Janene Hosch said she had a few plants for me last week. I canít recall how I had asked her for some. Maybe she just sensed it. Sheís good at that.

I drove the truck over after work on June 8. The back of the truck was filled with shredded bark from Staggemeyer Stave. ìWhere are you going to put the plants?î Janene asked.

ìThe cab of the truck will work,î I said.

And it did, but barely. Janene had dug up and potted the following plants (in alphabetical order): ajuga, artemesia (two varieties) aster, centaurea, chamomile, chives, common sundrop, euphorbia, feverfew, hibiscus, Jacobís ladder, lamium, mint (two types), marjoram, obedient plant, oregano, primrose, rudbeckia, sedum (two types), spirea, tansy, and yarrow.

I wrote all the names down in my trusty pocket notebook, took the plants home, and set them on the porch. I didnít know which plants were which, but that didnít really matter. My approach to gardening is to throw everything into the ground and let it grow.

Cindy doesnít quite agree with that style. ìWeíll have to look them up and identify them before we plant them,î she said that evening.

I gave her my ìWhat are you talking about?î look. It didnít work. ìWe have to know how tall they grow and whether they like sun or shade,î my good wife explained in a firm voice.

ìLet me just take them back to Janene and she can tell us that a lot quicker,î I said.

So back the plants went into the car. I called Janene Thursday morning and her if she could identify the plants for me. She gave a little laugh, and said I could drop by after lunch.

When I got there, she was just finishing up writing the name of each plant on a slip of paper. Each slip also included the height of the plant, their sun-shade preference, the color of the flower where appropriate, and some of their common names. (Obedient plant, for example, is also known as false dragonhead.) I hadnít asked her to do that. I figured a popsicle stick in each pot would suffice.

We put each piece of paper with its plant, then Janene gave me some more plants that she had dug up that morning: anise hyssop, honeysuckle (two varieties), hostas, purple coneflower, geranium, and some I canít recall (my head was starting to spin at this point).

I took them all home, and have since been planting them in the ground, with markers to help me remember their names.

I went back to Janeneís on Friday to take a picture of her for this column. She went into the house to take a phone call while we stood by her garden. That gave me a few minutes in her garden alone. And thatís when the beauty of her garden really hit. The way she had it all laid out, with paths and stones and trellises, created a sense of peace that I could almost touch. I realized that I was looking at more than a huge variety of plants. I was looking at a labor of love, the green thumb touch of an artist who had succeeded in planting a masterpiece.

Janene rejoined me, and gave me another quick walk through her paradise. We walked under a sign that says, ìIf friends were flowers, Iíd pick you.î

I thanked Janene again for her generosity. ìIíd probably garden for anybody,î she replied. Itís fun to see the colors and the time of year that they bloom. She likes exchanging plants too and knows which plants came from which friends.

She spied a purple clematis with a beautiful, unusual blossom. ìHmm, donít that look gorgeous,î she said, almost to herself. She was still discovering the beauty of her garden. Thatís what makes it, and her, very special.

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Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475

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