Tags
A Writer's Garden, Author Catherine Castle's garden blog, Barb Johnson, Christian fiction, flowers, hostas, neighborhood gardens
Lois (left) and Author Barb Johnson (right) in Lois’ hosta gardens
Hello everyone!
Today, I’m inviting you to come with me as I walk across the street to my neighbor. I know she won’t mind. She is a warm soul filled with wisdom and laughter, not to mention her garden is the envy of the town.
Each morning when I go outside I am greeted by the wafting scent of flowers too numerous to mention. Her garden is impeccable and beautiful, filled with fountains, sculptures, birdhouses, and a cute toad house my children loved. My husband and I are in awe of her, so much so that I am celebrating her and her garden as my focal point in this article.
As I talk with Lois, my neighbor, she is surrounded on her settee by three animal rescue pets. Two very friendly cats and a dog. The dog, especially, fixes her eyes on me, conveying as best she can the love for their keeper.
Lois is eighty-three years young. When my husband and I first moved here fifteen years ago, she still rode motorcycles and even went on a maiden voyage with me on my own bike. She is anything but dull and dreary, no far from it.
I asked how she got interested in gardening. She credited her grandmother and mother’s farm and flowers. The house she is in now originally had one lonely lily, but not for long. She took flowers from the farm and with some manure potion prepared the ground and planted what she has today.
Over the years Lois has given away flowers to any who ask. Most of the town’s landscapes, including my own yard, has benefitted from her garden many times over. Sometimes she trades flowers. With a wink, she tells me she is on the lookout for a deep purple lilac to add to her garden mix.
Besides beautifying the town, she also volunteers at the local hospital where she works in the gift shop. She crochets blankets, caps, and booties. Some even for my grandkids. Many of the customers who buy them do not realize she is the one making them on her own time for free. Happily, she hands me a new pattern she will be making. Some blessed baby will be wearing a very lovingly made item soon.
So you see, I had to tell her story because she herself is a flower that brightens many a person’s day. And such a flower is priceless.
About the Author:
Barbara Johnson writes Christian fiction and is current reworking an earlier self-published book.She loves gardens and flowers, and hopes hers will one day be as beautiful as her neighbor Lois’.
Catherine Castle 