April 15 is the last average frost date for the St. Louis area, so it’s time to glory in alyssum and salvias. My youngest child and I went flower shopping today, coming home with pots of colorful annuals – and one fern. I taught my daughter how to transplant. I do not remember planting anything in the yard of my childhood home – it was filled with woody plants and perennials – but I do vaguely remember hoeing out a tiny vegetable garden hidden in the back corner. Not that fun when you don’t like tomatoes. In our backyard here, I keep some big pots and some open ground for annuals, and both my girls have enjoyed choosing and planting their own flowers. Weeding? That’s a different story. Do you have any stories of gardening as a child?
She moved the cart
Among rows of color,
Carefully choosing her paints.
At home I taught her
How to mix the media,
And loosen any tightness
So the roots of her ideas
Would be free to spread.
She placed her colors
Far enough apart to grow fully,
Without too much crowding.
Then she watered them,
And hoped they would bloom
Into a painting for butterflies.
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