Bloomers, Friendship and A Garden Tour

Tony Mussari

Every garden is unique with a multitude of choices in soils, plants and themes. Finding your garden theme is as easy as seeing what brings a smile to your face.

Teresa Watkins, Gardening With Soul

Members of the Back Mountain Bloomers Garden Club visited Windsor Park today in preparation for A Tour of Back Mountain Gardens. Twenty-four gardeners in all arrived shortly after 4 p.m. It seems as though we’ve been preparing for this visit forever.

Twice before we were invited to be a part of the tour that raises money for the Anthracite Scenic Trails Association, and twice we declined.

We did not think our garden was ready for such an event.

We’ve always seen ourselves as amateur gardeners. We have no formal training in the science of gardening or design. We look at our garden as nothing more or less than an attempt to reclaim the land.

What preceded our garden was an unsightly community dump. Our goal was to remove the garbage, all 18 eighteen-wheelers of it, and build a set for Windsor Park Stories.

Our training and experience in such things was humble indeed.

When I was a child I watched my grandmother plain peonies along the parameter of her yard. As I write this I can see her tiny frame, dowagers hump, print dress and apron, hair pulled back in a small bun, and smile from ear to ear as she struggled with the weeds and her arthritic hands to shape her colorful garden.

To my youthful eyes the blooms on those peonies were as large as the moon, and equally colorful. No one could garden like my grandmother.

When my children were young we always planted a small garden of flowers. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

That was the extent of my garden experience. Kitch’s was similar.

When we turned the first shovel of dirt in Windsor Park, Bill Clinton was campaigning for his second term. Our work on Wall Street kept us on the run, and our only recreation was an annual visit to Cape May, New Jersey.

We were novices in ever respect of the word.

To us the members of the Bloomers were icons of the soil. They were real gardeners. Some of them master gardeners. Their experience was vast and their gardens, none of which we had ever seen, must have been exquisite masterpieces.

Quite honestly, we had a feeling that we just were not in their league.

Fear is a debilitation thing.

This year we had a change of heart. We felt good about what ten years of hard work had produced, and, if nothing else, the natural enclave that we built had its own intrinsic beauty and charm.

Little did we know when we accepted the invitation from and old friend, Jean Kolojejchick, that we would be incapacitated by a cardiac event and quadruple bypass surgery one month before the tour.

Life always takes over, and never gives any warning.

So there we were. A commitment had been made. Brochures printed, publicity arranged, and our time was preoccupied with life threatening issues.

The practical thing to do was back out. The right thing to do, in our opinion, was to honor the commitment.

Prior to surgery, I had many things preoccupying my thoughts, and one that just would not go away was the garden tour. I wanted Kitch to have her moment. She had given so much to make this garden what it is.

I wanted the Bloomers to have the use of Windsor Park. Yet, I did not want either to be embarrassed.

How to accomplish what seemed impossible?

Enter a friend, a genuine friend. A brief conversation with Ed Kopec about the dilemma, and my mind was put at ease.

Ed assured me that he would see to it that our garden would be ready for the garden tour that was scheduled for June 30.

This was not a business decision. He had many other things he could do. This was a man lifting a burden off the shoulders of a friend who was about to have major surgery.

He kept his promise, and he, himself, led the crews that brought Windsor Park back to its original design and beauty.

There were no wouldas, couldas or shouldas.

There was no “this will cost you more because this is the busiest time of our year."

This was a human decision freely made by a decent man to a friend.

It was a promise offered and a promise kept.

It was friendship in its purest form…no entanglements….no conditions…no pretense…no expectations just goodness and kindness to someone who was in a difficult position from someone who could and did help.

There were other dear friends who helped out. Joe and Jeff Yedloski did us an enormous favor one Sunday afternoon, and they volunteered to help us whenever we needed them. Our neighbor, Tom Jones saw to it that our grass was cut, and a new friend named Rick, saw to it that the riding mower was operating.

Oh yes, there was one other issue. As a favor to a neighbor we rescued a mother and her five kittens, and then we rescued them again for another neighbor.

This happened two weeks before Memorial Day. This beautiful family of six is now a permanent occupant of our potting shed and the walkway to our greenhouse.

Kitch is the caretaker of these six, affectionately known as the Von Trapps, our two cats, Regina and Jack and a husband who is prohibited from doing virtually anything but recuperate.

This really tests the for better or for worse promise.

When the Bloomers arrived, they knew none of the back story, and what they saw was a garden called Windsor Park all dressed up for the prom.

The flags were in place. The Angel Garden and The Garden of Life were perfectly manicured. The old park, established in 1996, with its curving walkways and raised beds looked inviting. The Hydrangea garden and the greenhouse, Kitch’s project, were perfectly groomed, and in the background one could see and hear the squeals and the acrobatics of the family Von Trapp.

In small groups, the Bloomers visited every section of the garden, They assembled for a picture in The Garden of Life, and then there was a brief meeting in the Angel Garden. They listened attentively as we explained the history of the garden and provided context.

As I watched these events unfold, it occurred to me that all of our fears were misplaced. These were people just like us. Their gardens were just like ours. Oh, the design and the selection of plants may be different, but we all struggle with the elements in the same way. We all tell our story in the plantings and the arrangements in the same way. We all dream the gardener’s dream for good fortune and good weather in the same way, and we all garden for the same reason.

Gardeners are people who love the soil. They love the peace and tranquility of the garden. They love the color that nature creates, and they are drawn to their gardens by the magnetic pull of natural, not commercial forces.

The Back Mountain Bloomers came to Windsor Park today. It was a wonderful experience for them and for us. It was an opportunity to meet people who were doing something that was positive and impressive. It was a marvelous opportunity to learn a basic lesson of the human heart: The garden must first be prepared in the soul or else it will not flourish.

kitch152@aol.com, tmussari@aol.com