Making memories in the garden
With Mother’s Day past and Father’s Day around the corner, it’s a good opportunity to take stock of how we spend time with parents and what memories they will leave behind.
Often, gardening is inextricably linked to our parents and grandparents. In our house, the prized rosebush was a celebrity in the neighborhood, and our vegetable garden had more to do with putting food on the table than social-media posts.
Experiencing the first Mother’s Day without my mother, I was reminded that my interest in plants would look very different without her. If her gardening memories must be summed up, it would be, “Get back to the basics.” The options we have for our gardens and yards are immeasurable, but sometimes, it is the things we learned as a child that hold the most meaning.
Almost anyone can grow herbs and vegetables
The first outdoor plants I cared for as an adult were pots of tomatoes and herbs driven from Ohio to Virginia Beach, Va. My condo had a small patio that went from concrete pad to container garden in a matter of minutes after the unloading. The lesson to come was that even an early-20-something with no yard could grow her own food. Before long, I had flat-leaf and curled parsley, sage, dill, basil, tarragon, oregano and tomatoes thriving with a once-a-day watering.
This is not unlike space available in the myriad apartments and condos across Harris County. If you are waiting to have all the information you will ever need to start a patio garden, then wait no longer. Just jump into it. Now that the heat is upon
us, you can still transplant tomatoes and peppers, but be sure they are not small plants so that there is time to get a harvest. Once nighttime temperatures remain above 80 degrees, these vegetables drop flowers and halt fruit ripening. Hot peppers can tolerate higher temperatures. Many herbs, however, can be grown throughout summer and even on a sunny windowsill.
Sometimes, old advice is the best advice
Everywhere you turn, there are suggestions, plant tags or articles advising to fill up the garden with greenery that will help repel mosquitoes. Despite lemony scents or names like mosquito plant, there is no proof in research with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension that any plants are effective at repelling
mosquitoes from your skin just by planting them in the garden.
Instead, they mention what my mother taught me, that it is the oils in the crushed leaves of certain herbs that help deter
these pests. She instructed to pick a stalk of lemon balm ( Melissa officinalis), before flowering, and rub the leaves onto the skin. We are all different, and some may have a reaction, but for this mosquito magnet, it works in most situations. I have grown lemon balm almost everywhere I have lived since then.
Warning: Lemon balm is a member of the mint family and spreads by runners, so it is best grown in a container or within a space that it cannot overrun. It can also be controlled by not letting it go to seed. Fortunately, this herb responds well to heavy pruning.
A simple flower can be a living memory
Memories of a mother are often linked to a favorite flower. One that sits at the top of my list is the moonflower ( Ipomoea alba). My mother would count the open blooms each night and inhale the evening fragrance like a woman hypnotized.
This perennial vining treasure nonaggressively climbs an arbor or fence and unfurls a tender green bud in a matter of minutes in the evening. The delicate flower that emerges mesmerizes in display and perfumed scent. In the heat of the Houston summer, buds open in the middle of the night and close by sunrise, which is great for night pollinators but not for those that want to set eyes on the beauty. As autumn nears, the flowers do as they should, which is open in the early evening. Be patient with this one, and it will reward you. Clip the dried seed pods to prevent reseeding.
Despite life always moving forward, a part of us will continue to be rooted in the past. Favorite flowers and gardening observations while we’re young stay with us long after our family members do. Keep sharing your passion because it can be a seed that germinates many years from now.