Why do you garden?

[Featherbaby]

I have Spring Fever....year round. (It's a chronic condition and eventually fatal). I moved to Florida 30 years ago because the growing season was longer and the winter agony was shorter. After reading all the above posts, I understand my compulsion a little better. My garden feeds my soul and gives me sanctuary from a world that seems to have gone crazy. Some days it's the only thing that keeps me clinging to optimism when everything else is pulling me into the black hole of depression. When I look out at my garden I am overcome by it's beauty and see the genius of my God every where I look. I know it will always be a work in progress as long as my body can endure the physical strain (I'm almost 60 and I know I won't always be able to do this, my back is already bad.) So here is the results of 20 years at hard labor:

A footnote: I have no husband to help and have hired very little outside labor. I have put in everything you see with my own two hands over a period of 20 years. No wonder my back is ruined. HA! I'm proud of it and it has certainly kept me 'off the street' and out of trouble. HA!

 

[lesa]

Absolutely stunning, featherbaby!! That is the prettiest water area, I have ever seen! I don't imagine you have much time to get into trouble, with all those gardens!
Good for you, doing it all yourself!

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

I remember being 8 years old and thinking of terms like "slave labor", "child abuse", "trying to kill me".

I now look on those times with fondness. My family trusted me to harvest the fruits of their labor in order to feed us. If we didn't have a garden, we didn't eat. That's how much they trusted and needed me and how much they loved me. They loved me enough to teach me the skills to provide for myself and my family for years to come.

I would often wonder about my husband's family. Why didn't they grow a tomato or a pepper plant. They were so poor (he's from Mexico and they absolutely had nothing). They would plant fields of corn and "borrow" a mule to plow and such. The corn was their "money", I now have figured it out, they did not have the skills to preserve any thing other than dried corn. It was what they were used to doing. They did not know to save a seed from a tomato or pepper and grow it into a plant to provide for their family.

My family loves me a lot, to give this knowledge and I have skills that a lot of 38 year old women in my country take for granted.

I garden for tradition and the love of my family.

 

[seedcorn]

hangin, there are so many things we take from granted in USA. We are blessed.

Only problem w/beautiful garden in Florida is that you have to live in Florida to have it........LOL.

 

[4grandbabies]

Featherbaby, you have a beautiful and stunning garden!! I would love to use your top pic for my desktop for a while..but only if you say its ok.

 

[thistlebloom]

Very impressive and beautiful Feather'. I love that clematis!

 

[Featherbaby]

Featherbaby, you have a beautiful and stunning garden!! I would love to use your top pic for my desktop for a while..but only if you say its ok.

Of course you may! Gardens are meant to be enjoyed, even if only in photos. I wish you could come and "take the tour", I have decks and raised beds around 3/4 of my house and driveway. I keep flowers mostly in the back yard which borders the river. I use evergreen plantings and a few accent flowers like Hibiscus and Agapanthus in the front yard bordering the street. I love growing unusual and different plants. Most everything grows in FL but many of my favorites from my childhood in KY are not possible here (like lilac, columbine, iris and peony) and I miss them.

 

[JimWWhite]

FeatherBaby, what an absolutely stunning garden! I'm proud of mine, but your's... Holy Cow!!! The word 'Amazing' doesn't even do it justice! Please post more pics.

 

[rebbetzin]

FeatherBaby, what an absolutely stunning garden! I'm proud of mine, but your's... Holy Cow!!! The word 'Amazing' doesn't even do it justice! Please post more pics.

I love seeing the photos of other people's gardens!!
I am going to look for a Pablano Chile plant, per my husband's request... They make the best Chile Rellenos!

 

[4grandbabies]

Featherbaby, you have a beautiful and stunning garden!! I would love to use your top pic for my desktop for a while..but only if you say its ok.

Of course you may! Gardens are meant to be enjoyed, even if only in photos. I wish you could come and "take the tour", I have decks and raised beds around 3/4 of my house and driveway. I keep flowers mostly in the back yard which borders the river. I use evergreen plantings and a few accent flowers like Hibiscus and Agapanthus in the front yard bordering the street. I love growing unusual and different plants. Most everything grows in FL but many of my favorites from my childhood in KY are not possible here (like lilac, columbine, iris and peony) and I miss them.

Thanks..
You mention being almost 60 with a bad back, so what you have is MORE than amazing. I am almost 66, with fybromyalgia,and a deteriorated lower spine, so I live more thru what others do.. I do what I can tho, and my kids seem to value my input..even when its words not work.