For my ¼ acre lot, I have a pretty elaborate garden. I do not mean lots of vegetables rowed out and annuals for cutting. I have an ornamental garden. Boxwood hedges, as well as azaleas, cherries, dogwoods that bloom all spring. Summer color is taken care of by crape myrtles, hydrangeas, and abelias. Fall color is grand with maples and gingkos. I am completely covered with a lovely evergreen shield of hemlocks, hollies, and junipers all winter long. I really like plants and all their diversity.
I do; however, have to share my garden with three children. I work around the basketball goal, the fort, and the swing set. One of the hardest lessons to teach my children is to leave the trees alone. The soft new growth makes excellent swords, wreaths, batons, just about anything a kid can imagine. I try to tell them the soft new stems won’t grow back. They just answer me that the trees have lots of stems. They will be fine. Well, they are not like hair. They do not grow back. The tree might grow more, but once that branch is severed it is lost to the tree forever.
These are the areas of life where the gardener and the mother must compromise. My children will grow up and move on. Someday I hope they will struggle with teaching their own children the same lesson. By then, I’ll have a quiet garden all to myself.
