I have been a
gardener my entire life. My earliest garden memory is of climbing our backyard
vine-engulfed redwood fence. The neighbor's trees hung over into our yard,
offering a canopy of shade on blistering days. Shrubs pushed through the
weathered slats, reaching out in friendship into our small space. I explored the
world as a four year old might: pulling up grass to investigate roots, picking
flowers and removing the petals, and later, at a new home in another town,
making chains of small white daisies that grew in the meadow next door. And
soil! What a wonderful medium for fun! I was dressed in play clothes especially
chosen for a child's disregard of dirt. Of course I did not know it, but I was
learning art and design, physics, chemistry and architecture. In my play there
was constant exploration, observation and discovery. As I "unearthed"
my world, I grew with the sounds, sights, smells and feel of the living plant
world. I look back upon my green awakening, knowing that it has stayed with me
my entire life and am thankful my parents allowed me such freedom to imagine
and dream and create.
