Growing Gardeners

my young gardener

Today is a momentous day.  My son, pictured above, graduates from high school this evening.  Or, as I like to say in my more callous moments “Stick a fork in him – he’s done!”  This is sheer whistling in the dark; in fact my heart is strangely heavy and I seem to have an irritant in my eyes that’s causing them to continually tear.  The pollen count is terrible right now.

I like to say he drove me to horticulture!  A wild child from birth, I could barely keep up with him, let alone keep him relatively safe indoors with stairs, chairs, counters and other high precipices to continually scale.  Yep, ground level was safest and so outdoors we went.  Rain or shine, we spent hours and hours in our yard.  While he was content to dig for the pure pleasure of it, I needed some motivation.  And so I began gardening in earnest.  I mean really, really earnest.

Even with the many pleasures of my rapidly growing garden, it wasn’t long before that special kind of crazy known only to stay-at-home moms with rambunctious children set in.  I longed for adult interaction, a break in wiping up sticky messes and the opportunity to dress in clean clothes; who am I kidding – to get dressed, period!

Our neighborhood nursery was looking to hire staff to water plants.  This is the sort of job generally allotted to high school students for minimum wage.   Lucky for me, the students were still in school.  This was in early 1992 and Seattle was just entering an extreme drought year – a death knell for a healthy nursery season.  Climatic misfortune was my saving grace and I found my professional home in horticulture.

I’ve spent the past 17 years working in a field that feeds my soul and satisfies my longing for interaction with people as well as with the ever-changing world around me.  While I’ve never made much more than that original minimum wage, I’m rich with life experiences, and precious friends I’ve met along the path.

Growing Gardeners was a club for kids that I first started way back when I was at the West Seattle Nursery with the enthusiastic support of owners Irene Stewart and Mark Smith, young parents themselves.  The club’s logo, designed by my husband, has always been meaningful to me as that is my son’s, no doubt muddy, hand print pictured.  With a monthly newsletter – my first writing gig – and of course, the ubiquitous “free prize”, we enticed children (and their parents) into regularly visiting the nursery; marketing genius!!!  We developed a wide variety of seasonal activities and projects which were designed to make that critical connection between earth and child that could so easily be lost in blurry days of preschool, Sesame Street, working parents and precious little outdoor time.  The following is from that first newsletter that went out in September of 1993 (I think):

Welcome to Growing Gardeners, West Seattle Nursery & Garden Center’s new club for kids, ages 4-12.  Our world is like one big garden and we’re all set to explore it!

What do birds do in the garden?…Why do leaves change color in the autumn?…How can you watch the weather?…Are there any good bugs out there?  You’ll discover the answers to these and other garden questions each month in the Growing Gardeners newsletter, available at the nursery.  Watch for fun workshops and classes, environmental tips, seasonal games and garden activities for you to do on your own and with friends.

All these years later, West Seattle Nursery is still going strong; no small feat in a challenging field.  And the Growing Gardeners Club is still alive and well “inspiring young people to garden with their families and friends.”  My involvement has long passed and the true credit goes to Linda Hornberg, Galen Guffy and the staff of the West Seattle Nursery.  Indeed, they have grown many many gardeners.  For more information about Growing Gardeners, including archived newsletter content, go to West Seattle Nursery and click on Growing Gardeners.

I’m armed with a handful of tissues and off to commencement ceremonies.  At 18, I can no longer keep my son safe in my garden.  In fact, as far as I can tell from his many exploits which usually involve mountains, boards and things with wheels – safety is not a huge priority for him.  His future as a gardener remains to be seen but he has grown into a fine young man.  His father and I, as well as his older sister could not be more proud of him.

Tagged as: gardening with kids, writing