EVELYN'S GARDEN

This past weekend I spent the majority of my time assisting my 10 year old granddaughter, Evelyn, plant a flower garden as a 4-H project.  This is something we had talked about this past winter when I thought helping her with planning and planting a garden sounded like a fun thing to do.  While it certainly was fun, I have to admit by the end of each day I felt every bit of my age. However, the smile on that little girl’s face made each aching muscle and joint worth it.

Evelyn working in the dirt

With her parent’s permission she decided to plant a perennial garden directly in front of the house.  It was a fairly large area, but Evelyn has a vast imagination and was up for the challenge.  During our discussions last winter, we came up with the idea of having a “Grandma Garden.”  In order to keep costs to a minimum and to create memories at the same time, we decided that we would ask each grandma to “donate” perennials from their own gardens.  Evelyn is lucky to have two grandmas and one great-grandma to contribute to her cause.

Laying the matting

Evelyn began the project by clearing out all the grass and weeds that had taken over the spot.  Then dad brought it some extra soil to create a slope away from the house.  Dad also purchased a role of black matting and river rock to use in place of mulch.  This weekend Evelyn was our houseguest and it seemed a good time to get the project done.  Watching her excitement as she learned about each plant and the woman behind it, brought me much joy. Although it started out merely as a plan to build a flower garden, it instead turned out to be a unique celebration of Mother’s Day. 

GRANDMA JOSIE

Our first stop on Saturday morning was at Great Grandma Irene'shouse.  She shared some bluebells, iris, jonquils, and hybrid lilies.  A very special donation was a fern peony that came from her mother, Josephine Eischeid.  I have to admit that I took a start from that one as well.  Grandma Josie was such a special person.  Having not grown up with grandparents nearby, it was a real treat for me to marry a man who still had three of his grandparents. 

Great-Great Grandma Josie

Grandma Josie always treated me as if I was her grandchild too, which was such a special feeling.  A woman who began her life in a family of modest means, she was the youngest of three daughters who grew up to marry three Eischeid brothers.  Married at the age of 16 and a mother soon after, Josie was a town girl who came to love country life (a shining example for me).  She worked side by side with her husband on the farm, raising chickens, pigs and cattle, growing crops and children, being a friendly and generous neighbor, and cultivating a deep faith. She was notorious for always having cookies on hand when guests stopped by and her popcorn cake at Halloween drew trick or treaters to her door (but she always made sure to save some for her grandkids).  I am proud to have her fern peony in my garden and I know Evelyn is too.

GRANDMA EVELYN

Before heading to Evelyn’s house to begin planting, we dug some starts from my perennial garden.  I donated two different kind of lilies, hostas, two butterfly bushes, and my mother’s iris.

Planting iris

These iris mean a lot to me and to Evelyn.  To me they are a fragrant reminder of my mother every year when they bloom but to Evelyn they are a connection to her namesake, Evelyn Prothman.  I still remember the tears I shed when my son told me that my new little granddaughter would bear my mom’s name.  I could just hear mom say, “Now why would they call her an old fashioned name like that!”  Secretly she would have been so proud. 

Great Grandma Evelyn

Over the next two days, we spent a great deal of time talking about Great Grandma Evelyn.  I brought out mom’s last professional photo for little Evelyn to ponder.  I told her of mom’s loneliness being raised as an only child, the loss of her mother when she was 14, her strength when my dad went off to war leaving her to care for two small children when she did not even have a driver’s license and her desire to have a large family as she never wanted a child of hers to be lonely.  She was a person who gave love freely without expecting anything in return and always seemed to have an older person or two which she took care of, checking in on them every day.

Evelyn and I then walked through our house looking for things that had once belonged to mom and we talked about the traits the two share.  Excellent students, kind hearted and devoted to both friends and strangers, pet lovers, and talkers—boy, are they alike when it comes to talking!  I have often wished that I had inherited the gift of easy conversation from my mother but it warms my heart that her namesake received that genetic characteristic.

GRANDMA IRENE

Great Grandma Irene

Once we got going with planting, Evelyn carefully decided on locations for each variety based on height and color.  Grandma Irene’s lilies were the first things we planted which we placed right under the bay window.  The hardiness of these perennials reminded me very much of Irene.  She is one of the strongest women I know.  Born during the Great Depression, Irene attended country schools before transferring to St. Cecelia’s Academy.  Growing up when a lot of the farm chores were done by manual labor, Irene had to do her share.  She married a handsome young farmer and went on to raise eight children.  Farming was not just an occupation but was truly a family affair.  Through good times and bad, she persevered.  She was an example of strength when she lost her son in an accident, cared for aged parents, recovered from a broken hip, and said goodbye to her husband of 65 years.  Will Evelyn be as strong and resilient?  Only time will tell, but she certainly has a fine role model.

GRANDMA JOYCE

Grandma Joyce and Evelyn

On Sunday we received a pail of contributions from Evelyn’s maternal grandmother, Joyce, who lives near Ames.  More lilies, bee balm, a purple leafed plant and lamb’s ear brought more exclamations of joy.  I wish Joyce could have been here to witness Evelyn’s excitement.  She loves her Grandma Joyce very much and they share a special bond.  As a nurse, Joyce spent her life giving comfort and compassion to patients who were in need as well as to her family.  I can see that same compassionate spirit not only in Evelyn, but in her mom, Darcie, as well.  Important traits in this day and age when technology and other worldly things seem to distance us from the comfort of a human touch or embrace.

COMPLETING THE GARDEN

To complete the garden, we needed a little extra something and so we added some hostas from Darcie’s garden.  We also decided to have Evelyn purchase a couple of flowering plants to add color since the transplants would spend this season working on building their root system and not producing flowers.  She chose a red hybrid lily which was planted in the center of the lilies given to her and a dianthus with red flowers that resemble roses because she really wanted a rose bush which I discouraged because of the care needed.  By adding plants from Darcie and Evelyn, we actually turned the “Grandma” garden into a “Family Generations” garden.

Grandma Jean and Evelyn in her garden

Building Evelyn’s garden on Mother’s Day weekend began as a 4-H project but ended as a lesson in family history as I told her stories of these women who have been so influential in my life.  As Evelyn cultivates and enjoys her garden in coming years, I hope she will remember these stories of the women who contributed to her garden.  It is my hope that when she looks at the fern peony, she will be reminded to live a life of faith; that the fragrance of the iris will prompt her to be more loving; that seeing the resilient lily withstand turbulent winds will help her to stand strong through adversity; that the softness of the lamb’s ear will impress on her to lend a comforting hand to those in need; and that perhaps my butterfly bushes will remind her that work, when shared with someone you love, can result not only in a job well done but in memories that will last a lifetime.

Until next time,

Grandma Jean

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