PHFR: A City Garden

 

Speaking of gardens....I have never had a proper one.  There was the time when Eldest Child planted Basil for a science experiment and it grew to enormous size in the backyard. We had pesto for months and that was delightful.   And then Creative Child decided to try his hand at pumpkins.  We got one, massive, orange beauty just in time for Halloween.  The pumpkin vines took over the yard in quite an other worldly fashion...like pods from outer space. Then there was the time that some stray thistle seeds were dropped in our front yard and a  thistle plant grew to great heights.  My husband refused to dig it up because it was so very interesting to watch.  It grew in giant circles like a coiled slinky.  I must admit we were the talk of the neighborhood for a few weeks there. People running to catch the bus on the corner would sometimes stop dead in their tracks.   Every time I looked out the window there was someone staring in disbelief at this Dr. Seussian growth in our front yard.  Any farmer would have shrugged and said, "Hmm a thistle plant.  They better dig that up before it takes hold".  But our neighborhood is smack dab in the middle of a city and farmers might just shake their heads at us for our ignorance of basic fauna and flora. 

 

 

 So, there you have it.  The extent of our gardening history.

 

 

But I DO have flower pots.  Yes I do.  I fill them every year with glorious, velvety petunias.  When we first bought our house, it had a porch with three wonderful pillars just begging for some stately, English estate urns.   Unfortunately, we were peasants and could not afford them.  Well, as luck would have it, my good friend from our home schooling co op announced one day that her sister was trying to move a whole warehouse of "stuff" up north as her company had moved there.  She needed to get rid of a lot of stuff in a hurry.  And she was....an event planner!  We all hopped in our cars and when we were let loose in this warehouse, we all bemoaned the fact that we didn't each have a trailer attached to our cars.  There were Greek gods about 10 feet tall which I REALLY wanted but would not know how to explain to the neighborhood (which was still recovering from the thistle caper). There were whole sets of Jimmy Buffet island docks and huts. A Roman villa with a fountain...oh the plays I could have done if only I had been blessed with a semi truck!    It was like walking through crazy Hollywood sets. 

Then we found the aisle with all the pots.  And there were my English Urns....made out of foamcore, light as a feather but looking like they were made of stone.  I snatched up three and headed for the car.   Alas, I had to leave the Greek gods behind, but now my pillars boast of three large, lovely pots of velvety loveliness. 

 

 

 

I ALSO have pots on the back porch!  This year they are filled with coleus plants which I just love. 

 

 

These remind me always of my Lovely Daughter who was all of eight when I brought home Youngest Child when he was born.  She had planted them in the pots out front to surprise me for Mother's Day.  So, they will always have a place in my heart. 

 

 

 

I absolutely salute all those bloggers with raised beds, and luscious looking vegetables and fruits growing so beautifully in their summer yards.  I must be content with my pots.   One last closing word:  watch out for Thistles...they do take hold.