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Be in Harmony with your Garden

carriesuepepper • Jun 01, 2010

This tree is becoming a nuisance, he said.  He’d been doing our lawn maintenance work for nearly two years; he’d done a good job; overall we were pleased with his work.  He came and went quickly – “blow and go” they call it now. 

The economy slowed and he lost some clients, but we kept him on.  We liked having a “lawn guy” and it was nice to look out every Monday on a nicely cut lawn, see all the stones clear of debris, knowing that someone else was showing up to take care of things.  He spoke English; we could communicate.  We liked the pre-addressed billing envelopes. 

Then, little things started to bother us.  I trimmed up my geraniums one evening and left the remnants on the sidewalk.  Yes, I should have disposed of them, but hey, our lawn guy was coming the next morning.  But, after he’d gone, I walked out to find the trimmings right where I’d left them – he blew right around them.  Another day, we noticed he’d cut in too far along the front edge of our pretty green lawn, making a brown edge.  It’s easier to use a weed eater than a real edger.  It’s faster – more lawns in less time.  But we went along for two years and even on the Mondays that were holidays – and it seems most of them were – when he didn’t come; we still wrote out his check. 

Then, he said the words – this tree is becoming a nuisance.  He wanted us to trim it up. He had to bend over farther than he cared to mow beneath our lovely Linden tree.  This tree had become the most perfect of trees over the four years we’d been tending it.  Its symmetrical shape and fullness graced our front lawn with beauty.  An arborist told us it was the prettiest one she’d seen and came to photographs of our Linden tree! And now, it was becoming a nuisance ?  That was the day. 

I so wanted to rush out and say, YOU are becoming a nuisance, but I didn’t.  I just waited.  I put thought into my decision; I pondered the good and the bad – did we really need a lawn guy?  We started looking in the ads and online for lawn mowers.  Mowing your own lawn can be gratifying; it doesn’t take that long.  Still, it’s sure nice to look out and see it all done; all trimmed up and cleaned up while you’re sitting in your office taking care of business.  We hadn’t decided.  Then, the little green scroll appeared on our sidewalk, wrapped neatly in plastic.  YARD WORK.  We’d gotten these before – tossed onto our driveway, always someone promoting another maintenance service.  But this one stood out.

Save Your Expensive Time, Have Best Luck and Happiness

Be in Harmony with Your Garden

  In the translation between English and Vietnamese, the words were so charming – and it struck a chord – it read: We do “Completely” Care.   Yes, that what had been missing all along  – someone who cared.  Mr. Tran’s little green scroll landed in our driveway and that was just what I needed to make the decision.  I haven’t called him for his “free estimate” but I have definitely decided that our Linden tree is remaining exactly as is – no branches will be “trimmed up” because someone who obviously does not care can race beneath with his mower, in a hurry to get it done so he can blow and go onto the next job.

The post Be in Harmony with your Garden first appeared on Carrie Pepper.

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By Carrie Pepper • 30 Nov, 2023
Out on my morning walk, street signs acted as memory joggers. Perhaps they were nudges so that I could remember, and be grateful for, these two women who were there for me as a kid. BRADFORD was the first sign. Grammy Bradford. I never called her anything else and I have no idea what her first name was, but I do remember she was there to tend to me when I was little while my mother went off to work at her government job "in procurement," which she hated. I know nothing, really, of what she did there, but I do remember the room. It seemed there were hundreds of desks in this huge room, no partitions. Dark grey desks and heavy black telephones. I visited her there a few times and she'd give me tablets and pens to keep me busy. I was ALWAYS thrilled to have a tablet and a pen! What she did there is a mystery to me, but when she and my father would argue, which was often, she'd always say, "I want my own money," and so off she went to work every morning at the Defense General Supply Center. He told her she didn't need to work, that he could support her, but, again, she wanted her own money. Back to Mrs. Bradford, Grammy. She was a bit on the heavy side (which I thought made for the best, most cuddly hugs) with long grey hair that she wore up with tons of bobby pins. She always wore a floral bib apron with large pockets and she'd fill them with pears when we'd go to that special corner of our back yard. Oh the smell! Those yellow pears and the carpet of yellow leaves. Memories of Grammy Bradford brought back memories of Thelma Massenburg. She looked exactly like Aunt Jemima (OH FOR HEAVEN'S SAKES, we can't say Aunt Jemima anymore!) Recently a friend told me he'd made pancakes and I asked what kind of syrup he used. When he said, "Pearl Milling," I thought it sounded kinda cool, but when I looked it up I found out it was the new name for Aunt Jemima syrup. SERIOUSLY? Anyway, she was wonderful. She cleaned our house, scrubbed the floors and walls and worked harder than anyone I'd ever seen. I loved her. She always wore a bandana tied around her head. She lived in a tiny reddish tar papered house with ten children. Who knows where they all slept! She was diabetic and I was a little stinker and liked to tease her with Hershey Bars. I'd wave one in front of her nose and she'd smile and say," "You bad, chile." The last time I saw her she was in the hospital and her eyes were very, very yellow. Liver disease. The scarf that was always wrapped around her head was gone and I am sure that I could hear her say, "You bad, chile," although she probably didn't. Thank you my sweet Thelma. My Aunt Jemima.
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