I tell people all the time that I come by my love of gardening naturally. I grew up running among the roses and skipping through the pansies of my grandparents and aunts gardens. My mother never had the time to raise a lot of flowers she was busy raising seven children.
My Great Grandmother on my mothers side (Jessie Jensen) lived until she was 102. She had the most amazing garden. I was 12 when she passed and I remember her yard very well. She grew and tended a "full sized" vegetable garden up until she was 94. Her pride and joy were her "Glads". She would plant a row of them and would cut bouquets for friends and family. Last year my own maternal grandmother (Ruth Tuttle) gave me her glad bulbs which I cherish. Who knows maybe some of them came from Grandma Jessie.
Last year I tended my grandparents yard and gardens for them. My grandfather was 88 and to old for the work. He would follow me around, dragging a folding chair, and would tell me stories about his garden. He told me about the old yellow roses that came from the home my grandmother was raised in. He would talk about his Peonies and how much he loved them. He would grab the shovel and show me just the right way to add compost to the roses. My grandma would join us and start rambling off names of her roses that she loved like children. "Oh, look at the color in this one!", she would say. "It was named after an old movie star" On and on she would go, as she would gently pat each one like a new born babies bottom. I learned things like how to soak seeds before planting and how much water a vegetable garden really needed to grow in Utah.
Last summer is a cherished memory for me. My Grandfather (Wayne Tuttle) died that October at the age of 89. He had a little sign in his garden that read " Old gardeners never die they just spade away". My hope and dream is to some day buy their home. It sits on an acre of land that he built into a beautiful garden. His generation knew how to work hard and "everything" on his land was put there and built by his own two hands. Even the house. You see, he was a carpenter by trade. When I dig in their dirt or tend to their flowers I think of the many hours they spent on their knees, in loving care of the earth that they were watching over. Their yard will and has outlived them. The yellow roses bloom every spring reminding us of Grandma Jessie's home and my grandparents childhood in Manti.These roses have outlived two generations of my family.
Now,my children accompany me to my grandparents home. They hide under the weeping cherry, run through the perennials and stop to smell the roses. As I pull the weeds, they sit under trees and listen to the birds. My grandmother will join us and show them the rose that was named after an old movie star. I can see the awe in there eyes as they discover the hidden treasures left behind by loving gardeners. Hopefully some day they can say that they come by their love of gardening naturally.