Conversations

Conversations across the Country by Denise Davis and Lisa Johnson Sunrise Denise: I wish I could tell you I was born with a love for gardening, but that wouldn't be true! One of my earliest childhood memories is of my sunny bedroom, smothered window to window with my mother's houseplants. Scented Geraniums, African Violets, Christmas Cacti, and Begonias. I had no fondness for them, because I was a tidy child and they dropped leaves and blossoms everywhere! Memories also include an abundance of chores, which included keeping the vegetable gardens weed-free and helping my mother fill the pantry with home canned goods.

Lisa: My fondest early memories were of watching my dad mow the lawn on Saturdays and the smell of freshly cut grass. I loved watching the birds in the two big walnut trees outside my bedroom window.

 

Click on the pictures to download the free patterns! I can also remember my Mother eagerly awaiting the arrival of more african violet seeds in the mail. She would spend hours planting them with tweezers and a magnifying glass. We had african violets everywhere, thoughout the house.

Denise: Weekly trips to my grandmother's farm included a hearty protest and more weeding as we had also tended to another large vegetable garden there. Before the journey back home, my grandmother led us on a leisurely stroll along the stone walls surrounding the farm, to view her long flower borders. This seemed to take forever...

I would not have expected things to unfold as they have, and from this point across time the memories swell my heart with comfort, for knowing where my roots began.

Click on the Picture to buy this pattern! Lisa: I have very fond memories of our weekly trips to Hathaway's Nursery. My mother always had to resupply her love of flowers. We had tons of roses, night blooming jasmine and colorful flowers everywhere. A lot of my time was spent watching and catching the butterflies attracted to the flowers, especially her marigolds. I was actually got pretty good at catching them too!

Of course all kids have to have a secret place to go to. Mine was across the street in Mrs. Crowley's rose garden. I spent many hours "tending " her roses. They seemed to be giants, as I was very short and they were tall. She probably had the most over watered, over fertilized, and over anything else you can think of, roses. I felt like I could get lost in her rose garden and stay forever. She was obviously a very sweet lady, since she never ran me off. All these instilled a love of roses that has lasted my entire lifetime.

Click on the hang tags to download and use them! Denise: During my young adulthood, winter hours were spent reading and rereading garden books and drawing plans for garden beds and artsy yard things. Summer months were spent poking for garden treasures at tag sales, and learning to garden by trial and error. I have several journals filled with nursery receipts and drawings, inspiring magazine pictures and newspaper clippings. I started doing my own canning, filling the pantry to feed my own young family.

 

Click on the pictures to download the instructions on how to paint the picture or to buy the strawberry pattern! It was about this time that I took up sewing and crafting and attended many classes with my grandmother. Favorite crafts usually always included elements from nature and from my gardens. Herbal wreaths, lavender sachets, topiaries, and potpourri were some of the things I gifted family and friends with. Lisa: I was always fascinated with my grandmother's pressed flowers and lavender sachets. I remember the little hankies tied up with lavender buds inside, tucked into our drawers of clothes, which led to our discovery of my first allergy (lavender). Wouldn't ya know it? Her pressed flowers were inside our huge family bible that weighed more than I did, but the smells were incredible. My grandmother was a seamstress, and was an endless source of info and training for my sewing skills. I still have my first sewing machine, and several others and I also have my treasured button collection that was passed from my grandmother to me. Wonderful memories of sitting on her lap while she read my "little golden books" to me. The story of "Chip Chip" the chipmunk and "Bambi" were my favorites.

I think that was the early stages of my lifelong love and respect for animals. To continue this story please click the "next" button All Graphics © 2002 have been designed for ~A Time For Primitives~ by Eleasa of Designs-by-Eleasa.com Site built by Lisa Johnson All Other Logos ® By Their Respective Owners. Services Provided by U-Maintain-IT Web Services Inc. For any broken links or technical problems please report to: [email protected]