This article was originally written two years ago for a gardening magazine submission in memory of my father. I thought this story would make for a great first blog post.
Yellow Pansy
My father, Lip came to this country when he was ten years old and had to work hard to learn the English language. He attended school in Pasadena, California and had a special friend in class named Patricia who taught him how to read and write. He always had a smile on his face and as an adult, made the extra effort to help people especially to those people who are less fortunate by giving away electronics or would not charge a fee to those who could not afford to pay. He was employed and later was self-employed as a TV and radio technician until a series of strokes and heart attacks in the mid-1980’s forced him into pre-mature retirement.
His disabilities limited his mobility, but Dad liked to help my mother maintain the garden by sitting down or kneeling down to enjoy nature while using his bare hands to pick up piles of leaves or feeding the birds. My parent’s yard was planted with many types of fruits, flowers and a beautiful dichondra lawn. Fruits such as the Santa Rosa plum, white and yellow peaches, guava and flowers such as roses, camellias, carnations, fuchsias and many others but no annuals were ever planted in the yard. My parents said the reason why they planted so many fruits was because while they were younger they had enough teeth to eat hard fruits, and as they got older they could only eat soft fruits.
Their next door neighbor of over 30 years, Mr. Rodriguez planted annuals amongst the permanent flowers in the flower bed. One particular annual was the pansy. Pansies come in many colors but my dad was fascinated by the way they looked. He commented to Mr. Rodriguez that pansies always smile at you. Over the years, pansies have been planted in the neighboring yard.
Throughout the years, my parents maintained their yard by themselves or with the help of my sister and I until my father passed away in 1997. Eventually the dichondra became too much for my mom to maintain and was overtaken by weeds and California poppies. It took many years to convince my mother to have her lawn replanted.
Last fall, the weeds were replaced with new Marathon II sod, a few new roses were planted, the flower bed along the fence was cleaned up, and plants were dug up then replanted along with some annuals for the first time. I surprised my mother by purchasing some majestic giant pansies and my mother commented that Dad said they had a happy face that always smiled at you.
It is now the spring of 2005, and the front yard is beautiful. The neighbors have complimented my mother’s front yard. The pansies are happy with a smiley face along with an abundant amount of California poppies in the yard. Everything from pansies in a nursery, courtyards or formal gardens remind our family of my dad, who is buried at the most beautiful resting place in the San Gabriel Valley, Rose Hills.
Labels: family, flowers, gardening, landscaping, pansies
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