Thanks for sharing a wonderful story with us. I hope the lady you met knows how she blessed you.

I drive by two different gardens when I go to town and would like to meet each of the gardeners. One has flowers right up to the edge of a busy trafficway. I can't imagine how she works the bed without being on the street. Another lives near me and she is the only person besides me in this country area to have a perennial border....so we must be kindred spirits. That is what I think each time I see a flower garden...I just know I would like that gardener.

Laurie ~ What a beautiful and touching story! It brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. Gardens do touch us in many ways and it is always wonderful to meet those who plant such loveliness. This forum has been my inspiration to keep working in my gardens, that are basically done on a shoestring but with lots of love and enjoyment.

Thank you for sharing your story and enjoy gardening with your new son. May your gardens be filled with lots of color, scents and wonders.

FlowerLady

What a wonderful story....we need to all remember that when we get down trodden with the work of gardening..Thank you for sharing that.

Great story. A part of this forum is the friendships we make with people we will probably never have the chance to visit. Yet, we each have a modicum of influence on each other.

It's a beautiful and touching story. These inspirations come to us and sometimes we don't even realize the full influence until many years later.

Thank you for sharing that beautiful and touching story. I am so happy that you were able to meet her and express your admiration for all she had accomplished in her garden.

As a child, my mother used to always tell us to never pass up an opportunity to compliment someone. A compliment, a kind gesture, a gentle smile can have the most amazing impact on someone. I'm sure you made her day, Laurie!

She, in turn, had an effect on your life. I hope that somehow she finds this post and recognizes this tribute to her.

Marilyn

I so much enjoyed your story. You are so right that much of what we do may seem insignificant and yet have a very great impact on others whether we know it or not. Thank you for sharing such a moving experience. c

A lovely story, I have to say this forum is my inspiration, since I've joined in here, I seem to have more spring in my step, a better outlook on life in general and believe it or not my health has improved greatly. Someone in one of the threads mentioned the blood pressure medication Atenolol, I had been on it for over 15 years. WELL, it just about put me in a wheelchair, my legs and arms were so swollen and painful and I'm not even going to go there about the weight issue and to top it off it didn't seem to lower my blood pressure much. Having Lupus I thought this was something I just had to deal with. I read up about Atenolol on the internet, arming myself with the information I found I went to my doctor and got him to change my meds. Happy days are here again, I've got the use of my legs back, lost 5 pounds the first week, mostly fluid retention, and most of the pain is gone. To top it all off my blood pressure is the lowest it's ever been. If someone hadn't mentioned that medication and the downfalls of it I would have been in a wheelchair by now. So thank you very much....Annette

Marilyn ~ Your thought ~ A compliment, a kind gesture, a gentle smile can have the most amazing impact on someone. ~ Is oh so true.

Annette ~ So glad you are doing so much better and all thanks to caring, concerned folks in these forums who talk about their lives, and what is going on in them.

FlowerLady

What a touching story....The magic and power of gardens can never be understated. Your story made me suddenly remember a childhood family friend of ours who was a passionate gardener. Her name was Hazel Pennell, but to us she became "Penny" and our adopted grandma. She was always out in her garden and gave our Mom extra bearded irises. I grew up with those beautiful flowers and got transplants from my moms garden, so now I have them in my garden. Every time they bloom, I think of both Penny and my mom. Gardens and gardeners alike are surely magical.

This is such a nice thread. I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments.
Thanks very much for sharing your poignant story, Lauriewood.

PattiOh

That's what I love most about this garden forum - people sharing heartfelt stories that only gardeners would understand and appreciate fully.
Lauriewood, your story is wonderful, and I enjoyed reading it. Hopefully your son will tell stories one day how his mom inspired his gardening "addiction".
What a great thread!
~Natalie

My mom was an avid gardener. We had big yard at the house where I grew up. She planted several gardens, added a couple brick walkways and patios, a slate patio, and did all the hardscaping. I remember coming home from school and she would be tending to her gardens. I wasn't into gardening until much later, and in retrospect I wish I could have learned more from her.

She passed away five years ago. Now, she is my inspiration and I'm trying to maintain her gardens now.

I guess it sounds kind of sentimental or soppy, but it makes me feel closer to her. I think she is looking down and smiling. (At least I hope she is!) : )

Mary

Annette, I'm so happy to hear that getting off Atenolol helped you. I don't know if it was my post regarding my experience, but I got off of it back in March and feel so much better.

As for the other posts -- I think all of us cottage gardeners love sentimental and sloppy. I just love to hear these. In a world where there's so much harshness, this forum is a sweet retreat.

Hugs to all.
Cameron

Thank you everybody. I regretted this post after I wrote it - I thought  "Oh Jesus  how sickening  IÂm going to be banned from the Cottage Garden Forum!"
But - True to form, you have (as always) been an inviting and enlightening group.

I do not post often  but I read your words often and feel like I know you all. ItÂs nice to have a forum where we can be sappy and still be accepted.

A few responses:

Annette- I truly could not be happier for you. I pay special attention because one of my good friends was recently diagnosed with Lupus. I will remember your experience.
gldno1 - I suggest you drop by those gardeners and meet them. Life is truly too short. IÂm sure you would love each other. Cuttings or cookies (or simply compliments) are ALWAYS appreciated!
Marilyn  Your MotherÂs words are so true. It has taken me a long time to learn that lesson. But the oneÂs who have mastered it are sitting pretty! I am working on it.
Mary: No  you should always be sentimental and sloppy when remembering your mother. Not doing so is just bad taste. I am sure she would delight in your words.

Thanks yÂall-

Laurie

I loved reading this thread. It reminds us that gardens and the people who love them are special. My best friends are all gardeners and we love sharing cuttings, seeds and food. It's funny how people who garden seem to find each other.

That was very inspiring. It's true, peoples' lives are a testimony to others, often times, they're not even aware of this, which is probably a good thing, considering most of the time, people tend to get to big-headed.
Never be afraid to give someone a compliment, it may open a whole new world for the both of you. Acts of kindness are too few in this world, and we need to get back to the basics.
There are two gardens I've noticed driving through my neighborhood, when the weather gets nicer, I've determined that I'll make the effort to get to complement them on their gardens. I'm always willing to help people get something started if they're interested. Plant the seeds, and water them, and watch something beautiful take place!!!

Laurie, your story is wonderful and I hope you will post more often, Martha

Loved your story Laurie,and all the post that followed it.I always make a point of trying to meet gardeners if i enjoy their gardens.I love to go yard saleing as well and that's a mighty good way to meet some of our fellow gardeners.I end up getting tours of their gardens,swap stories and even exchange plants.I've never met a gardener that i didn't like!!

This picture was taken in a fellow gardeners yard.I have been to several yard sales at her home,and have bought some epis from her .I started taking my camera with me,just for opportunities like this.

And this was taken across the street from her house.This is a Morton Fig,take a look at that root system.No lawn to mow there!!

Kathi

Kathi ~ What an amazing plant in your friends garden, and what a monster that fig tree is.

It is always wonderful to make new gardening friends.

Happy Gardening in 2008 ~ FlowerLady

Hi Laurie

You are funny- thinking you'd get banned! That made me laugh.
I LOVED your story and almost cried too. I have a new baby now ( will be 10 months in a week) and i too am just realizing the pain a person in her shoes would be in..
it's amazing how people touch your lives and they may never know it!

When I was young- an old old woman and her husband from the Netherlands owned our home. We were very very poor and rented the apartment upstairs. She had the most amazing gardens- veggies on a terraced hillside, surrounded by raspberry and blackberry bushes to keep us kids out, a light-up windmill out in front a huge glass greenhouse.. we had preying mantids everywhere and learned so much about them. She taught my mom to crochet, and I learned from mom when i was 8.. and I make things for so many people. I'm fairly young and people comment that i am like an old lady crocheting and gardening and cooking... if I am anythign that old lady- it'd a compliment!

She died when i was only 7 or 8 but I cherish those memories. I never knew how much all that stuff meant to me until a couple of years ago. I hope she sees how much she influenced my life by letting me grow up in her paradise.
it's been bought and sold a few times now and turned low maintenance of course over the years. trees cut down, all just grass now...plastic tarps covering the gardens ni front and covered with woodchips.. but i have seen the daffodils where the windmill used to be- they tore right up thru that plastic. And it makes me smile.

A new family just bought the house last spring. I was thinking of stopping by one day to tell them about the original owners and the property. They have been working hard to make the place pretty again- so i think they might actually care.

Anyway- Laurie your story made me think of my old land-lady. thanks fo rthe trip down memory lane! I hope they both can see the influence they have had in young women's lives. I hope all of us turn out to be great influences to someone one day too!

Just re-read this post. I am FINALLY able to garden again after baby, nursing school, husband cancer, leaving mean recovered husband, homelessness,divorce, nursing my Daddy through cancer and his death this winter. I love each and every one of your comments. What a lovely group of women. Kudos. I forgot how much support I used to get through Gardenweb. It's amazing. Sometimes when life gets bad, you forget the intrinsic beauty it can be. I'm rediscovering. I so love ya'll!