Celebrating Your Mother on Mother’s Day
by Pam Roy, CPH
Planscapes
Moms and gardens; they seem to go together. My mother was a gardener, as was her mother. Mother’s Day was all about celebrating mom’s passion for gardening and her current favorite plant. For many years it was dahlias, followed by sedums,then later in life her prized roses. Her absolute long time favorites in the garden, were peonies.
Each year on Mother’s Day, us kids would try to come up with a creative way to honor her love of gardening. Ideas ranged from a simple hand prepared greeting card offering an hour of garden work, to nursery visits ,plant shopping trips, and garden tea parties. That time we spent together was more meaningful to her than any gift could have been!
The most memorable trip was a visit to A and D Peonies in Snohomish. My mother was in total bliss, wandering through the well cared for nursery, drooling over all the stunningly beautiful varieties available. The proprietors were passionate about their peonies .We left with a car full of plants. These peonies became the most treasured lifelong members of her garden. One of them now fills a special place in my own garden and I eagerly look forward to its blossoms each year.
Many gardeners have first been bit by the gardening bug while helping mom. What better way to recognize this than spending some time with mom in her garden on Mother’s Day. Share some “social weeding” time , or transplanting or general cleanup. Help get her vegetable garden started with gift of seed packets or seedlings.
Is your mother a rhododendron lover? Plan a visit to someplace special like Meerkirk Gardens on Whidbey Island,or the Rhododendron Species Foundation in Federal Way. Stroll arm in arm down Azalea Way in the Washington Park Arboretum. Take a shopping trip to a fun nursery you’ve never visited before--Bayview Farm and Garden on Whidbey Island, Dig Nursery on Vashon Island, Emery’s Garden in Lynnwood, to mention just a few. Refer to the WSNLA website for a list of nurseries to visit. Pick up some new garden tools or some flower seeds and deliver with a new pair of garden gloves.
Surprise her with a colorful container potted up with a selection of freshly planted vegetable starts. Pick out one of the many intriguing gardening books available. Give her a gift certificate for a garden consultation or buy her a couple of tickets to Sorticulture, Everett’s annual garden arts festival in June.
On our families’ last Mother’s Day, I gifted my mom with a beautiful rose named “Fragrant Memory”. It had glorious colors in it’s first season in her yard and a heavenly fragrance. That fall, I sadly dug it up and moved it to a place of honor in my own garden. Every Mother’s Day since then, I’ve spent some time in my garden, cultivating memories and being grateful for the love of nature and beauty that my mother shared with me.
Pam Roy, owner of Planscapes is an award winning landscape designer with over 30 years of experience. Contact her via email: pnw135@verizon.net . View her web gallery at gallery.mac.com/pnw54
