And in the beginning...

...it was suggested that I have a welcome message for Growin' Susan.  I'm all about cleverness, or the elusive pursuit of cleverness as the case may be, and so in titling the welcome I was reminded of Sharon Stone when she guested on "Roseanne".Standing there in her pink bathrobe,curlers in her hair, she welcomes Roseanne and the Connor clan to the trailer park, "Welcome! Welcome!!"   with a dramatic wave of her hand.  I laugh every time I picture her in that role.  But this is about growin' stuff and not so much about vintage situation comedy.  Although that would be an apt descriptor for my life, overall.  

I don't think of myself so much as a gardener.  I just like growing things.  The pursuit of knowledge about anything that grows is my passion.  If I see a plant that I don't recognize, I am chasing it down like a bounty hunter.  I am looking for the name of the plant and any information I can find about it.  Most of what I know about plants is passed down from my family.  My maternal grandmother lived with us as I was growing up and that woman lived in the garden.  Specifically, she grew roses like a champ.  I learned the seasons by what was blooming in the garden.  I could identify a Chrysler Imperial rose before I knew the alphabet.  Which is not such a bad thing.  I have a treasured story about the Chrysler Imperial rose but I will save that for another time.

It is these early beginnings that have formed my love of the garden, plants, birds, the ourdoors in general.  I want to preserve my memories of grandma's gardening stories and I want to continue her traditions in the garden and the traditions of my mother.  I want to honor my father's hunger for knowledge.  Daddy taught me that I should never live ignorant, never be be numb to the facts.  If you don't know about a subject, whatever it is, and you are interested in that subject, LEARN!  Research it.  Fill your head with everything you can find on that subject and use that knowledge.  Knowledge is knowing what to do and wisdom is applyng that knowledge.  Get knowledge.  Get wisdom. And, "Use your head for something more than a hat rack!" oh, how your words are ringing in my head, Dad.  I know you are looking down on me right now nodding.

So, hopefully I can chronicle some knowledge, some folklore, some wisdom, some garden tidbits.  Who knows?  Save it all for posterity and weave it all into the tapestry that is my vintage situationally comical life.