Beauty Bush
My mom loved all flowers. Every single one, and she’d do dang near anything to save one, including propping it in a little glass of water to help the roots grow. Although we lived in a desert, she would nurture along little pansies, daffodils and tulips in the spring. Then she’d move into iris, impatiens and petunias. She grew hostas and heavenly blue morning glories, scarlet runner beans and somewhat apathetic wisteria. There was the Japanese maple, lobelia and marigolds, intermixed with chrysanthemums, lily of the valley and geraniums. Her roses were enviable and there was no where she’d rather be, ever, than in the garden.
But mom would be in absolute heaven if she lived in New Jersey.
Take, for instance, this most incredible bush I have ever seen. On the very same bush, it sports pink, purple, blue, white and green clusters of flowers. Yes, a hydrangea. I’ve never seen one in the wild, but my gosh, it looks like mom ordered it from her heaven catalog.
They are in bloom everywhere – bright balls of color cheering up the dimmest corners.
When I was a little girl, there were two bushes that grew outside my window – a smoke tree, and a snowball bush. The snowball bush is a close relative to the hydrangea, though the blossoms only come in white. I didn’t much love those two trees, because we lived in a wind tunnel at the mouth of a canyon, and when the wind would howl down the canyon, the limbs would bank and scratch and crash against my window, sounding all the world like the unleashed hounds from hell. At the same time, the wind would blow off every single petal from the snowball bushes, leaving them barren balls of twigs – not that lovely.
You’e got to be a bad-ass to grow in Utah. Cacti and sagebrush are easy. Anything that can go for a very long time without water is good. You’ve got to be able to withstand at least 6 months of winter and at least 4 months of boiling heat. There are deer and rabbits who love nothing more than eating your garden for fun.
You don’t have to be tough to grow here in New Jersey, though. I bet if you put a seed anywhere near dirt, It would voluntarily sprout a root and start growing. It is lush and verdant – humid and dripping. I love it here so much. Hibiscus, hydrangea, mysterious flowers I’ve never seen grow abundantly here…I gotta believe mom is sending them down just so I never forget her. Like I could ever forget her!
Speaking of growing, our little love is now officially a toddler, and he’s toddling like a champ! I’m in my new place now, and he has his very own bathtub, with wind up duckies, bubble bath and measuring cups. He is so, so cute as he plays and splashes in the tub. He went swimming for the first time in my pool the other day with his mom and dad, and he took to it like a duck to water. I was amazed! No fear, just total excitement and delight. Yum!
