damaclese

Well its Winter time so i think about my plants and my garden allot i get all down in the dumps not being able to go out and dig in the dirt and experience the sun on my head so i was think what is it that really make me want to bake in the sun have hands that look like they belong on an 80 year old guy I'm old but not quite that old lol go to bed tired ever night well its the beauty i think the symmetry and the love of watching things grow and change and the rewards of knowing i helped although slightly as its God that dos the real growing but he doesn't mind my assisting i think!? so the question i put to you all is what is is that attracted you to gardening in the first place was it you parents or perhaps a grand mother or dad for me it was my mother she wasn't a terribly successfully gardener but she did do a passable job of roses and my first plant was 2 long steamed American beauty rose that i got when i was just 6 years old to the best of my knowledge they are still alive to this day and I'm 46 now i could just sit and look at them every day and this learning to prune them and mound the dirt up on them in the winter to keep them from freezing i was hooked and i never looked back i had 7 years i lived in a apartment with no yard that was hell but the first thing i did when i moved in to my house is dig all the yard up and start planting living here in Nevada has been ruff relearning all that i thought i new about growing green things but its been fun sorta like growing up all over again and when something blooms in the desert you can bet your sweet (&%&$) that people take notes particularly if its not your typical run of the mill Palm or Cati. so post your stories its a good way to introduce your self and don't be afraid theres nothing you can say that i would find strange or uninteresting ! and im talking to the guys as well this is you chans to clue us in on who you are

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chong

My sanity, thank you!

damaclese

Boy i hear that!

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bepah

Maintenance season here......and finally some weather that does not make it too much of a chore. Completely rehabbing the water garden in store for the summer, where it will get out of hand again.....trimming the wife's roses, looking at the front yard and deciding that it must be completely redone.....all of this sounds like work....
but I look forward to it. At the end of the day, I see progress improvement,...I have gotten off my fatty acids and brought out a sweat (try prying out a Cyperus textilis that has rooted into the rocks and you'll understand), and I know that later this year thing will look better.

I expect fruit on the Ice Creams and 1000 fingers this year, the palms and bamboo will provide some badly needed shade, and I'll be able to sit by the Koi pond at the end of the day with the spouse and unlax....

Gardening is all of that and more.

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John Case
Rookie Gardener, Veteran Drinker

Chironex

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Scot

JCDerrick

My family on my mom's side always seemed to enjoy gardening. My grandmother had two greenhouses and just enough "exotics" to make it interesting to me. My mom followed suite most of her life. Both sides of my family were big into agriculture at one point in the past - now just on a small scale. I never was much into it - I was a tech buff and really ignored all things green until 2002. I visited my 50th state that May, Hawai'i, and I guess you could say I've been hooked since. It took me several years and multiple trips to the islands to figure out why I loved HI so much - but the tropical vegetation (amongst other things of course) was a huge draw for me. I should have figured it out sooner - I always was bringing cuttings back home to grow part of the islands locally. Hawai`i is so fertile because of the soil and trades, and the lush windward coast is a place I could only dream of living. I would have loved to live in Hilo or Volcano on the BI or Kapa`a on Kaua`i (I especially love the garden isle - go back almost every year now). I started my collection in early 2003 with a few Ti's and an Elephant Ear or two. I expanded rapidly once I moved out of my folks home and into an apartment (which drove me nuts due to lack of space) and now have my own jungle at my own place - with plans to move to a warmer climate one of these days (Florida likely). I also want more land next time, I've already about run out of room - I tell my wife grass is over rated, LOL.

I really got into bananas about a year and a half ago, started with one, and will have close to 70 in the ground next year total. It'll be really nice when I don't have to dig up and take things in for the winter anymore. I spend a small fortune heating and lighting everything indoors. I am definitely ready for a tropical climate. The wife didn't really want to move as far away as Hawai`i, so I'll head south to the Sunshine state and be happy with that. I have made myself three promises. One, I will grow myself a full travelers palm. Two, I will grow an Ae-Ae. Three, I want to grow a pothos to have leaves the size I see them in HI.

That's my story Great thread idea.

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Malama 'Aina



Normal Jan. Low: 34°F, Normal Jul High: 92°F
Coldest: 16-20°F, Warmest: 98-103°F
Annual Precip: 48 inches

Michael_Andrew

When we touch this domain, we are filled with the cosmic force
of life itself, we sink our roots deep into the black soil and draw
power and being up into ourselves. We know the energy of the
numen and are saturated with power and being. We feel grounded,
centered, in touch with the ancient and eternal rhythms of life.
Power and passion well up like an artesian spring and
creativity dances in celebration of life.
- David N. Elkins

lorax

Sanity, food, an escape, a creative outlet, a workout, and a sense of connection to the earth.

momoese

Brings me back to early childhood when my grandmother taught me what she knew about gardening and growing your own food.

Richard

Produce, what else?

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Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

Lagniappe

As with Mitchel and John, my grandmother helped me with my first little garden plot. It was a pathetic little scratch in the rocky,red clay,pine shadowed, yard of my childhood. There were pumpkins and melons and that was enough. I watched them as one would watch a t.v., waiting for the next dramatic plot to unfold. I daydreamed about these plants while my teacher droned on about grammar,which is why you have trouble keeping up with me, and I raced home from the bus stop to see if there was a prize winning fruit on my vines. In the end, I had a few teeency melons and a pumpkin that rotted before it began to weigh much of anything, but I was a gardener.
Nowadays, the garden is a place for me to transcend all of the anger, bitterness, tension, frustration,fear, and regret that I absorb in the business world and exchange it for the anger,bitterness,tension, frustration, fear, and regret from growing plants. And this is all by choice!
The main difference is that,when I close a big account, I'm doing what's expected of me. When I have home grown bananas from a zone 8 garden to share with my family and friends I have a true sense of accomplishment.
Hehehe...wait'll my Heliconias bloom this summer, you'll never hear the end of it!

mskitty38583

in the bible, adam was a tiller of the earth. in my cherokee culture my family is the bear clan. we are what is called the "wild potatoe" people. we farmed and gardened. when there was no meat this is how the people were fed. i did not know this till recently( about 2 yrs ago). being in the dirt has always been an enjoyment of mine, now i know why. people laugh when i tell them that i smell the dirt first, if it dosent smell right to me, that dirt gets pulled out and new fresh dirt gets put in. i mostly plant for the enjoyment of having my hands in the dirt, the fulfillment of seeing flowers grow, and the fact that i have the ingraned knowledge of the people on how things should grow. also when i get angry i take my anger out on the weeds and soon all but the dirt is forgotten. that is why winter is hard on me...i have to be in the dirt.....its not an option.
p.s. thats why i got smart last winter and started keeping a 55 gallon tote of banana dirt in my den....i can play in it when the ground is frozen....and i can stay warm.

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WELCOME TO THE GATOR NATION

CookieCows

Some of my earliest memories are at my great-grandparents in So. California playing in the patch of bamboo that was like a forest to me, to the shady side of the house where the water always seems to be dripping a little where the mint was and the other side of the house by the driveway I remember the snap dragons that someone taught me how to play with them, opening and shutting their mouths and the roses out front that were cared for like prize diamonds! Moving down the line my grandparents lived in Oregon where my grandfather grew comfrey for his rabbits and there were my grandmother's peas and of course carrying on with the roses which was a little patch in the middle of a dry yard. Her little patch of beauty. I can remember growing up in Northern California in a tiny town where agriculture was one of the main things in so many peoples lives. I remember them throwing bags of locally grown rice from the floats in the yearly parade. I used to rake walnuts that were all over town for money as a child. My main memory of my mom is of her sitting in the yard weeding .... always weeding. She wanted the front lawn to be only dicondra. She finds weeding calming. She lives on my grandparents property in Oregon now and most of her IM's to me are still about her day out in the yard weeding.

Working with, harvesting and enjoying the beauty of what the earth gives us is something that I've been taught by example all my life. Even during times as a teenager we lived in a couple apts. in the Bay Area my mom would always have potted plants. Always growing something. An outing to buy me my own plant for my bedroom. Things like that were important.

I guess that's why plants are important to me.

Deb

I forgot to say what I get out of it .... I get a feeling of accomplishment, a safe feeling with the edibles that I have no fear of what I'm eating, joy, peace, smiles and new friendships with people that stop by.

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frog7994

for me it learnig unlimited pacients, and a very sutle remembence of a early time when I was still young and had no pacients.

Chironex

Simplicity, enjoyment, awe, beauty, peace, contentment, tranquility, patience, harmony, joy, relaxation, stretching, hope, imagination, friendship, dreams, satisfaction, triumph, happiness, reflection, celebration, curiosity and appreciation.

With plants there no egos, no agendas, no loud noises, few demands and tremendous rewards. It anchors me in my place in God's world and reminds me to appreciate and to be humble.

At age 7-10 I remember my cousin showing some maple seedlings to me. This impression caused me to try the same thing when I returned home. Those seeds became mighty maple trees that still stand today some 40-45 years later. The last time I saw them was perhaps 15 years ago and I hope that I will see them once more. There are memories of family, friends and simpler times buried in the center of those trees. Whenever I see them, I reflect back to those days and it fills my eyes with tears.

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Scot

Tog Tan

Plants kept me sane during the hardest times of my life. And the other thing is being given a chance to bring forth and nourish lives.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

damaclese

i just wanted to thank every one for there post its truly humbling to hear so much spirituality form every one in there own words. i can't think of a better place to be then reading you alls thoughts on life and the pursuit of Gods creation

Paulo

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xavierdlc61887

I do it to take my frustrations out and simply get away from the real world and because i really enjoy it....ever since i was a little kid i was always interested how things grew

lorax

You know, I actually forgot to put it in. Gardening is a form of meditation for me as well.

Lagniappe

The Growing Edge Magazine - Get Dirty, and Get Happy?
Found this article about soil organisms boosting our moods....idk....just thought it was interesting.