by Glory Lennon

Created on: March 07, 2008

The most fantastic thing about having a garden is sharing it. My neighbors get to see it in bloom and that's a sort of sharing. I often hand over a few choice tomatoes over the fence. That's sharing too. The birds come to nibble on this seed head and the bees buzz around that flower. The humming birds zip from flower to flower and at times come fluttering in my face, just as a thank you, I'm guessing. That is sharing my garden as well. But then there's the actual sharing of the components of said garden. Ah, but that's the true sharing and the most rewarding part of it.

If it wasn't for the natural inclination of gardeners to share, my garden wouldn't be half what it is today. Come take a stroll through garden and see what I mean. See these Iris? My friend Wendy gave them to me. Those Sedum Autumn Joy I got from an old Avon customer back when I sold the stuff. The Lilac "Alba" came from my son's soccer couch. The patch of daylily was given to me by Geri the mail lady who used to deliver my mail right to my door just for the chance to look around my yard for a few minutes while making her rounds. I got lemon balm from my autistic son's speech therapist, hollyhock seeds from a neighbor, Canna tubers from the grandmother of my other son's best friend, Hosta Variegata Marginata from my mom, Sundrops from my daughter's girl scout troop leader, spearmint from my uncle and a clipping of a rare Cuban oregano from my dearest friend Evey. I could keep going but I think you see what I mean.

Sharing is what we gardeners do. We can't help it. If we have something we love to grow we will invariably want others to get the same pleasure in having it too. The garden makes it so easy to share. The plants grow and to keep them healthy we have to divide them. Well, there you go! What better time to share? I've given away almost as much as I've got growing and I will continue to do so. Like I said, it's what we gardeners do.

So, how can you share your bounty or if you don't even have a garden yet how do you get others to share with you? Easier than fall off a log. Flattery goes a long way. Just go into a friend's yard and admire it, vocally.

"Gosh, that's the prettiest flower I've ever seen. Must be hard to grow. Tell me all about it. What's it called? How do you grow it? Where do you think I can buy one?" you say. If your friend is any sort of good garden buddy she will scoff at the notion of you paying good money to buy it. She'll grab a shovel and dig you a piece right then and

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