Some gardens past are now faded memories from a time when my appreciation and understanding had not germinated. My mother's garden was sown in the margins of our yard and in her life. A very real expression of her simple love for plants. Her love was so idiosyncratic that when she moved the garden wouldn't have lasted long. We gardeners know well the necessity of our attention even in the smallest ways and gardens. It is the essential truth that gives our efforts weight. It teaches us to pay attention and remember. Remember gardens & gardeners.

What a wonderful ponder on your mother's garden, Briggs. I enjoyed it a lot...it made me think of my own mother and her love for all things green and growing. Also her ever-changing collections: scented-leaf geraniums, orchids, heirloom tomatoes. Her gardening life continued, even when her Alzheimer's disease distracted her, and she always loved to sit on her patio and enjoy the colors and scents.

I also remembered my large garden in Pioneer, with its 650 rose bushes of many heirloom types (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!)...and Mme Alfred Carriere, growing on the edge of the verandah there, and now planted to edge the verandah here.

Thanks for giving me a lovely start to my cold, grey morning in Exeter...

on this day after the death of our beloved Blaise I am yet again engulfed in tears with the visions of what once were. as I read my sister's eulogy to our mother's garden and I am so very grateful to have you to keep fresh and alive the memories that are my childhood and from where I evolved.

This obituary to a garden is a living tribute to your mother. Betty was colorful and fun to be around providing her friends as well as her family with many sunny hours. I'm inspired to take some time out of my day of summer errands to finally plant my waiting potted cosmos in hopes it brightens someone else's day as your writing has mine.

This obituary to a garden is a living tribute to your mother. Betty was colorful and fun to be around providing her friends as well as her family with many sunny hours. I'm inspired to take some time out of my day of summer errands to finally plant my waiting potted cosmos in hopes it brightens someone else's day as your writing has mine.