"Was I Really Ever That Dumb"?

O.K. Maybe the word "dumb" is a bit too harsh. Was I ever that uneducated might be better. Let me take you back about 43 years ago when my husband and I purchased our first house. We bought it from an elderly German couple who were meticulous in their care of the home. They were selling not because they no longer loved the house but because there were so many young children in the neighborhood that errant balls were always rolling into their yard - followed by errant children retrieving said ball - and one of their MANY gardens was always getting disturbed.

Enter me! Even though I had really never had a garden of my own, I fancied myself a bit of a gardener from my time helping out my mom or doing a little in the yard of the house we had rented for a year. So, I couldn't wait to get out there. There were so many areas of flower gardens that a lot of the yard was chopped up and we had a two year old and knew there would probably be more along soon. That meant swing set, sand box, etc. And so I, the enthusiastic gardener, headed out to move some things and throw away others so that we could get a bit of lawn back.

My first stop was an oval patch about 6X4 feet. It was full of just greenery at this time and to me, it looked like the leaves of a dandelion. Guess I never stopped to think that these master gardeners would never have a patch of dandelions, but I was young so I just started pulling all of the plants out and pitching them into a trash can.

Suddenly I heard a noise and the very sweet, very "southern" lady who lived next door came over and began a conversation. We finally got around to what I was doing and she asked if I didn't want the plants, would I mind if she took them. Now she was a very, very sweet lady. I don't remember all of the details, but I will bet that she told me what the "weed" was that I thought I was throwing out and I was probably too embarrassed to admit my mistake and I let her have them.

Anyway, it wasn't long after that I spied a flowering plant in a nursery that I loved. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was the plant I had been yanking out of the patch. That patch was pretty packed with plants so I don't even want to guess how many there were or how much they were worth.

You see, I have since learned that that was a full patch of Gerbera daisies. I am still drawn to them and add several new ones to my current garden each year. On any given day for most of spring and summer, I can pick a pretty decent bouquet of these beauties. Here are the colors that are blooming today:

And, do you notice the moisture on the petals? We had a wonderful, long rain last night and everything is happy today! I love my Gerberas. They make me smile every morning. Live and learn! Stay tuned.