The Garden Shop

Today I found my mom in Shopko's Garden Shop.

The sun had been out just long enough to warm the breeze and tempt me outside.  I pulled a few weeds, filled the bird feeders and dusted off my pots for the front porch.  I had been eyeing some annuals at Shopko the other day and decided to drive down and pick out my Summer 2010 flower pot flowers.


I browsed the garden shop parking lot aisles, I felt the textures of the different plants and soaked up the magnificence of standing in the middle of a blacktop Eden.  I picked up a color of geranium I hadn't heard of and gently tried to pry open a blossom to find it's true color.  I've always hated planting the same combination year after year and decided to take a risk and buy 'Bullseye Salmon' this year.


As I was studying the foxgloves, a gust of wind carried the ever so slight scent of my mom to me.  I wasn't surprised that she was at the Garden Shop.  I turned to see an older woman with 'beauty shop' hair pushing a cart and studying the rose bushes.


Every year my mom would smuggle home plants over the course of the summer, hurrying to plant them (or hide them) before my dad noticed the purchase.  My mom always had room for just one more six-pack (of petunias) somewhere in her yard.  Because my dad was tending a large fruit orchard, the immediate yard around our home was my mom's domain.  As planting became more difficult, she would wait for (or sometimes recruit) a child or grandchild to plant them for her as she sat on a lawn chair and supervised the placement.

 Lisa, Vanessa & Lauren - Grandma Bezzant's front flower bed - Summer 1998

 Lauren, Lisa, Vanessa & Mom - Summer 1998

As I became more confident and knowledgeable about perennials, I tried to wean my mom off petunias and marigolds.  She gradually added perennials to her beds but always found room for her beloved petunias.  The large flower beds were augmented by multiple flower pots by the living room and kitchen doors and she generously sprinkled every size of flower pot around the patio.  She even managed to figure out a way to hang pots from the patio covering and shepherd's hooks by the aspens.  More than one person found the low hanging pots with their heads as they maneuvered around the patio.

My love and knowledge of flowers and gardens was instilled in my by my mother and grandmother.  Both loved their homes, their families, the gospel and their flower gardens.

My front flower bed at my Pleasant Grove home - Spring 1998

You see, my mom has been gone for over six years now.  She wasn't there physically in the Garden Shop today but her influence and love were.  They are as eternal as the bond between a mother and her child.  It was a tender mercy to share a brisk May afternoon with my mother in the garden shop.

I think she would like the color combinations I brought home.  I think they'll look great blooming next to my new lime green chairs.  I even brought home some petunias in her honor.