Violet loved gardens. She particularly liked old fashioned cottage style flowers and plants. So it was natural for Vi to volunteer to plant and maintain a small garden area at her church, Glendale Lutheran in Burien. The "small" garden area assigned to her was a rather large, weedy, dry island in the middle of the parking lot. It had a couple of trees and some shrubs and lots of weeds. Oh... and no water source. This did not daunt Vi. Where we saw too much hard work, she saw an opportunity to give.
With her usual determination and some help from her family, she was able to transform this dry patch into a haven for butterflies, bees, and ladybugs. She filled the garden with flower and plant transplants from her own yard. Foxglove, lavender, orange poppies, sedums, rockery plants, strawberry plants, daisys and her namesake plant, violets. During the hot summers, she carted gallon jugs of water from her home to her fledging garden to feed her thirsty plants. Yards of bark mulch were spread to try and keep the weeds from emerging. Her children tried to tell her that this garden was too much to manage, but she only laughed and saw it as a labor of love.
Last week I was driving by Glendale Lutheran Church and a bright color of orange caught my eye. I looked over to see Vi's Garden, brilliant and glorious. I parked and walked over to the garden. I saw orange poppies waving their colorful petals in the breeze, foxglove standing straight and pink, white daisys, yellow pea flowers, red ripe strawberries and....violets. Vi's Garden had matured and grown into a beautiful oasis for all to enjoy.
As I was admiring the garden, I noticed a woman and some children playing nearby. The woman walked over to me and asked if she could help me. I explained that my mother-in-law had recently passed away and that I was just visiting the garden that she had so lovingly created.
The woman then told me that the children love to come into the garden and spend time there. They dig for worms, look at the flowers and watch the ladybugs and the bees. The children released butterflies there too. I told the woman that Vi would be so pleased to know that little ones are playing in her garden!
I picked a strawberry and ate it. It was so sweet and good. Thank you, Mom. Your garden is beautiful!
