IMP Blog Team Jill Kane | Spring Gardens

Hi friends, Jill here. Who loves gardening? I do! I have avid gardeners on both sides of my family. A great-grandmother on my Dad’s side was basically a city farmer back in her day. I’m lucky to have small black and white photos of her, standing proud amidst the crops and flowers she had grown. I wish these were color photos to really get a sense of her creations! Dad had many memories of spending time with Grandma Emma in her gardens. Sometimes he was aiming a birds with a slingshot…whoa!

My Mom loved gardening. She called it her therapy. When I was young she was invited to be a member of a local women’s garden club that she had read about in the paper when she was child. She was completely taken aback by the invitation because from what she remembered of this garden club, it seemed exclusive and that only really wealthy women were invited to join. She said the terms must have changed over the years for her to be invited! At her first meeting in the 1980s, she discovered that her third grade teacher was the oldest member. Fast forward to 2018 and Mom was the oldest member. Along the way she chaired many committees and was elected president of the club. While this group provided friendships, learning and opportunities to maintain a community garden, Mom most loved tending to her beds and pots, pulling weeds, watering and watching the blooms come and go each year.

Probably 15 or so years ago, my sister and I started helping her set up her annual plantings in May, an event that I named Plantapalooza. It was a long weekend event, beginning with shopping trips to nurseries to select flowers. Then we would pull out all of the pots, tend to soil needs and get to planting. We each had our zones around the yard that we planted. Over these years, I began to enjoy gardening. I was living in a condo with a small, shady patio, so my ability to plant a variety of flowers was limited. But at Mom and Dad’s, I began to learn about the needs of different plants and dream a bit about what types of gardens I could have when I moved to a different home.

In recent years, I knew these were treasured memories we were making with Mom and Dad. The time was likely limited for how long they would remain in our childhood home. I knew right when I saw The Practical Scrapper’s Life in Bloom digitals that I wanted to focus some pages on just Mom planting some flowers. The illustrations reminded me of stationary she used…they just feel like her to me.

I made a custom 4×6 journal card in Canva using the Spring filler card to make a border title. The vellum page is also a 4×6 design that I enlarged and printed on vellum. Finally, I used a 12×12 pattern to make another 4×6 card. Add in my photos, journaling and some Ali Edwards chipboard and we have a completed story!

2022 will be our third year making Mom’s garden’s our own. After buying the house in 2021, we took a deep look at the perennial beds that needed thinning and maybe more color variety. We started changing some things up last year and while it was a lot of work, it is so worth it! Chip discovered that he enjoys quiet time in the beds and I discovered a bunch of new-to-me annuals. Can’t wait for these April showers to pass so I can get outside for some garden therapy! Hint: Digital pages come together quickly so there’s more time to play outside during summer 🙂