A GOOD REPUTATION

GARDEN QUOTE : THE GREATEST GIFT OF A GARDEN IS THE RESTORATION OF THE FIVE SENSES.-Hanna Rion

BRRRRR-it's colder than a chigger's belly button in Chicago. We're paying for a warm January. I like to look at the Spring and Summer photos of my garden when it's this cold. Yep, I'm pleased to say that's a shot of the Wisteria standard blooming for the first time ( May-June '06 ) since I planted it three years ago.

Benjamin Franklin said that it takes many good deeds to earn a good reputation, and only one bad one to destroy it. Growing up in the conservative South and the Fifties this was pounded into our heads and it kept many a young gal from going astray.

I didn't know just how good my reputation as a gardener was until I overheard two of my neighbors discussing my dead lawn. " She must be experimenting on something new, look how yellow the grass is, " one said to the other. Yeah, right, yellow grass is the rage this year. As I approached she asked me what was going on . " I killed it; too much fertilizer, too little water, " I replied. The look on her face was one of sheer amazement, as if I could do no wrong. Guess my sterling reputation as a gardener was forever tarnished in her eyes by my one misdeed.