PEORIA MAGAZINE May 2022

G U E S T C O M M E N T A R Y

WHEN EVERYONE HAD A GARDEN

BY MARCELLA TEPLITZ

Grandmother Henrietta Brown, enjoying her spirea

I can’t remember a time growing up when I was not surrounded by beautiful flora. From a very young age, I was immersed in flowers, vegetables and beautiful trees. As they grew, so did I. My parents owned a modest home but we were fortunate to also have a good-sized yard on all four sides of the house. Additionally, they also owned a vacant lot across the street. It was primarily devoted to strawberries in the summer and watermelon later in the summer and fall. The lot was bounded by a row of peonies that bloomed every spring. Behind it were the railroad tracks, which sometimes brought tramps to our back door for a sandwich or to the watermelon patch to liberate one of my dad’s prize watermelons! The perimeter of the house was planted with many different flowers and flowering shrubs, whichmymother cared for all season. First to greet us were the tulips, quickly followed by beautiful bleeding hearts, spirea and

lilacs. We had a small cherry tree that produced beautiful blooms, followed by delicious fruit. Unfortunately, the tree grew on the property line we shared with the neighbor’s driveway. One day, my father cut down the tree. When I asked why, he said the neighbor claimed it was hers when it bloomed but said it was ours when the cherries fell in her driveway

father’s efforts to save themwith every home remedy that came along, he was defeated. No one was spared. My current home also suffered the ravages of Dutch Elm Disease. One of my neighbors described moving to the neighborhood in 1950 and seeing big elms lining both sides of Randolph Avenue with tree tops touching. She said it was like being in a cathedral.

THE PHYSICAL ACT OF DIGGING YOUR HANDS INTO THE DAMP EARTH AND INHALING THE AROMA RELAXES YOUR CARES AND ALLOWS YOU TO ENJOY LIFE

and got her Buick’s tires dirty. She also claimed the two giant elm trees on the property line until it was time to rake leaves in the fall. Then, the trees and leaves were my father’s. The elm trees were beautiful and we had three more elsewhere on the property, but they all fell victim to the dreaded Dutch Elm Disease which denuded so much of the landscape in the 1950s and 1960s. Despite my

My father had a tomato garden in the back yard. After a long, hot day at the factory, he would come home, grab the salt shaker, disappear into the tomato patch, select one perfect tomato and, after dousing it with salt, eat it where he stood. What a look of contentment. Now, I do the same but with cherry tomatoes and no salt. Not quite the same. All the neighbors had gardens, too – some for beauty, some for necessity to

26 MAY 2022 P EORIA MAGAZINE