For the past decade we’ve lived in a house whose property is a challenge to maintain. It is what attracted me to the house in the first place, as I saw the possibilities of flower-filled gardens, vines climbing over the wall, a retreat in the backyard with a stone-paver patio and a couple of brightly colored Adirondack chairs where I could sip my coffee and enjoy my Sunday paper.
Fast-forward ten years, and I have flower-filled gardens and vines covering the wall in the side yard. I have successfully divided my dozen little hostas and now have 50 of the beautiful things edging out the grass – the mow-zone gets narrower with each passing year!
What I always yearned for but never had were Lily of the Nile (agapanthus, for you Latin-minded gardeners). While I will buy some things for myself, the Adirondack chairs and Lily of the Nile were two of the “hint” items I dropped regularly on my husband as potential surprises for my summer birthday – to no avail.
It became a joke. We’d travel and see Adirondack chairs on a porch and he would say, “too bad we don’t have room in the car for those!” I settled for a nice teak deck set with an oversized patio umbrella and called it a day.
But the Lilies! A neighbor who had a few in her front yard didn’t appreciate their beauty – she dug them up and threw them away, replacing them with plain-old Stella d’Oro daylilies. The horror!
Recently, I began referring to the plants as “Lily of Denial,” and my husband just laughed. They’re harder to find in traditional garden centers than, say, impatiens or mums, so he did have an excuse.
He works in a restaurant, and one of his regular customers is Lula, who owns Ladyslipper Rare Plant Nursery in Canton, GA. It’s a beautiful place and I often visit there just for inspiration or to see what’s new – I’ll leave with a little six-pack of annuals (the Ladyslipper folks grow all the flowers themselves). A week or so before my birthday, he asked her about the elusive agapanthus, and she said she had a few in stock and she’d hold one for me.
Lily of the Nile
The day before my birthday we were out running errands and he passed our street, turning instead into the Ladyslipper parking lot. Unfortunately, the gentleman working that afternoon said they were out of the Lilies for the season.
I thanked my husband for his efforts and we headed for the car. But the gentleman stopped us and said he had been to a major garden center just a few days ago and had seen a few Lilies of the Nile there – both blue and white. We thanked him and rushed right over.
My husband purchased my birthday plant – a blue one – and I carried it home and chose a spot for it in the same bed under the dining room window where my treasured Japanese maple has thrived for ten years.
Fast-forward two weeks. My husband calls from the restaurant and says he has a surprise for me. “What?” I ask.
“Lula just dropped off Lily of the Nile for you,” he said. I could hear the pleasure in his voice.
I think I’ll plant this one near my teak deck chairs so I can enjoy the beauty while I sip my coffee and enjoy my Sunday paper!
Tags: success
Really nice post,thank you