This one's always is an unexpected surprise because it comes on so quickly.
One day you think it's dead and then the next,
Boom!
Wisteria blossoms.
The leaves will follow soon.
This is it's 4th year on the tiny patio of my Home/Studio,
but actually this pix came from a year ago buried in my phone's gallery.
But the plant is still alive and it should be bursting any day.
One of my dear mother's favorite colors and plants.
My first gardening experiments began in the early 1970's
at our local La Mirada Drive-In Theater's Saturday Swap Meet
(which is still going on to this day)
where I bought my very first cactus.
I was working at Big Tee Burgers making $1.63 an hour
bussing tables and taking orders.
Each week I'd save most of my paycheck but some of it would go weekly
to purchasing a new cacti from the Swap Meet.
I was also taking Ceramics at Sunny Hills High in Fullerton,
learning the art of clay and glazes,
and making my own pots to plant those cactus in.
My step-father Webb kindly nailed up 3 shelves
on the side of my doll house and there sat my expanding collection of cacti and succulents.
I was HOOKED!
But later as an adult and after hearing countless stories about my grandparents,
my mother's parents from Italy and Sicily,
I realized it was also in my blood.
And of course my mother and her sister,
my Aunt Elena,
inherited a love of gardening too.
And now I've passed it on to both of my children.
My daughter has a big love of cacti and succulents,
and as I've mentioned so many times here in this blog,
my son is a Plant Scientist out of Cal Poly Pomona,
where he has passed on his passion to his wife.
Visiting my children's homes,
specially their gardens,
is such a big treat for me.
$1.63 an hour ... yep, I remember that ... those first paychecks as a cashier at Waldbaum's grocery store ... my purchases were far more forgettable than your succulents, but I do recall getting ice cream from the Baskin Robbins across the street from Waldbaum's ... and the two cuties who worked there, both named Phil
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