My grandchildren are growing up (or have already done so). We don’t have a lot of babies in our family. So, when I began a project and the neighborhood children came to help, I welcomed it. It just added to the fun.
At one time, we had two palm trees of the annoying sort. Annoying because they were in a position to stab you if you weren’t watching where you were walking. They aren’t my favorite sort of tree anyway. So, one day we had them cut down. Because the trunks were close together, I envisioned making a bench, of sorts to bridge the difference. At my age, I’m always looking for a place to sit.
It was a nice idea, but it didn’t work out. The trunk of the palm tree is covered with the stumps of branches cut away. It rubs at your legs. The tops weren’t cut off even. There was no way my husband was going to come out and even up the tops. Time passed and the inside of the trunks developed a prickly coating. You wouldn’t want to sit on it. Then the inside of the trunk began to break up. Now I understood why the tree cutters had slashed the tops. After a while you could pull out big chunks of fiber. Eventually there was a cavity in the trunk about a foot deep.
I had a light bulb moment. (That means I had an idea if you’re a lot younger than me.) I decided to plant the cavity with flowers. Once I realized I could do this without help, I was onto it.
Our neighbor has graciously provided us with some donkey doo. (Clue, it smells like donkey.) It had seasoned for a year and was ready for use. I put about 3 inches of donkey doo into the bottom of the cavity. Then I put a lot of planting mix in the hole. Whatever I planted here was dependent on this rich mixture to grow.
I was in the midst of spreading the donkey doo in the hole when the neighborhood kids came to see what I was doing. They were shy enough of me to not help me spread it, but they watched the process and wanted to know what I was doing. I told them I was going to plant flowers there. By the time I was dumping in planting mix the kids were into it with both hands.
We talked about what I was going to plant and how pretty it would be. They were happy to help me plant nasturtiums in a circle around the edge. Then we planted daisies in the middle. I told them the nasturtiums would grow long and stringy and I’d make them fall over the edge, leaving room for the daisies to get some sun. At least that’s what I hoped would happen.
For a while they came over every few hours to see if the flowers had come up. Then they lost interest. It was only me who exclaimed over the seedlings and watered them when they were dry. The kids probably never gave it another thought.
Me, I’m pretty pleased with myself. My plants still have a lot of growing to do, but already they’ve made a fluffy green top for that stump of a palm tree. Take a look.
Marilynne
