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Morning Glory, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise

May 19, 2012 Martha Thomases 1 Comment

About 15 years ago, my husband, John, wanted some color on our terrace.  We had large planters on either side, and a few pots along the front, and I wanted to grow vegetables and strawberries.  We had broccoli and cauliflower, which we didn’t harvest quickly enough so they grew to be gorgeous and bush-like.  We had miniature eggplants.  I felt like Eddie Albert in Green Acres.

While this was all very wild and locavore and politically correct, it wasn’t very pretty.  John wanted pretty.  He took out the Burpee catalog and ordered morning glory seeds.

We had a lovely summer that year, with the vines crawling up the guardrails, and then up the strings John put up to the ceiling.  The blooms only lasted through the morning, but there was shade all day, something New Yorkers welcome on a sweltering afternoon.

The next year, we bought different flower seeds.  And yet, by June, it was obvious we would have morning glories again.  They were everywhere.  Morning glories are certainly colorful.  Purple and pink and white and blue, like an explosion at a Barbie boutique.  With enough water, they grow all summer.  Maybe longer.

Over the years, we stopped buying flower seeds.  We knew the morning glories would grow no matter what we did.  In the fall, we’d gather some of the seeds and pass them on to neighbors who claimed to be terrible gardeners.  All of them reported success with morning glories.

A few years ago, our building had some work done, and it was necessary to remove all the planters from the terrace.  The smaller ones (the ones holding my blueberry bushes) could be brought inside, but the big ones on the side had to be dismantled and taken to the trash.  John was broken-hearted.  Angry, too.  He vowed never to plant another seed.

That spring, we had morning glories.  And despite his angry resolve, John kept watering them.

Last week, I decided to put some plants in the empty planters.  My blueberry bushes hadn’t made it through the winter, and the dead branches made me too sad.  Saturday, I went to the Green Market and bought some begonias that are beautiful (but which I always kill),and some portulaca which are beautiful (and fairly indestructible) and some daisies, whichI’ve never grown before, so there will be drama.

I planted them immediately, and soon added a new chore to my morning routine.  After feeding the cat and starting the coffee, I’d water the plants.By Wednesday, the morning glories had sprouted.

Life goes on.  Hoping you are the same.

—-

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, has gone five whole days with beautiful begonias.  This might be a record.

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Comments

  1. The Liberal Frank Miller
    May 19, 2012 - 11:34 am

    Much love. You are more than just a morning glory, Martha. You are an ongoing joy and inspiration.

  2. Howard Cruse
    May 19, 2012 - 12:22 pm

    Happy spring, Martha. And if you ever return to morning glories, be sure and include the “heavenly blue morning glory” variety. Besides being pretty, their seeds have, uh, special properties. (Never eat them out of the packet, though; those have been “poisoned for your protection,” as the warning goes.)

  3. Mike Gold
    May 19, 2012 - 1:53 pm

    It really says “poisoned for your protection?” Damn, I’ve got to start investing in paraquat futures.

  4. Pennie
    May 19, 2012 - 3:14 pm

    THAT explains everything! “Poisoned for my protection” indeed!
    Just like my pre-college formal educational experience.
    Martha, your outdoors and indoors will bloom again. To everything, turn, turn, turn…

  5. mike weber
    May 20, 2012 - 3:11 am

    Morning glories, strawberries and asparagus.

    Three things you’d better be DAMNED sure you want before you plant them. My Dad’s asparagus and strawberries came back after th guy across the road brought his big disc harrow over and prepped the garden plot for the new year’s planting.

  6. Whitney
    May 20, 2012 - 8:23 am

    Darling Martha –

    Three days ago, I just planted my first blueberry bush since my broken up marriage. Our new season might have some blue in it, but sweet fruit as well.

  7. MOTU
    May 20, 2012 - 10:52 pm

    I can’t keep a plastic plant alive.

  8. Martha Thomases
    May 21, 2012 - 7:47 am

    @Whitney: The blueberry bushes didn’t make it through the warm winter. I suspect they needed to be watered since they were never dormant. And it that’s a metaphor for anything, I’d prefer not to think about it.

    (“A man’s reach must exceed his grasp, or what’s a metaphor?”)

  9. R. Maheras
    May 21, 2012 - 8:27 am

    Mike — So true about asparagus. It doesn’t just come back on its own, it spreads and pops up places far from its original location. Good thing we like it!

  10. johanna Hall
    May 25, 2012 - 10:46 am

    Martha,
    My admiration and love for you grow with every column, every connection. May you always have mornings full of glory and evenings sweet as wine,for time out of mind.
    Planting, weeding watering….and thinking of the indestructible, fragility of all, I thank you.

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