What better place to spend Mother's Day than Mom's garden

One of my first blog posts was called Where it all begin. In it I talked about *my* first garden. But honestly, where my love of gardening and gardening experiences began were in the gardens of my Mom and my Grandma.

So it seems fitting that as I am re-connecting with my passion for gardening I spend Mother's Day with my Mom - in her garden and visiting garden centers with her.

So much of this garden feels like home.

At the same time there's bits and pieces of my influence- the corydalis lutea given to me by an on-line friend and shared with mom; the daylilies from an order I placed one winter as my life was about to change. I'd used Mom's garden as a nursery bed during that time of upheaval in my life. Splits of these daylilies are spread around her yard, found homes in my subsequent garden but still have a home in this "temporary bed" by Mom's vegetable garden 12 years later. Unfortunately, over time the plant tags for the daylilies have disappeared- hoping later this season I will recognize them - or at least be able to make notes of bloom time, height, and color, so I can divide and move pieces into my new garden.

On this trip I did dig up a few clumps of corydalis, and several of Mom's ferns (including this one which had made it's way out of the border), and was fascinated by the fiddleheads in the process.

I'll take lessons from the side of the house where Mom says she doesn't mess with - letting the plants spread as they may. Lesson one - I found the green white color scheme soothing, calming. It is one I will use in my own garden. Lesson two - skip the Snow in the Mountain, which is probably the influence behind the let the plants go attitude.

Left Mom's with the car loaded to the brim with the spoils of our Mother's Day adventures, two garden centers (Gurnee Garden Center and Jamaican Gardens), a stop by Wadsworth Feed and Saddlery for alfalfa pellets and cocoa hulls, a bucket of ferns in the back seat and Mom's Corydalis tucked in the right corner.

When I arrived home, planted the ferns and potted up the smaller divisions. Made me smile this morning as I left for work to see these pieces of "home" waiting for their new spot in my current home.