Woefully Underdressed, Again

I have been a bit consumed with the adopt-a-plots at Ault Park lately. The gardens look wonderful and I want them to stay their best. If I had my way, all the adopt-a-plot gardeners would be at the park, each day, tending the plots.

That is why I spent a good part of three days in 90 degree heat spreading mulch, pulling ivy and installing a few flats of new plants. As I contemplated a new garden design I saw a beautiful bride, her groom and their wedding party in the adopt-a-plot lawn having their photos taken. They looked happy, cheery faced and clean. I was smeared with mulch and soil, very hot and sweaty, toes dirty and looking a bit clobbered by the heat. I glanced down at my once pink garden gloves and for a moment felt like the ugly step-sister left to dig in the dirt while her beautiful sister married the prince.

Truth be told, I love working in the park and getting good and dirty. You know it is not a good day in the garden if you return home with clean hands and feet. Perhaps that day I was not dressed for Champagne and appetizers, but I was looking the part of a dedicated gardener. And they did choose our adopt-a-plots for their wedding photos. So I pulled on my soiled gloves with pride and had a secret toast to my fellow adopt-a-plot garden friends for creating a garden fit for a bride.

Jenny Koester, AKA The Landless Gardener, is the Garden Blog Editor for Horticulture magazine and the author of The Garden Life.