Purple Ranch Legacies

The Purple Ranch Legacy series has really pulled at my heart this week. Trying to tell you this story from the roots up has forced me to look into the past and think about my grandparents and what they mean to me even though they have all gone to be with the Lord. I realized how much they have invested in this endeavor along with us even though none of them were present for the first shovel breaking the ground. My grandmother "Great Mom" is my focal point today. She is in my thoughts. If she were here today I could see her walking out among the lavender with both hands stretched out gently brushing the tops of the blooms with her finger tips. The scene from "Gladiator" comes to mind. Each time he dreams of home you see the vision of Maximus walking across a field of grain, hands outstretched, and his young son running up the road to meet him. I know Great Mom would have loved the smell of sweet lavender on her hands and the feel of freshly turned dirt under her feet.

My memories of Great Mom are many. I lived with them for a few years as I finished college. Great Mom owned a florist years before I was born. I only heard stories about it and once while cleaning out an old dilapidated building behind their home I saw the marque sign that had hung in front of her shop. It was evident that she had a great love for plants. Her long driveway in front of their home was lined with azalea bushes and huge oak trees. On one side of their drive was an assortment of fruit trees and rose bushes. I remember two cumquat's she had growing in the back yard. As we played outside I would go by the bushes and grab some for a tasty snack. She would always say to me "Don't eat the ones on the bottom". One day I realized why she kept telling me that. This huge German Shepard came meandering through her back yard one day while I was there, stopped, hiked his leg and watered both of those cumquat's. He could only reach the bottom fruit.

Pop, my grandfather kept the yard trimmed like a fairway on a golf course. The front yard was a field of green, wide open except for a bird bath in the center of the yard. Bright red Bottle Brush lined the front near the road. The front yard was reserved for pass routes on Sunday afternoon during half-time and the bird bath played defense. It was laden with wickets when the whole family would play croquet. It served as a chipping green, pitchers mound and even the arena for a good game of freeze tag. But during the week it went back to Great Mom's paradise. An iris bed in the corner, a rose bed at the end of the yard, hibiscus, flowers and plants showing off every color nature had to offer. This was her roaming grounds. I can remember people giving her plants and saying "I can't get this plant to grow" and she would take it in like an orphan and care and nurture it until it found it's place in her paradise. She never forgot where it came from. If you walked with her in the yard she would say something like "Aunt Jane gave me that plant, she got it on a trip she took to Mississippi." She continually talked to her plants like she would a grandchild. There are a lot of memories in that yard. Some of those memories continue to live on in my Mom. So if you were wondering where my Mom acquired her love for plants and her ability to grow anything. My Great Mom is probably a good place to start. Until next time. Lavender Up!