Earth Day falls every year on April 22nd and aims to celebrate an awareness of our beautiful planet. We have been officially celebrating this holiday since 1970. People often celebrate by planting flowers, herbs, gardens, and trees, or getting together with like-minded people to tackle major community clean-up endeavors.
My mom most certainly inherited her green thumb and love for the earth from her parents, who were dedicated followers of Robert Rodale’s Organic Gardening philosophy and life-long subscribers to his magazine. This photo was taken of my grandfather in their vast green garden well before Earth Day was officially a national holiday.
When not at work in the can factory where he worked his entire life, he spent endless hours with his hands in the soil, growing most of the food his family of seven would consume in a year.
When I woud visit my grandfather, he made sure his garden was a fun place for kids to play, hang-out, and help. There were treasure-hunt coins buried in the sandbox, cucumbers growing inside pop bottles, huge hubbard squash hanging in the trees held there by supportive hammocks and endless games of croquet. But my favorite was being ushered into the garden well after our bedtime to witness the unfolding of his moonflowers that open only when day is done.
Photo courtesy Bev Wagar via Wikimedia Commons
In the beginning, pinwheels.
Photo courtesy Anonymous via OpenWalls.com
And then, moonflowers.
Photo courtesy anyjazz65 via Wikimedia Commons
Now I’m thinking I should go plant those Moonflower seeds I saved from several years ago…and I probably will do that today…along with a few dozen (other variety:-) flowering~fragrant seeds. Thanks for sharing Megan; I love reading the stories about your grandparent’s & seeing the pictures too! Grandparent time is a favorite part of my treasured memories too…and gardening/outdoor time was an important part of our times shared. Hope you & your extended family have fun planting & playing in the great outdoors today….I haven’t checked the weather for your area today but I hope it is nice:-)
Happy Earth Day Elizabeth! It is a beautiful sunny day here, after many days of rain. I hope you are enjoying some sun in your neck of the woods too! Happy planting!!
Happy, Happy Earth Day Meg! We have sun here today as well, things are beginning to ” green ” up and grow…I loved reading about your childhood days in your Grandfathers garden. It sounds magical for a child and those moon flowers take the cake.. I’m off to find some seeds of my own… night magic in the garden.. how fun! Hugs and love from the Upper Cape!
sister Deb ( your beach fgblogger )
Oh! My mother just asked me if I wanted some Moonflower seeds. I didn’t know what they were, and did some research. Now, here they are again. I said yes! Your garden memories remind me of my mother’s garden memories with her grandfather. Happy Earth day to you.