I will take this bit of advice.

Advice to daughter: Don't go zip-lining. It looks scary.



Advice unheeded:



See, nobody listens to me. I rest my case.

Again, I would head your advice.
I just love the photos Sandi.

On the serious side, she sure is a pretty young woman.

Thanks Lynn, she's a wonderful daughter (who will keeel me if she ever sees her zippy pic posted here).

valleylynn said:
Again, I would head your advice.
I just love the photos Sandi.

On the serious side, she sure is a pretty young woman.

My first garden other than just planting flowering plants bought at a nursery was a vegetable garden from seed. Talk about clueless! And it was in my new (back then) place where nobody had gardened and lacking much that could be called topsoil...mostly just caliche and rock, but a bit of dubious soil had been piled up by the previous resident...that's what I used at first, adding a bit of fertilizer. It's surprising that anything came up at all. Not deterred, I later tried a few veggie plants from the nursery planted after adding whatever amount of topsoil I could afford at the time. Somebody told us that people out here can't grow anything like that. So I took that as a challenge and started trying to educate myself from books, magazines, etc. And talked to a few people about gardening with difficult soil and a high heat environment with limited amounts of rain. None of those people live in my exact area, but they still helped me some, since the city nearby had some of the same problems we had. I already had an interest in wildflowers and collected a little seed to try. It was later that I took a course with field trips in wildflowers, then one about woody plants in the area. After that I found a native plant organization to join and I also found a local chapter of Texas Master Naturalists (that organization in Texas was still in its early years). The professor that taught those two courses along with many people in those 2 organizations were definitely mentors! Not to mention some nursery people!

Great idea, Sandy.

My gardening mentor found me! We had just moved into our home when the next door neighbor, Pauline Isabelle Reid Loeffler, came over to introduce herself. My life simply wouldn't have been as grand as it has been without her. I would weed for her as she told me (and taught me) what she was doing and why she was doing it. I learned so much from her and she became my "other mother" when my own wonderful mom died three years later.

Here is her photo, taken the day Jack and I got married. She was 90 at the time. What a role model she was in so many ways.


She continued to garden until arthritis made it impossible for her to be on her knees but then managed to find tools to help her as she stood up to dig out the weeds, "Never pull, Arlene, you must dig them out". By then I was back working and could only give her some time at night and on weekends. She didn't stop until she was 95 and only died at 102.

She will always be the real PIRL while I'm just pirl.

What a wonderful memory you keep of such an inspiring mentor. I'm sure she considered herself fortunate also to have found such a willing student. I loved your remembrance of your own gardening tutor.

Thank you. Even my children remember her in all the best ways. Waking up in the morning to hearing her singing her church hymns as she gardened will remain with me forever.

What a nice story.

Karen

Pirl thank you so much for sharing those memories. What a great way to start my day.

Karen and Lynn - thank you for your comments.

Mrs. Loeffler had been the society editor of her hometown newspaper in Albemarle and ended stories about big events with, "A good time was had by all". I've enjoyed writing about her though nothing I write could do justice to her. The gardens she tended so lovingly were created for her by her husband, who died before I moved into the house next to her garden plot. So she took over and added the gardening to her already full life and she did a splendid job. I still have the irises and yarrow she gave me and can't imagine our gardens without the Mrs. Loeffler touch.

Beautiful.