A First Time Visitor

By Robert Goehring, Webmaster, S06

 

    A few weeks ago, my daughter, Rebecca, flew into Houston from Norfolk, Virginia, to spend a few days with us. Since her husband, Paul, had recently deployed to the Persian Gulf with his U.S. Navy ship, Rebecca found the perfect time to visit us and to get over the loneliness of her first-time deployment.

 

    Being her first visit to Houston, I suggested we could visit Galveston, the USS Texas Memorial, Brazos Bend State Park, the Arboretum, or the museum downtown. But Rebecca simply stated, “The only place I want to visit is the gardens where you work for the Master Gardeners.”

 

    She continued to say that I was always talking about the gardens and the folks who are Master Gardeners. And she wanted to see what I droned on about during our frequent telephone conversations. Amazed that I actually talked about the gardens that much, I agreed to take her on a short tour of the demonstration gardens.

 

    We arrived at the gardens around 10 one Friday morning. I started the tour with the vineyard and told her what I knew of that garden. We moved into the Herbal Knot Garden and finally to the Berry Patch. She asked me, “What is that plant? Would it grow in Virginia? How much fruit does that berry produce?”  She showed great interest and we hadn’t even really got started.

 

    We moved to the Japanese Garden and I thought I’d not get her to leave. She was so relaxed and thoughtful during our time there that she said, “I don’t know if I can ever leave this garden.” Again, she asked me all about the names of the plants and why did they plant this species here? Maybe you would do better than I, but I was really at a loss for most of the plants!

 

    Finally, we moved on to the Texas Native Garden. She was thrilled with the rocks (she studied Geology in college) and loved the yucca. She wanted to touch all of the plants, smell their leaves, and she would have tasted everything in sight if I’d let her!

 

    On to the Cottage Garden. Once in, she said, “I think this is my favorite garden.” She then paused and said, “Well, so far, they are all my favorites!” She loved the mixture of plants, colors, and textures presented here.

 

    We moved to the Water Garden and she wanted to dip her feet in! Fortunately, I talked her out of it and we make our way to the Greenhouse. Although it was closed, she got a good look at the inside and asked many questions about the operation of the sprinklers, the potting, the temperature control, and other things.

 

    Next, we moved back to the YardWise display and the compost bins caught her attention.  She actually took some notes and is planning on doing her own compost back home.

 

    We walked around a bit and viewed the fruit trees before getting to the Butterfly Garden. Again, she was amazed at the diversity of the plants and how well they looked together.

 

    After a short walk through the Vegetable Garden, we walked through the Circle Gardens. Yet again, she said this was her favorite one!

 

    Finally, we walked by the Annex and to the Front Yard and the Roses. As we walked back to the truck, I asked her if she could name all of the gardens we had visited.  I was very impressed when she not only named each of the areas but recalled several key points of each one.

 

    Our visit lasted only one hour but my daughter was thoroughly impressed with the gardens and with the fact that they are maintained by volunteers. She still remembers the gardens and what they represent. I gave her the Virginia Master Gardener website and she plans on attending their training.

 

    If more people would visit our gardens, I think we’d be getting more Master Gardeners!  We have a wonderful place, beautiful plants, and vigorous volunteers that could sell ice to Eskimos!