Gardens Then and Now - Lyn Kublick

My special interest is history and I love to consider how things have changed over the last 100 years, or so. My own blog has sat idle for the last month while my energy has been focused on the garden, so let's consider gardens then and now.

The young lady in this picture is my mother's sister Hazel Erma Reager, born July 16, 1891. During my early life I delved into collecting family treasures and learning about our roots. By some stroke of foresight I wrote to my aunt in 1961 asking her to tell me memories of her childhood. My request reached her when she was living in a retirement trailer park in Arizona and had time on her hands. she replied with a long and fascinating letter. One paragraph of which described the Reager family garden circa 1900.

"Dad had one of the finest orchards and gardens in the area. I suppose most of the trees were planted by Grandfather as they were in full bearing when I remember. There were all kinds of trees: apples, pears, peaches, plums, nectarines, persimmons and also an orange and a pummelo. Mother canned and dried enough for the year's supply, besides making jams and jellies. Most of this was done in the washhouse so as not to interfere with the cook. Dad had a wonderful garden also, growing all sorts of vegetables and melons. I'll never forget the casabas. They were very large. He would store them in the cooler house and we'd enjoy them at Christmas. There was also a large rose garden grown in the old bed of Stony Creek."

I can't help but wonder how they obtained the great variety of fruit trees and various seeds in a era when transport was difficult. The family used real "horse power" to travel from place to place and do all of the farm work.

Times have certainly changed. However the Master Gardener remains the same. We can plant, but only God can put life into seeds and cause them to grow. Some seeds are so tiny they look like dust scattered on your hand, but He has placed a tiny plant inside each one. This is a beautiful picture of how He is able to renew us, placing new life in our hearts, when we seek Him.