Napa

We all have family histories, the stories we learn as children that become part of who we are as adults. Usually, we gather these stories and history from people, books, or classes, but sometimes we find history in the garden. Growing up, I heard stories about plants in the garden.

It all started with an abandoned plant. Twelve years ago, as I was moving into my new home, I noticed a sad-looking plant in a plastic pot at the far end of the front yard. It had been out in full sun for, I guessed, quite a few days and was very dry.

In early 2008 I was watching the news on television. The economy had started its decline and the story concerned a woman in Pennsylvania who had been laid off from her job. She was filmed pushing a shopping cart out of a grocery store and was asked what she had purchased with her final paycheck.

Besides gardening, I love birds and have several birdhouses in my garden. A few years ago, in early spring, I found a couple of plants growing at the base of a birdhouse in the backyard. At first, I thought they were weeds.

When it came time to replace the landscaping in front of our Napa home, California was in drought conditions. We had long ago replaced our lawn with decomposed granite so the project at hand was to replace plants and shrubs that had outlived their usefulness.

To mulch or not to mulch? That is the question.

I often think of myself as the reluctant gardener. Sure, I have always appreciated a lovely garden space overflowing with lush greenery, aromatic blooms or perfectly ripe fruits and veggies. I just personally never had the desire or inclination to make that happen.

This winter's rains have prompted Napa Valley to burst into extravagant bloom.

Recently I visited the home of a fellow Master Gardener who lives near Napa's eastern hills off Third Avenue. She has majestic native oaks in front of her home, and I asked her how old those trees might be. She said maybe 200 years.

When the European explorers first came to the New World, they were interested in Native agriculture. Famine was a familiar presence in the old country, and even when times were good the ordinary person's diet there was neither varied nor abundant.