Almost a Bag Lady.

I am turning into my mother.

Last fall I had struck up a conversation with a man who owns an elderly care and child's daycare facility on the other side of town--he & his wife have a spectacular garden. He offered to share some seeds with me this spring. Today, while on our regular walk I intended to stop by and see if he had any seeds to share. He did. Three bags full of zinnia seeds, purple, orange, and pink. We began chatting about birds and plants.

He asked if I had grown Canna. Not yet! Canna are a tropical looking plants, they get tall with long colorful leaves that spike straight up, and they bloom tall flowers in early fall/late summer. They are one of the bulb plants that need to be dug up in the fall in our zone and stored inside in a cool dry location overwinter, similar to the dahlia, tuberose, and gladiolas I am trying this year. All spring I have been looking at different canna rhizomes at different stores. He said he had a few he had no room for. He said he had four... I told him I'd love to try them out, and would gladly take them off his hands! I came home with 12 canna bulbs! Wow. I am so grateful, and excited. I planted them after the kids went to sleep.

That's not all. He asked if I liked Rhubarb. I told him I did, but I had never cooked with it. Theo loves strawberry rhubarb pie, and I'm itching to learn to make it, so I took him up on the offer to take a bag full of stalks of rhubarb home. He gave me two whole plants, too! He needed them moved away from a tree. Pretty exciting. But these plants weighed 20-30 lbs with the root ball. Here we are in the stroller. You guessed it. I carried these plants home on the back of my stroller. Ben helped me put them in the ground tonight.

We're walking up the driveway to leave, and he runs out with two cabbage plants also. He said, "here's one for each boy!" They were a gift, and he and his wife had nowhere to put them. Wow. Just wow. This is what the stroller looked like:

As I passed a school some girls were looking at me funny. I confidently told them, "When you grow up never be afraid to look like an idiot." They chuckled and smiled.

Here are some pictures from their property. Ben had a great time. They have a marsh/pond area filled with birds and such. So nice.

I put everything in the ground tonight. I was out there in the dark. I am so exhausted. My body aches. I really over-did it, and with Fibromyalgia, I know I should never over-do it. I will more than likely be sitting in this chair most of the day tomorrow. Exhausted. But so thrilled to have planted more plants today. Gardening gives me the biggest thrill. I tend to my plants like my children. Sometimes I dote on my plants more than my husband. Atleast gardening season doesn't last all year, right Theo?

So, how am I turning into my mother? My mother is a scavenger. One time, she and her two scavenger friends took plants from a deserted house in a heavily populated area. Hey, atleast my guy gave me permission! Last fall I carried home some old red skis I found in the trash, and they now hang in my kitchen. I also toted a huge card display rack home. Someone's trash I now use for scrapbooking supplies. I'm pretty sure as a child my mom sent me out of the car to pick up curbside treasures. Now, I hunt for treasure at all times. It's in my blood. I'm trained. LOL.

I plan on making some baked goodies for the people who live there. An older woman, who we see walking her dog nearly every day, made friends with the boys and played "piggy, piggy" and "peek" with them. I think we'll stop by and see her often. Sweet woman. A Good day.