Mama Bear's Green Thumb ..... or the lack thereof

Mama Bear is blessed with a green thumb. After reading about the meticulously kept kitchen garden by Pioneer Woman and the beautifully manicured container gardens in urns complete with felines by The Country Doctor's Wife, I felt I simply had to share my horticultural abilities with the world.


Behold my large pink flowers, Latin name humungous pinkus. Planted long ago to cover the west side of our screen porch, these flowers measure 14 inches across. I'm sure there is another name for them. Perhaps someone from Cornell can enlighten us. Or not.


These are our twice fruiting raspberries, now on their second harvest of the summer. I received this plant in 1995, a gift from the 4 year old who lived behind us at that time. Appropriately, this house warming gift arrived in a Dixie cup and was perhaps 2" tall. She didn't warn me that this is actually a weed that grows around these parts. Four year olds are like that. Once one of these hits the soil, it takes over, and you can never get rid of it. Never. Ever. This particular plant is at least twenty feet away from that original Dixie cup. And about five feet into my lawn.




Grapes. We live in grape country. The Finger Lakes region of NY State produces some of the finest wines in the USA. But not from these grapes. These grow wild in my backyard. They are mainly skin and seeds with just a bit of meat to produce a drop of juice.

Like my raspberries, each fall we dig these up, untangle the vines and haul them to the town recycling drop off where we bid our adieus and watch them get turned into mulch. And every spring they find their way home. Perhaps I should just give in and try my hand at making wine? I think there is enough here for a tablespoon or two.




This is my 3 year old sweet cherry tree. Apparently our neighborhood deer also thought it was sweet.


Last but not least, my secret garden. Very carefully planned out for just the right amount of textures and shades of green. Note the wild grape and Virginia creeper meticulously trained to climb the chestnut and red bud trees. This gardenscape holds the piece d'resistance, our water element, which no landscape should be without. Our natural spring fed creek runs through the backyard. After a rain, it can be a rushing 4 foot deep gully, but most of the time there is just a pleasant 2" deep trickle of ice cold refreshment. Just enough water for the deer to wash down the remnants of my cherry tree.

I'd show you my vegetable garden, but the deer got to that too. Have you ever seen tomato topiary?