A Mother's Garden

My mother was an avid gardener her whole life. Despite working full-time, she spent countless hours tending to her perennial garden and magnolia trees. I vowed I would NEVER work as hard as my mom and toll away in a yard. My mom would just laugh at me. When my husband and I moved to our house, our yard was bare. I decided to try my hand at gardening. My mom laughed again. Two years later, I had a great garden that my dearest friend, Paige, admired and my mom was impressed by. Paige gifted me with a bare-root Tulip Tree, which was a favorite of hers in her mom's garden. She also bought herself one. I did the calculations and found the perfect spot to plant what my husband called "the stick". I told him the tree would be GIANT some day. My mom told me SHE always loved Tulip Trees but didn't have room for them, as her father planted maples in her yard. Four years after it was planted, a huge windstorm blew through our yard and I went outside to "hold down" my tree. My neighbor joined me...how crazy! But the tree was of course ok. When "the stick" was 8 years old, my mom was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer. She passed away in April. A month later, the first-ever blooms appeared on my tree! Also, a cardinal took to landing on the tree daily. It is now eleven years old and the tree is taller than my house and FILLED with blooms every year. It is now called "Paige's Tree" instead of "the stick" and it is the favorite part of my garden. Under it is the plaque my mom had in her garden: Old gardeners never die, they just spade away.