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.
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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.
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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.
 
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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.
 
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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.
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