Trailer Trash Gardening

Have I mentioned that my parents are trailer trash? No? Must’ve been an oversight. My parents are trailer trash. Whew, glad I got that off my chest! What I mean by trailer trash is that my mom and dad live in their fifth wheel trailer for most of the year. For the past few years they’ve spent winters in Florida and summers in Wiarton, Ontario. In the fall, between gigs, they come home to roost for about four weeks. Same thing happens in the spring. They drive back from Florida and hang out with Connor and I for about four to eight weeks until their summer camp opens for the season. The house we live in belongs to them, but Connor and I stay here all year and take care of things. Good thing for my parents - they have a home base, and a very good thing for Connor and I - we needed a place to go two years ago after a divorce. Even though the house isn’t mine, the gardens pretty much are. I do occasionally ask before making drastic changes, but mom is very generous and has given me free reign. So what does a die-hard gardener like my mom do when she’s almost never home? Container gardening of course!

Each summer she plants up containers with herbs and annuals to set out on her deck at the trailer.

Any perennial items that can handle the shade are stuck under a cedar hedge in the fall and left to winter over until the following spring when they are once again called to duty - filling containers for another summer. Some perennials have remained under the hedge.

Sweet Woodruff, Lamb’s Ears, Oregano

Purple Perennial Violet

Even before becoming trailer trash my mom planted beautiful containers. The color combinations were always stunning - one year it would be blues, another whites. The various pots would fill up and overflow in all the right places. My attempts at container gardening are a little less exciting. I have some planted, but they lack my mom’s special touch. I’m much better with solid ground, really!

Yes, these are mine - pardon the mess.

As for trailer trash gardening in Florida…she’s just starting to dig in down there. I fully expect to see pictures this winter of some spectacular southern plantings from down there as well.