"trane" \05.24\

"trane" \05.24\

Posted by Lauren at 9:27 PM ✪ No comment yet

It's funny how sometimes the things that I was so emphatically disdainful of as a child become the ones that I wax nostalgic about as an adult.  My parents bought their first house when I was four years old.  From day one they took a great measure of pride, and joy, in maintaining their investment - inside and out.  In late spring, it went without saying that my family became a makeshift landscape crew.  Mission: Curb Appeal.

Weeds were plucked, perennial shrubs were trimmed, annuals were planted, trailer upon trailer full of mulch was shoveled and spread.  Landscaping was no small thing at our house, where my parents edged out at least four major flower beds each year.  I loathed this particular weekend.  And it wasn't only for those couple days of manual labor.  An unwanted expectation existed whereby my summer vacation consisted of watering, trimming and plucking to care for those plants.  (The length of a daily chore lists was no joke in my family.)

Although I wouldn't have admitted it then, there were two parts of landscape duty that secretly thrilled me.  Without fail, I joined the nursery trip each year.  I relished the hour spent perusing all of the plant and flower varieties, mentally earmarking my favorites.  My mom had her standbys: pansies, begonias, phlox, daylilies.  But I also knew that she would let me have a say in the matter.  Most times I was allowed to pick a plant of my choice, other times I weighed in on the variety or color of something she already chosen.

Part two of my secret satisfaction came in laying out the landscape design.  My left brain was attracted to exacting the spacing between plants and creating an even diffusion.  My right brain fussed with color combinations, shapes and curves in the planting space, and essentially creating floral artwork.  After all of the dreamy planning work was completed, I would have gladly let everyone else crouch down and do the planting.  Instead I sucked it up (with only minor complaining, I'm sure) and worked at a rate of about 30% productivity.

All of this came back to me today when I caught a glimpse of the landscape crew at the park next to the zoo.  Even when it's overrun by sugar-high, post-zoo kids, the benches in that garden are one of my favorite places to relax in the summer.  It's mainly due to the extraordinary landscaping.  I had half a notion to sit in the park and watch them plant flowers this morning.  Instead, I decided to stop myself after a couple casual photos of their flower flats.