Garden Show

I spent the last three days at our regional garden show. It’s good to see people in my industry, that I’ve spent so little time in over the last year. Lot’s of hugs and catching up. The display gardens have been better, and worse. Some were outright charming. Sedums are still hot, and air plants are back in favor. I bought three-4” Spanish lavenders for a south facing spot that I tend to ignore. They’ll do well. The seminars I attended were outstanding, with some being ‘refreshers’ and others being full of new and exciting information.

Last year, I took mom to the show for a piece of a day (see February 2017 blog post list), and it was completely overwhelming for her, though we did share similar observations while looking at the displays. Our aesthetics are essentially parallel, and we both have a drive toward practicality.

Almost five years ago, on February 22nd, I received voicemail from my husband when exiting a seminar at the show. He had received voicemail from mom who was worried that my father was essentially non-responsive to her upon arriving at their Mainland house. Against her protest, an ambulance took dad to the the hospital at my daughter’s instructions that evening, as I was working my way to them through our nationally renowned traffic. He never returned home, and died a month later.

The garden show will alway be an inspiration, social event, and an anniversary to me. As I write this, I’d like to think dad is peering over a comfortable cloud, martini class in hand, saying, “Hey Pal, focus on what uplifts you, and get the peas in on March first!!”