Penny's True Garden Poem

My dear friend,Penny Marshall, has written this poem and I know this to be true. Especially at a nursery where tags are so important. My poodles take the tags as well. Gilly is a poodle too. I thought that I would share this with you. Thank you, Penny.

By the way, the picture is NOT of Penny's rather well groomed poodle, Gilly, but of my old Augustus who loved to steal the tags right out of the pots. I have many mystery hostas and daylilies and shrubs, thanks to Augustus.


Penny's Silly but True Poem


As a gardener I’m s’posed to know

The place and name of all I grow

But greed o’ertakes me when I shop

And planting tires me, so I drop

Onto the bed, my wine at hand

And fail to map out as I planned

The earthy home of each new treasure -

(Despite the pains I took to measure

How far they sat from last year’s wonder

Or how many inches of soil they’re under.)



But once they’re labeled I needn’t worry

Or, so I think, till I see Gilly scurry

Happily by me, bent metal in jaw –

Oh, drat that dog, she’s a garden outlaw

Removing my guideposts one by one

(Ears swinging, tail wagging, she’s having fun!)

But I’m left to wonder till end of the season

What I planted where and was there a reason?