Summer is in full blast but many of us are still in the grips of spring fever. Die-hard gardeners still drop by Frank’s to check out his new arrivals of plants, roses, and trees and we drive by Walmart slowly to screen the existing inventory.
Over the years, some of us have slowly acquired the title of having a “green thumb” but I’ll let you in on a gigantic hoax – there is no such thing.
In the early days of spring, everyone gets spring fever. All of humanity rushes to Frank’s or the Walmart garden center to get their “spring fix.” We must have something to plant, where it is flowers, plants, vegetables, seeds or anything alive or green. It is a process known as the “rite of spring.”
Remember when your Aunt Ida’s yard was immaculate with gigantic sunflowers, huge red roses and every rainbow-colored daylily. Everyone said she was born with a “green thumb.”
Everything she haphazardly stuck in the ground flourished and grew with little or no effort on her part. It didn’t seem fair but the consensus was that you either had a “green thumb” or you didn’t. Aunt Ida certainly had one but no one took the time to see that she put in a lot of blood, sweat and happy tears into her thriving flower garden and manicured lawn.
“I’m just an old lady that loves gardening. God and I work together. He sends the sunshine and raid, and I do the rest with my heart, soul and hands,”
Those early birds that flocked to garden centers in early spring and got their fix to plant something have wilted in the sun. Their excuses were varied but down to the point – “They just didn’t have a green thumb,” they said.
Yes, they followed the early stages of planting into mother earth’s rich soil but quickly forgot that the growth period takes times and they were unwilling to stay with the process of weeding, watering and fertilizing. The plants died.
I have known people who seemed to have the mythical “green thumb.” Mr. and Mrs. Bill Rogers and the late Sam Smiths from Twin City for their rose collections. Our local garden clubs have many green thumbers among their members who shine in their annual flower show with many blue ribbon awards, and, who can forget May Kent’s gigantic, spectacular peace rose that stole the slower show a decade ago.
Over the years, we have realized that anything worth having takes time and effort. God will do his part, but you must do yours. Being a green thumb, if there ever was one, takes time, effort and hard work, but there is always next spring to try again. So, I’ll see you at Frank’s or Walmart around March 15. Don’t be late!
