Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 63
My Black Thumb
"My garden is my
favorite teacher."
-Betsy Cañas Garmon
Text and Art by Ginny Neil
I Moved To The MounTaIns of Virginia 30 years ago. I
came to teach but stayed for love. Love of the mountains, love of the peaceful lifestyle and love for a farmer.
my love for gardening took longer to develop. I had
never grown anything in my life before I married onto
the farm.
after the ceremony, my new husband, Joe, and I
moved into our house. It was built in the late 1800s and
not much had been done to it since then. after fixing
up enough rooms to live in, our next task was to fence
off a yard so the cows couldn't peek in our windows.
Joe suggested a modest area with a wire fence, but I
insisted on an expansive lawn and a white five-board
fence. as he agreed, he handed me a paintbrush and
told me I would be developing a close and personal
relationship with it.
that first year, I bought carloads of flowers from
various nurseries and planted our fence line with what
I hoped would be an artistic arrangement of successive
blooms to accent the white boards. I watered the flowers
and fertilized their roots and even sang to them as I
tended to their needs, and they rewarded me by dying.
every new plant wilted and sagged and eventually succumbed. But, the grass was magnificent. It grew all
summer long, and the paintbrush was soon jealous of
my relationship with my lawn mower.
the next year, I tried different varieties of flowers.
Perhaps I had made poor selections for my area. I also
planted several bushes. again, I watered, fertilized and
sang. again, the plants all died. every single one.
outside the fence, a phalanx of orange daylilies mocked
my efforts. they were natives, present when we fenced
the yard. my vegetable garden, however, did well
except for a streak along one edge, where again, everything I planted expired. I was puzzled and convinced
that I was not cut out to be a gardener. I had a black
thumb.
TradiTion. Vision. innoVaTion.
Parkway Craft Center
at Moses Cone Manor
Milepost 294 Blue Ridge Parkway
Blowing Rock, NC
828-295-7938
Featuring fine traditional and contemporary crafts made
by artists of the Southern Highland Craft Guild.
The Southern Highland Craft Guild is an authorized concessioner
of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.
May/June 2015 63
http://WWW.DISCOVERFRONTROYAL.COM
http://WWW.CRAFTGUILD.ORG
http://WWW.DISCOVERFRONTROYAL.COM
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015
Best of the Blue Ridge Parkway
Western North Carolina Food Foray
Is Harvest Table the Region’s Premier Farm-to-Table Restaurant?
Rhododendron Season Arrives: The Photoessay
The Secret Biltmore You Never See
Sleeping in School
Saving West Virginia History
Cabins at Cosby Creek
Blue Ridge Weekend
Landrum Weekend
From the Editor / Worth a Click
Mill Creek Stories
Mountain Report
Creature Feature
Great Home Buys in the Mountains
The Hike
Festivals & Events
Country Roads
Mountian Garden
Guest Column
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Intro
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Cover1
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Cover2
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 3
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 4
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - From the Editor / Worth a Click
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Mill Creek Stories
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Mountain Report
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Creature Feature
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Great Home Buys in the Mountains
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - The Hike
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 11
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 12
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Festivals & Events
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 14
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 15
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 16
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 17
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Country Roads
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 19
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 20
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Best of the Blue Ridge Parkway
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 22
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 23
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 24
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 25
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Western North Carolina Food Foray
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 27
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 28
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 29
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 30
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 31
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Is Harvest Table the Region’s Premier Farm-to-Table Restaurant?
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 33
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Rhododendron Season Arrives: The Photoessay
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 35
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 36
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 37
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - The Secret Biltmore You Never See
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 39
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 40
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 41
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 42
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 43
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 44
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 45
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 46
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 47
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Sleeping in School
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 49
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Saving West Virginia History
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 51
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Cabins at Cosby Creek
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 53
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Blue Ridge Weekend
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 55
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 56
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 57
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 58
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 59
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Landrum Weekend
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 61
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Mountian Garden
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 63
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 64
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - 65
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Guest Column
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Cover3
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2015 - Cover4
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