Gardening, A Gratifying Hobby

Gardening has been my mom's favorite past times. She would wake up early in the morning so she could water her plants. She does this every day in spite of her busy schedule. She has a great garden with different types of flowering plants, shrubs, and other green and ornamental plants. She also takes care of herbs and spices such as ginger, garlic, oregano and onion springs.

You can say that our home looks like a jungle. We have two huge trees on the front yard. Bougainvilleas of different varieties which adorn and provide privacy to our home are planted near the gate. Several planter boxes planted with Chinese tea trees were also lined up in a row to add more green to our yard. While her garden of flowers, herbs, bushes are located in our backyard. She also takes care of several wild orchids such as the spider orchids, tiger orchids, yellow dancing ladies and several more orchids which names I am not familiar with. She bought some of these plants online while the rest are given by her colleagues, friends, students, neighbors and relatives who share her passion in gardening.

Unfortunately, I do not share her talent in gardening. I did try though. I used to have my collection of cacti. I also tried planting trees. However, they will either wilt or wither so after several tries, I gave up and leave gardening to the experts and those who are gifted with a green thumb. It is kind of ironic though since both my parents and my grandparents on both sides have green thumbs. But in spite of being a failure in gardening, I still love plants. I appreciate their importance to our lives especially the values they teach us. And just like a great quote from Linda Solegato goes, "Plants give us oxygen for the lungs, and for the soul."

Dream Vacation

 

A few weeks ago, my dream vacation had finally came true. It is nothing like the luxurious trip to the Bahamas or a European tour. We are not cruising as well. We will be visiting my aunt, my father's younger sister who lives in the country. I have been there countless of times in the past especially during spring breaks. It is like my second home. However, since I started working and my mom adopted the plants which our former neighbors left behind we do not have a chance of going away to visit my aunt. She is worried that her plants will die without her caring touch. I was excited that my mom had finally accepted my aunt's invitation to stay with them for at least a week. I miss my aunt, her cooking, and the fresh air of the country side. And the only reason why she agreed to it was because my brother accepted to house-sit, dog sit and plant sit. She also realize the convenience of the Planter Well self watering reservoirs. 

I bought the self watering reservoir so I could convince her that she does not have to water the plants everyday. She was not thrilled about it complaining that she can water the plants herself and ask me to return the item with finality. Thankfully she listened to my explanation that the planter will do wonders to her plants but that is with the assistance of my brother. We also reached a compromise that the self watering planter stays if it is really working otherwise we will return the item. I was crossing my fingers that the planter is functional. I sighed in relief when it did. My mom was unhappy but accepted her defeat. 

The seven day vacation in the country side is perfect. It is so much better than cruising the Caribbean. I just love the relaxing effect of fresh air and the smell of green grass. It is so peaceful that I want to stay there forever. And in spite of my mom's complaints, I know she loves the country side too.