Mary Ahern - Art Naturally - Digital & Traditional Mixed Media Painting The Artist The Work The News The Studio The Store
Mary Ahern - Art Naturally - Digital Fine Art Digital PaintingTraditional Painting
Mary Ahern - Art Naturally HomeHome
 Recent Work Work in Progress Meet the Artist Contact

Five Plants I Would Save In My Garden

Kansas Peonies Artwork made from the original gift from my son Chris
Kansas Peonies Artwork made from the original gift from my son Chris
Four O’Clocks were my first introduction to growing plants from seed. Uncle Teddy took me by the hand at his home in Schenectady and introduced me, the kid from Brooklyn, to gardening. I can still smell the soil as we dropped the seeds of Four O’Clocks into the ground he taught me to prepare. Four O’Clocks weren’t the only things growing in his garden, so was I.

The Kansas Peonies I grown in my garden was a Mother’s Day present from my son Chris. I have so many gifts he’s given to me over our many years together but I still cherish the bright pink of these robust plants each year as they bloom for me right in season. They return each Mother’s Day, expanding and adding to their beauty, as does he.

One year for my September birthday, my son, Michael came swooping in proudly bestowing upon me a stripling of a Japanese Maple. Still dangling was the $9.99 tag placed on it from Home Depot. Now this mature specimen holds court as a central focal point in my front garden.

Japanese Maple a gift from my son Michael
Japanese Maple a gift from my son Michael

A bouquet of Zinnias comes into my hands each year when my husband Dave buys them from the gardener with a stand up the street from us. The grin on his boyish face as he hands them to me with love is matched only by the riotous colors of the single and double flowers grouped tightly in his hands.

On Mother’s Day this year my grandson C.J. bounced up to greet me with a pot full of poppies. He shares my garden with me and helps to bring my attention to all the wonderful colors and shapes he finds there for fear I might miss them. These poppies are pink he told me and reminded me that we need to photograph everything so we’ll remember how they looked.

I’ll remember.

July 23, 2008 at 6:31 pm · Filed under Botanical Art, Digital Art, Garden Artist

4 Comments »

  1. michael said,

    July 24, 2008 @ 7:59 pm

    I think the Japanese Maple was $99.99 and purchased at “ho-mu ga-den” which was a Japanese Nursery, but that was along time ago. So you might remember better. Heck, you remember me swooping in proudly.

    :)

    Hey, it does look great in that garden. Where is that?

    I remember 4 O’clocks. We had those in Queens and now I know, why you were so proud of them.

  2. Mother Nature said,

    July 29, 2008 @ 5:59 pm

    Is’nt it wonderful. Your gifts get more beautiful every day. Your garden holds a wealth of loving memories.
    Donna

  3. Lzyjo said,

    September 11, 2008 @ 1:22 pm

    WOW! That Japanese maple is gorgeous!!! If you really did get it for 9.99 that’s incredible! It must have been a long time ago, that’s one of the biggest I’ve ever seen!

  4. Gail said,

    October 10, 2008 @ 7:02 pm

    A Lovely essay! I love Four O’Clocks…they smell delightful! Gail

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment