In the Garden: Rosemary for Remembrance

Living rural, going to town, the print shop specifically, is a community hub.  Who knew?  I go a lot.  Luckily most of what I need can be emailed, and ready for pick-up.    Living rural, the people you see at the print shop are the same in the grocery store, entertainments at the town square, restaurants, DAR meetings, antique shops, garden tours, church, etc.
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For the 2 years living rural I've had the good fortune of having a talented, cheerful young woman help me at the print shop. She's not true to the reputation of her era.  Early 20's, married, young child, working full-time and taking college classes, no sense of entitlement, just buckup, get it done.  A few weeks ago she suffered a loss, her grandfather.  Rutt roh, I knew it would be bad, having lost my much too dear grandmother at age 22.  Soon discovered her grandfather practically raised her.  Ugh.
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Had to get her a rosemary plant.  Rosemary is for remembrance.  I know she likes to cook, rosemary is evergreen and blooms in winter.  Her rosemary became a hunt, finally stopped at a small local nursery I've passed for 2 years, no time to investigate, now on mission-rosemary.  They had plenty & on sale.  It was hard, but walked out of the shop with a single rosemary.  My garden still not at the planting rosemary layer.  Patience.  Plant too soon, and I know it will have to be moved.  Her rosemary, at my house before gifting, needing watering/sun, placed on a porch table, its scent strong in the breeze.  Moved away from quite a few mature rosemary, dear friends each.  It's been difficult not going back to the nursery for more.



Pic, above, here.

"I plant rosemary all over the garden, so pleasant is it to know that at every few steps one may draw the kindly branchlets through one's hand, and have the enjoyment of their incomparable incense,and I grow it against walls, so that the sun may draw out its inexhaustible sweetness to greet me as I pass."  Gertrude Jekyll

 
Pic, above, here.

Rosemary is deer proof, and insect/drought tolerant.
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"Flowers could signify a personal friend as well as a distant hero. William Gordon wrote George Washington (1732-1799) in 1786, “Shall I endeavor to furnish your garden…with flowers & plants that may keep up the remembrance of an absent friend.” "

"Becoming a gardener helped a person understand the cycle of life & death.."
 From Barbara Wells Sarudy.

 
Pic, above, here.

Anticipation is great, where rosemary will be planted at my ca. 1900 home.
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More than giving rosemary for remembrance, I hope it's an invitation to her own garden.  A friend awaiting her, a friend that will help her grieve her grandfather, no matter where she gardens in the future, her garden will always be there, supporting her through all the years she'll be without her grandfather, and future losses awaiting their turn at her doorstep.
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"A garden is a grand teacher....Above all it teaches entire trust."  Gertrude Jekyll
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T