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which has become my all time favorite. I planted along the sidewalk on both sides and gradually removed portions of the lawn in order to accommodate new floral discoveries. In the back yard, there were carrots, cucumbers, watermelons, potatoes and giant sunflowers, interspersed with sage, thyme and chives. My next door neighbor, on my right, finally broke her silence in the third year, and commented on the beauty of my garden. She said her husband, who was elderly and ill, enjoyed sitting outside and watching the flowers. She started a garden the following year, her husband died the winter of that year, but he had enjoyed many hot summer days smelling the roses, usually with a beer bottle in hand.

That same year, I was overjoyed to observe the folks, directly across the street, planting a flower garden. Gradually my neighbor who had stopped mowing our lawn brought in flowers. A retired couple they spent endless days tending the garden and we began to trade secrets and compliments, successes and failures. By year 10, older families had moved on or out and new younger families moved in. As my garden expanded more gardens sprung up and soon the street was a beauty to behold. Neighbors were now openly conversing and extolling the virtue of each other's garden while sharing excess plants, tubers and vegetables with each other.

In the 1950's, there stood a majestic elm tree at the end of this street, preventing any motor access from the parallel street that meandered along the river. City officials planned to remove the elm tree to make way for the development of the adjacent street. A small group of outraged women protested by locking arms around the magnificent tree and succeeded in blocking bulldozers. The city backed down. The tree was, however, later vandalized and had to be removed. But the activism of these women is now permanently recorded in the annals of history.

It was a clean neighborhood characterized by environmental concerns, activism, natural food stores and restaurants, mom and pop stores and a strong obligation to maintain the integrity of the neighborhood. It is not unusual to see suited men and well dressed women on their way to work, gathering garbage found in the surrounding areas. And recently when the city crews came again, this time to spray malathion in the air as a mosquito control, the residents made the headlines in the local media, when they came out in force, effectively blocking the city's colossal spray machines, and again turned the city crews away. That I was part of a movement that saw many of these militant residents embrace the flower garden phenomena, has been my most amazing gardening experience

When I left the area in the year 2000, I left a neighborhood that was much different than the one I had moved into. Flower gardens had replaced the "lawns only rule" , and even spilled unto the boulevard. Entire lawns were removed to make way for fruit trees, flower gardens flowering vines and shrubs. Summer walking garden tours had begun and our street had become a popular tour site. Children from the nearby school came on tours through my garden and others. It seemed a natural progression for an already environmentally conscious group.

As I entered the bay of our new home, I observed a few shrubs and vines in most of the yards but very few flower gardens. A mutilated paper drink cup fluttered along the bay in front of my home, a discarded fast food paper container, exposing the fly covered remnant of a bun, lay on the curb. As I attempted to arrest the fleeting garbage, a twinge of disappointment was intermingled with a spark of anticipation. Was this the beginning of another amazing gardening experience?

Learn more about this author, Joan Schroeder.
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