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Emerald
Goddess Gardens
About "Me" Page
I have been a professional grower and
propagator for many years.
When I was younger I did not really plan to
be in the plant business, but it is not surprising that I am. I come from a
long line of Irish women who all seemed to have had a few things in
common….strong backs, soft hearts, iron wills, and a deep love for flowers
and plants. In many ways this virtual store is their legacy.
They taught me to spell the botanical names
of many plants by the time I could spell my own. Together we would dream
over the Sunday mail order plant company’s insert of all the beautiful
gardens we could grow, never mind that delphiniums and daffodils don’t grow
in Florida, we dreamed of them and sketched out beds where they might grow
any way.
We exchanged seeds, cuttings, and bulbs with
each other and friends and neighbors. Each time one of them moved from a
house, all the others would come to help dig and pack up all the prizes from
the garden for the trip to their new home.
They taught me to root gardenias, hibiscus
and roses, how to force bulbs into brilliant bloom in the dead of winter,
and to ignore any one who said ‘you can’t do that’. In defiance of the old
rule that roses must be grafted and don’t grow in Florida, my maternal
grandmother would point proudly to the blood red ‘Mr. Lincoln’ roses that
she had rooted from a Mother’s Day arrangement. On the night I graduated
from high school she sent me a stem cut from one of them with a card that
said ‘put down your roots where ever you please’.
A while back life handed me some lemons (with
no lemonade recipe attached), and on a day when I was just sick and
exhausted with worry over all the problems, I happened to drive past my
grandmother’s old house. I noticed that those two roses are still growing
at the back porch of the house, as is a gardenia that 3 grown men could not
reach around in the front yard that was rooted in a jelly jar on the window
sill. Soon, caladiums will stick their heads up underneath the old oak tree
there even though some 40 odd summers have passed since she and I first put
the bulbs in the ground there. From the tiny seed of those memories, the
idea for this online store began to grow…and here I am.
I am thrilled to have this opportunity to
finally grow plants I love and pass them on. Over the years I have
assembled a nice collection of old heirloom own root roses, bougainvilleas,
and much more that I plan to share. So I hope you will come by and visit
often, email me with your questions, suggestions, or just comments and tell
your friends and family where to find me.
Welcome to the Garden of the Emerald
Goddess, where living jewels grow and it is eternally spring.
If you have any growing or planting
questions, feel free to email me
emerald@strato.net
Design
By Kelin's Place |
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