Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - A Memory Garden

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - A Memory Garden

by DIG-IT

by Rosalie Stanley

I didn’t start out to have a memory garden and really didn’t give it much thought until recently when my friend, Fiina, came over to visit.

After her mother died, Fiina let me choose some things from her childhood home to remember her mother by. One item that I chose was an old wood and metal wheel. This was promptly put in my garden along with a pair of my daughter’s boots and some succulents. When Fiina came to visit a few weeks back I had to show her where the wheel landed and told her how every day when I walked by the wheel it reminded me of her mother, Bertha.

The next thing I knew we were talking about plants people had given me, my totems with old objects mounted on them, random objects placed here and there and the many old and deceased people who had contributed plants and stuff to my garden. Fiina concluded that I had quite the “memory garden” and after a bit of thought I had to agree.

After all, every morning when I walk outside to feed the horses, chickens and other critters, the first things I see are the many rhododendrons that Len Charvet and Peter Schick had given me before they died. Both had grown thousands of rhodies from seed in search of excellent specimens, both species and their own hybrids. Then there are the perennials, dwarf conifers, old roses, succulents, annuals that keep reseeding and so many other plants all given to me by great gardeners that are either gone or still gardening as best they can.

So, how was I so lucky to get so many great plants? I don’t think I was lucky, just a gardener who appreciates plants, the people that grow them and the care it takes to keep them alive. Yes, I was working for many of these people; pulling the weeds, tilling the soil and doing many of the chores that they couldn’t do anymore. All of them gladly gave me slips, seeds, bulbs or plants whenever I worked for them. Sometimes it was overwhelming and I didn’t know what I would do with everything. Throwing them on the compost pile was not an option so in the ground they’d go.

Len, Peter, Rose, Virginia and Morris, Bob, Mary and many others were all extreme gardeners, all in their eighties when I met them. They were or still are very active in the gardening community and are so knowledgeable. They’ve enjoyed being gardeners, their years of hard work, growing so many wonderful plants and sharing with others. Most were, or are, very active in various garden clubs and the American Rhododendron Society.

Each of these people continued to work in their gardens in any way possible until the end or are still out in their yards today. Some are still propagating and creating new hybrids. Those still kicking are now ninety plus and are still so strong they put people years younger than them to shame. In any event, there’s a memory of each of them everywhere in my garden and I’m grateful for that. All of them gave me so much information and so many plants that I can’t help but say I have a true memory garden. Hopefully you too will be so lucky.

** Photos by Rosalie Stanley. Editor's Note: Rosalie Stanley is not an East Coast gardener but she shares universal stories with DIG IT! readers. Rosalie lives and gardens and takes care of all kinds of plants, humans and critters on the Northern California Coast.

Back to article