Gardening In The Family: Sister’s Got The Bug

Tonight my little sis called me from her humble abode, a double wide trailer in the middle of the desert. Now before you go all getting images about my sister in her trailer, I need to tell you that

1. She lives in California
2. She works as an engineer for NASA
3. She lives near an airstrip (refer back to reason 2 for why this would matter)
4. She could not give a hoot what anybody thinks about her living in a trailer

Now I love my sister, but sometimes her way of linear thinking seems more like the peeing pattern left by a drunk college guy than the straight line the rest of us take. She needs to move her water meter so therefore the yard now needs landscaping. I didn’t ask. She doesn’t like it when people ask questions.

Superficially, my sister called to ask gardening advice. But I don’t think she really wanted advice. She just wanted to share her grand plan for a low maintenance but stunning xeriscape landscape for her yard.

And listening to her, suddenly I was transported back to the early days of my first garden, when I planted my vegetables in deep shade and was certain that no plant would take over any part of my yard because I would diligently keep them all in loving check. *coughbullshitcough* When the neighbor pointed out that there may be problems, I scoffed. They were plants after all, how hard could it be? Yeah, I laugh at my younger self pretty hard these days too.

But the thing is my sister could be right. She is like that too. She researches and plans and makes everything happen as they should (no, she is not part of the space program at NASA). She is logical and practical and would never pick a plant just because it was pretty.

When I would have chaos, she would have order. When I would have a rainbow, she would have color coordinated. When my borders wander, hers would be straight. But the main point is that sometimes, even when all else is different, the fact is that we all dig a hole and place a plant inside it. And it is with that one action that we get to call ourselves by the revered title of Gardener.