have any gardening advice?
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