My first gardening catalog came
addressed to “Robert S. Jones or Current Resident.” That was me--Current Resident. We’d just made our fourth move in two years
in conjunction with my husband’s Naval career.
His orders were for twenty-four months.
Long enough to plant perennials.
I thought a showed a great deal of
restraint when I limited myself to a $500 order. A rainbow of reds, blues and yellows. A variety of curious textures. My home would stand out from the others in
this newly-constructed cookie-cutter neighborhood. Okay, so I would eat nothing but macaroni and
cheese for two months, but with the Yard of the Month awarded by my
neighborhood association came a $50 gift certificate to the hardware store, so
it would offset the scales a bit. And
based on the glossy pictures of what my gardens would look like, I was a sure
winner.
