With all of this horrible snowy, icy winter weather, I dream about sitting on my front porch with my cup of coffee and the warm, relaxing spring sun on my face.
This is my view one night last spring on a warm, rainy night. I would even take RAIN - as long as it was WARM! 
All gardens are beautiful, but MY garden isn’t all about just pretty colors and fragrant flowers. My garden is my HEART and FAMILY.
10 years ago a dream came true and I got the job here at QVC. I’ve always loved gardening and it broke my heart that I would have to leave behind the garden that I had groomed and grown for 17 years at my old house. I couldn’t let it go because they weren’t just flowers… they meant something….no, they meant a LOT.
In my garden, I have plants and flowers from everyone in my family. I have purple irises from my sister Dina; clematis from my sister, Maria; peonies from my sister Franca…… and the MOST important of all – I have a 40 year old hydrangea from my mother. Growing up I remember playing around that hydrangea, even pulling off those gorgeous fluffy blooms and using them as cheerleader pom-poms – come on – I was 10!!!!! :D
So, you see… I just couldn’t leave these plants with their amazing memories behind. My sisters and my mother and I all share a love of gardening and we all helped each other establish and care for all of the gardens. So, 10 years ago, after Chris and I settled on the new house, I feverishly ran home and dug up all my plants…don’t worry – I actually wrote it into the contract of sale. :-o! Now, if you know anything about gardening, those plants won’t live very long if they are not in the ground. I planted and watered and checked and prayed like a madwoman for days… because if I lost those, I would have lost more than just plants.
Now, every spring and summer, I sit on my porch, I sip my coffee and I look at those stunning blue flowers on the hydrangea, and I feel like my mom is right there with me.
When the wind blows, the waft of the peony scent fills me with memories of Franca.
The purple iris and its velvety petals remind me how soft and beautiful my sister Dina is.
And, the crazy climbing clematis reminds me to reach for the stars … which is what Maria always told me to do.
So, when you plant your garden, remember of course that there is a science to it, but don’t forget the Love and the Heart!
XOXOXO,
A
P.S. Maybe this fig tree will go in my garden next to honor my dad!