I was blessed with a green thumb. I am also blessed that my mom and dad both loved to garden. I grew up surrounded by beautiful lush gardens that seemed to bloom endlessly.
My first childhood home in Riverdale Heights had red floribunda roses that were planted in the corners of the chain link fence that surrounded our yard. They were my father’s pride and joy. I know there were other flowers in the yard, but the roses were the focal point and when they bloomed, folks would stop by to look at their blooming splendor. We, no doubt, had azaleas: the stunning roses must have overshadowed them. Inside the house, my mother had dozens of African Violets, and for many years I too had a house full of the blooming beauties.
When we moved to Lanham, my dad started planting azaleas. Our back yard was a wonderland of stunning colors. In the front of the house we had a huge purple azalea with a bloom twice the size of normal azalea blooms. It blocked the front window and when it bloomed for the few short weeks in the spring, it was a sight to behold. Many a family picture was snapped with that splendorific bush as the backdrop. Our back yard was a sweeping garden full of every variety and color of azalea imaginable.
Every spring, we would pile into the car and travel to University Park, the neighborhood near University of Maryland, to view the azalea gardens that were renowned in the neighborhood. It is a poignant memory. Perhaps I need to do that drive by again.
Our gardens were not limited to azaleas, my mother had a garden full of Irises, which we called flags. Every spring their beautiful blooms would brighten the side yard with vibrant purples, yellows, whites, and assorted rusts. We had trailing roses on a trellis over our side door. Forsythia bloomed in the side yard and the ever-spunky daffodils and tulips were always popping up somewhere. My mother’s peonies were white, pink and fuchsia. They too were amazing as were her hydrangeas. Our yard was a true botanical garden.
We were not partial to flowers; there were pussy willows, oaks, maples, magnolias, and trees and shrubs I don’t remember. I do remember our beautiful shaded back yard. That yard hosted many a family picnic. The grass was always green and lush and soft on the bare foot of a child. It seems as though the yard was always in bloom, though it was mostly alive in spring with a palate of silk colored flowers.
My father was very good friends with Bill Mister the horticulturist at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in South East, Washington, DC.
Alvah Godding, son of the second superintendent of St. Elizabeth’s, William Godding, was born in 1872 and grew up on the grounds of St. Elizabeth’s. He was an amateur horticulturalist with a talent for choosing rare and unusual plants and trees with which to decorate the grounds of the West Campus. During the final quarter of the 19th century, he collected approximately 170 varieties of flora from all over the United States and the rest of the world including Greece, Bulgaria, China, Japan, India, and Persia. Many of these can still be found on campus, but many have also died over the years from either weather- related events or neglect. By 1900 he had assumed the position of Superintendent of Grounds, which he evidently held for the remainder of his life.
So, Bill Mister, Mister Mister as we loved to call him, followed in the footsteps of Alvah Godding. With the friendship Bill Mister and my dad forged, so did we children. I remember many visits to the campus of St. Elizabeth’s as my dad and Mr. Mister cultivated azalea plantings and cross-pollinated those beautiful shrubs that populated the grounds overlooking the Potomac. As children, we learned how to cut and propagate new azaleas. My dad and Mr. Mister actually created variegated azaleas as a result of their propagation experiments and we had many pink and white variegated specimens in our yard.
So, is it any wonder that I love to garden? I have a love for azaleas and have many varieties in my postage stamp sized yard in Alexandria. I also have beautiful peonies, Irises, daffys, tulips: my most favorite of all? My hydrangeas!
When I had my “big” house in Tampa, the yard was a mini Busch Gardens. It was resplendent with Queen Palms, amaryllis, gardenias, and varieties of tropicals that flourish in the warm/hot Florida climate. Inside my home were dozens of orchids that were moved outdoors when they became dormant so they could replenish and boom again. To this day, I am never without an orchid within eyesight.
I enjoy gardening and find comfort in a few hours weeding and tending my gardens. When I sold the “big” house in Tampa I moved to a townhome where the community tends the lawns. I was rather happy to make the move and downsize the yard as I’m living elsewhere and don’t have the luxury to keep up a large, lush yard. The mowing, weeding, chemicals, pruning, etc. is no longer my worry.I still get my gardening fix in Alexandria. I mow the lawn (20 minutes max), weed, prune, and soak up the beauty of my springtime flowers. I have planted two beautiful Japanese Maples thanks to my good friends Nancy and Dale. I have nurtured a 2 inch shoot of Crepe Myrtle into a majestic blooming tree and my blue hydrangea remains stunning until the fall when the blooms change to green and red and can be cut to dry and remain indoors through the winter months.
My townhome in Tampa is connected to just one neighbor. It is rather nice to not be in a string of 6 houses. My neighbor Rob is an ok guy. He has met a woman and she moved in and wants to spruce up the landscaping. I was not shocked when in late fall of 2010 Rob emailed me to ask if I would consider removing the satellite dish on the back of my home. On several visits to Tampa he’d been hinting that his girl wanted to do some landscaping. OK…knock yourself out…keep it in your yard. My weeding days in Tampa are long over. I purchased this house to be able to avoid that weekend chore!
Rob and I share a common back wall between our garages and the dish is centered on my half. There is a scraggly shrub planted in the middle and as it matures it is shielding the dish. I let him know that I did not plan to remove the dish because I’d gone through hell and high water with the condo folks to get it installed. My niece and her boy friend live in the house and have some service other than satellite, but not the point. I’m afraid if the dish goes, it may never be allowed back.
Things were all quiet about landscaping after that. I speak with Rob and the girlfriend on some of my visits and they would tell me what they want to do to their yard. Poor Jackie and JR, they get a constant litany of, “we want to put in this, we want to put in that, blah, blah, blah.” So much so that Jackie and JR have shunned Rob and the girlfriend on occasions when she is watering the 50ish potted plants placed around their lanai and front door.
I figured the discussion was over because Rob was attempting to have the condo association approve the removal of the landscaping that was installed by the builder. Mind you, we all have the same effing plants and shrubs. It is a deed-restricted community. Get it? They do the landscaping and do not want to weed whack around “your” sketchy plants. They put in low maintenance plantings, lovely trees and little else. Quite honestly, I like the minimalist look they put in. When the shrubs mature and fill in, they will be quite lovely. I can always add a planter of plants for seasonal color, but I’m over tending to Busch Gardens.
I headed to Tampa mid-may to celebrate Jackie’s graduation from her Master’s program. I had a mid-day flight from DC, and by the time I met my sister Sue for a pedicure, had dinner with her family, and headed to my place, it was just about midnight.
Jackie, JR and I walked into the house and my iPhone binged several minutes later indicating I’d received an email. I pulled up the message and started to laugh out loud:
On May 21, 2011, at 12:22 AM, Rob wrote:
Hi Judi -
Alicia put a hold on the plantings between our homes. We are awaiting board approval. But we did landscaping around the front and side. Pictures are below.
I wanted to ask if you would consider funding a similar look on your side. We would do/arrange the work. Waiting for the HOA to do something won't get it done.
There are a couple of options here. The identical look as attached would run about $200 for all material and labor. That would include the brick edging, soil, pine bark mulch and basic plantings like you see on our side pictures. An alternative would be to just do mulch and the basic planting, without the brickwork. I'm sure that would improve the look. That would cost about $120.
We did a lot of the work ourselves, but hired a guy for $50 to cleanly align the bricks. Doing something to your side would give the building a uniform look.
Thanks, rob
Seriously? Were you watching us arriving and decided to type the note thinking I’d rush over the next day and say, “Yes, do me.” Needless to say, Jackie, JR and I had a moment of shock and then the laughter rang out. First, the pictures were quite lovely, but not my idea of the landscaping I want. He went so far as to snap a shot of my front window, which looks like a poor stepchild. LOL…I don’t care, I don’t have to do the upkeep. I’m not a big fan of landscaping bricks and they had used “tons” of them around the entire perimeter of their home. Oooohhhhh, the lawn guys are going to love avoiding those on the riding mower and the additional weed whacking??? Just saying!
So, I responded the next day:
Thanks Rob. Jackie and I have been discussing what we want to plant. Your landscaping is lovely. We have other plantings in mind and will tackle that on my next trip down. I do not plan to use landscaping bricks.
Judi
And then I got this:
At least it is on your mind. We were hoping you would do something.
Rob
Jackie and I were cracking up. Up until the girlfriend moved in, he had no yard interest. Now it is her interest so he is all over it. I’m glad he is keeping her happy!
The sad part is that I deleted all of the lovely photos he sent in the email. I asked Jackie to snap a few and she did. They don’t quite have the panache his did, but they will suffice.
In case you were wondering, we are going to plant Knock Out roses under the front window. Knock Out Roses are the ultimate gardening rose! They are disease free, extra-long blooming, ultra hardy, and long-lived! They bloom year round. Stay low and are very low maintenance for Jackie! Perfect plants for the Queen Bee!
The remainder of the weekend was spent celebrating Jackie’s graduation from her Masters Degree. There was a wonderful party at my sister’s on Saturday night. My sister and her husband had friends attending as did all of Sue’s girls. It was a wonderful evening to catch up with my nieces and their friends from high school and college. We had a blast. The party wound down and we helped Sue clean up and then Jackie, JR, and I climbed into my car to head home. There was no sense in taking all three cars when we’d be back on Sunday and could get them then.
I decided to drive because my car was the easiest to get out of the driveway…or so we thought. Sue and Charlie are renting a ginormous house with two driveways. One loop is up under the porch overhang and the other loops through the front yard at the base of a retaining wall. There are no lights in the front of the house and I was debating backing down the long winding drive, but I was afraid I’d hit something. Instead, I backed far enough to loop up under the porch and intended to head out the opposite side of the driveway. Trust me…it was so dark my headlights barely pierced the night. We were slowly creeping down the slope of that crazy drive and there in front of me was TJ’s car blocking our way. Holy Running Blisters, I was in a pickle. I could not back up the incline and dodge the pillars supporting the porch.
I decided to cut the sharp right to take the lower loop out of the yard. So, I carefully turned right and then it happened. There was an unsettling crunch, scrape, bang. Jackie, JR and I all yelled, “Oh shit” in unison. I’d hit that effing retaining wall. Jackie was in the back seat and had to exit the left of the car to see what was going on. Remember, it was dark as pitch and it was about 2:30 am. Sue and Charlie had headed to bed along with my niece Michelle, her husband TJ, (you know, the guy blocking our exit) and their daughter Haven.
Sue and Charlie had just moved into the house. I was in no mood to knock on the door to tell them I’d damaged the retaining wall. So, Jackie got out as did I and we determined what I needed to do to back up and re-negotiate the turn. Jackie stayed in front of the car and get me directed safely away from the wall. Once we were away from the wall, all three of us got out and began to assess the damage to the wall. It is made of huge landscaping bricks; did I say I hate landscaping bricks?
The three of us tried to start reconfiguring the bricks, but in the dark it was near impossible. Then we looked at the dent in the car. Yikes…nice dent. We decided to head to our house and to text TJ to let him know at the crack of dawn to head out and fix the wall the best he could. I had a restless night worrying about that damn wall. I didn’t want my sister to have to let her landlord know of the damages.
TJ got the text and assured us he’d handle the repair. That too was easier said than done. True to his word, he was up early and was heading out the front door to repair the damages and he set off Sue’s alarm. Michelle was racing into Sue’s bedroom to try and circumvent the alarm and to keep Sue from going to the front of the house where she might see TJ working on the wall. So literally, the crack of dawn, trying to be discrete, alarm wakes the entire household: all of who had been in bed only 4 or 5 hours.
I have to say, until a few nights ago, my sister Sue had no idea what happened. I finally spilled the beans because I knew this post was going live. Jackie and JR and I called it the secret of the roommates. Michelle and TJ also kept mum about the damages. I love that my nieces love me so much that they kept the secret with and for me.
The absolutely damndest part is that the retaining wall is foundering. The owners of the house are going to have to replace the wall, re-landscape, and shore up the top loop of the driveway. Sue has been having contractors out to assess the problem and to provide estimates. I do love that she mentioned a few times that one end had some chipped and broken pieces and looks like crap. HA! Thanks, that’s my damages!
When I finally confessed to Sue this week that I’d hit the wall, we had a good laugh. We laughed about the wall, the burglar alarm, the fact that everyone knew about it and had sworn to secrecy to protect me. Most of all, we laughed that I was afraid to tell her. Now that the wall has been condemned and no one can drive up under the porch to the front door, the story is even funnier.
So, the dent in the car has taken on a life of it’s own. It is like an urban legend. Most of the party guests have heard about the wall incident. They have heard about the dent. They may have looked at the wall on a trip to Sue’s, but the dent is tucked away forever. It is like a gnome. If you haven’t seen it does it exist? I have the only existing picture of it, taken with my phone in the dark of the night under a streetlight. Now you see it, now you don’t. Is it there or not? Only I know for sure!
And I know for sure that there will be absolutely NO LANDSCAPING BRICKS in my yard.
I’m off to deadhead my geraniums…TATA!
Judi Great story!!!!Sue
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