For the past dozen years, I have earned my living by growing, selling, and teaching about herbs and flowers. My passion for plants started when I was a youngster and was lovingly taught about gardens by my Grandmother Lovejoy—a teacher, naturalist, and one of the best gardeners ever.
My earliest and fondest memories are of endless days of summer play: hollyhock dolls under the peach tree, necklaces of rosebuds, wreaths of clover, daisy chains, and other simple pastimes Grandmother shared with me.
As I grew up, I realized that my early garden freedom had somehow given form and meaning to my whole life. My love for plants became the nucleus of my lifestyle, and I chose to devote myself to creating a beautiful community garden and to teaching about gardens and plants to people of all ages. At first I wanted to emphasize classes for children, but found, to my amazement, that adults became as animated and curious as the children. One of my oldest and most delightful students said, “I wanted to come and learn about all this before I got too old. I’m just 96 now.”
I started thinking about what a garden had done for me, and to wonder about other’s experiences in gardens. And so I began questioning people. “Can you remember any garden games or things you learned about plants and flowers when you were a child?” I would ask. Most times I could immediately tell if the person I was questioning had a memory to share. Generally there would be a start of recognition, a quick smile, and a nod, “Yes, I sure do, let me tell you about making trumpet vine dolls, acorn tops, and walnut sailboats.”
All summer long we made belts, crowns, garlands—necklaces of tiny, perfect, pink rosebuds…
From my 7th summer
In 1983, I ran ads in The Business of Herbs and Pot Pourri from Herbal Acres. I asked people to share stories with me about their childhood experiences in gardens or with flowers. I received many responses to the ads, and I began interviewing people and collecting historical materials, garden plans, poetry, riddles, garden lore, and flower crafts. A true gleaning from hundreds of childhood memories!
In 1986, I started sketching some ideas for a very personal garden book that would incorporate my drawings of flower and plant projects, poetry, history, and first-person stories. That year my husband Jeff bought me an Apple Computer (which I promptly named Sarah Orne Jewett after one of my favorite authors) and said, “Get on with it, Sharon! Write your book.” So I got on with it!
An author’s note in an old book I found in Castine, Maine, a few years ago sums it up for me. “I can never repay the hollyhock the debt of gratitude I owe for the happy hours it furnished to me in my childhood.” I feel that way, too, but perhaps my book will be a beginning.
I want to have a little house
with sunlight on the floor,
a chimney with a rose hearth,
and lilacs by the door;
With windows looking East and West,
And a crooked apple tree,
And room beside the garden fence
for hollyhocks to be!
Nancy Bird Turner