My Secret Garden!

I am an avid gardener! I know all my kith and kin would be laughing their heads off, reading this...I grew up in a small town middle class household where there was no space whatsoever for garden, leave alone a few potted plants. Mother loved roses so much that she kept them growing in tiny flower pots- tiny pink button roses, a beautiful white creeper and the refreshingly aromatic pink Edward roses. With the little space available, she had grown her favorite plants. I have her same genes, note, not Jeans...I planted beans first, as a vivacious ten year old. It was amazing when the shoot climbed up, i remember sitting by the plant for hours together and Mother's happy smile seeing the purple flowers. 

Then i grew zinnia flowers in little pots. Anything i could lay my hands on became my flower pots- i remember the thrashing i received for using a metal bucket! S helped me further by falling on my tomato plants and breaking every twig on the poor plant. My ardent love for plants grew and grew- burgeoned till i married and found a house with lots of space for gardening. Ah, arise, awake and grow dear girl, i said to myself. We planted a few miniature crotons along the entry. L loved trees- we had the most common trees planted- coconut, banana, mango, guava, pomegranate, drumstick, all these at the rear and sides and a few lovely roses in the front patio. All went well, L loved watering the plants and i liked to sit back and watch! I was branded a lazy goosey right from time immemorial at home and so i never paid heed when taunted by everyone, for not watering the plants.

When L left, Dad took to watering and taking care of the plants followed by my beloved sister in law. I love plants, i love the flowers but there is one hindrance in going near them- the legless crawlers! With a house in reclaimed river bed and agricultural plots, what more can you expect? Snakes, loads and loads of them, visit us every week! They enjoy basking in the tropical sun inhaling the exotic night queen flowers and jasmine flowers that bloom every evening. And their presence is so unnerving to me that i hate to enter my garden anytime of a day! When i hear the word Snake...i jump up on my cot! There are so many varieties- cpmmon green snakes, garden snakes, vipers and occasionally, we have been visited by kraits. I had the experience of seeing my son cycling away happily with a water snake acting his pilot! Weighing my options, i had decided gardening is not so important when you are frightened by an ardent army of snakes. 

Having lost the love for gardening, I love to watch dad water the plants and I restrict myself to watching the squirrels play in the coconut tree, the frogs jump out of the banana tree and the little sparrows building nests on the night queen climber. As for gardening and my flair for it, I keep to myself playing on Farmville!!! Hail, Facebook, hail, Farmville!