“We’ll Just Have to Wait and See.”

That’s what the tree guys said, a couple of weeks ago, after some seriously severe trimming of the hedges in our backyard.

The hedges along the side yard didn’t get the epic pruning, because the neighbor next door likes the tallness and fullness that creates some privacy for her yard. The tree guys did a little bit of trimming, but not much, and those hedges are coming back nicely. The bigger hedges at the back seem bare. They don’t exactly look dead. Just bare. Wait and see.

On Wednesday, after spending some time outside, working on plants on the patio, I walked to the back of the yard to take a look. And . . .

Ta-Dah!! It’s happening. I waited. And I saw!

I don’t even know what kind of plants these are. A friend, who lost some plants during the big icy/snowy weather we had back in February, asked what the hedges were. I have no idea. If Daddy had some kind of book or list of what he’d planted over the years, it got lost. I talked to an employee at a nursery where I sometimes shop. I said we had these hedges that lost their leaves, completely, and she also asked what they were. I don’t know, and it’s possible that they were/are some kind of hedge that was popular, ‘way back in the late 50’s, but aren’t “trendy,” or even available these days. The nursery woman said I could bring in some leaves, and maybe they could identify it. At the time, there weren’t any leaves. And I’m reluctant to pull off any of the new, baby little leaves right now. The nursery woman did suggest feeding the plants, and I bought some hedge fertilizer, spread it around the trunks, and watered it in. Maybe that contributed to the amazing, astounding, appreciated new growth.

A few years ago, folks at Kevin and April’s church did some cleaning out. There were several of these metal planters that hung in the church, and held, well, I don’t really know. But they weren’t going to be used any more, and April brought one to me, to see if I wanted it. I did.

I lined the bottom with one of those brown, grassy sort of things, and filled it with dirt. I found that “Herbs” sign somewhere, and planted herbs. Over the years, I had different results. Some years did better than others. I often lost plants when I neglected to water well. But, over the years, I was always able to keep the citronella plant healthy (or at least, alive). Year after year after year. Until February. So, I started over. I emptied out the dirt, shook out the liner, repainted both the planter and the sign, and put in nice, new potting soil. I went off  to a nursery, the first nice day we had. I found some herbs, and, much to my delight, a citronella plant. It’s the large one that has those two stems, and the lovely lilac flower. As I shopped, I walked past a couple who also had a citronella plant. We smiled and nodded at each other, and the man pointed at my face (which, of course, had a mask on it), and said, “University of Hawaii?” “Yes,” I said. On rare occasions, I come across people who recognize the logo.

He’d been in the Air Force, and had been stationed in Hawaii, so we three had a nice conversation about their travels and their time there. They said that, at their home, here in Central Texas, they had a great, enclosed garden room. They had a heater there, to keep the temperature constant for their tropical plants. The kind of plants they’d enjoyed having in Hawaii. “We lost all those plants,” they said. They were without power during the big ice/snow storm. No power, no heat. No more tropical plants.