Joy of Gardening

My favorite visitors are my grandchildren. My two littlest ones live close
by. They like the flowers, and the butterflies, the hummingbirds, and the
songbirds. They don't like the bees. I keep trying to convince them of the
importance of the bees, but to a two and four year old, it's a moot point.

They really like the paths in my garden. They love to run and chase each
other. They try to get me to join in. They shout, "Run, Oma, run as fast
as you can!" The garden is a great place for Easter egg and treasure
hunts.   Since they are too little to read, I give them pictures of my garden
ornaments for clues.

I enjoy collecting garden art, especially fun stuff like my large "scare
crow" bunny in my front garden whom I dress for the season. I have a couple of
bunnies that look like they just stepped out of a Beatrix Potter book, and a
couple more who like to peek out from under leaves in the garden. Of
course, there are a ton of real life bunnies that chomp off my flowers,
dig holes in the grass, and snap off whole stems of shrubs, but you know
what they say, "If you can't beat them, you may as well join them!". So I
celebrate them with folk art which makes the garden more fun.

I have a good many birdhouses, and bird and hummingbird feeders which add
to the enjoyment of watching the wildlife. My grandson, who is older, has
always been partial to the Downey woodpeckers and the Chickadees.

My little granddaughters love to play in the fountains. Their favorite is
the one which is simply a large bowl of water holding a fountain pump
and some very shiny glass pebbles on the bottom. They really like trying
to grab those shiny pebbles.

This year I built them a "Princess Tea House", where they can dress up in
their princess dresses and have fun using their imaginations. They like
the singing teapot and the pretend cupcakes, but they like the real cupcakes
even more.

Watching them have fun and enjoying the fruits of my labors gives me
tremendous joy. Hopefully, they will all grow up with good memories of Oma
and Deda's house, and maybe someone may even inherit my love of the soil.

Barb Mgrich is a Penn State Extension Master Gardener from Adams County. Penn State Cooperative Extension of Adams County is located at 670 Old Harrisburg Road; Suite 204, Gettysburg. Call 334-6271.