It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, remembers Banks.
It felt really luxurious and decadent to have all of these fragrant flowers.
Their rosebusheswere so healthy and tall and beautiful, she says.
Credit:PATRICIA LYONS
Whenever Id visit, Id always go and smell them.
She positioned it along a gate framed by a chain-link fence and an arbor.
After that, I was just hooked, Banks says.
Credit:PATRICIA LYONS
I started spending more and more time in the garden, she says.
It became an escape, a true oasis.
Its the greatest gift in the world when people want to come, she says.
‘Quicksilver’.
To be able to talk about my roses and share themits the best thing.
The blossoms are also a means of connection with the women who came before her.
In fact, her 85-year-old mother, Carol, still joins her for weekly Weeding Wednesdays on the property.
‘Distant Drums’.
That first bucket of flowers has become the gift that keeps on giving.
Eachspring, she watches her garden come to life just in time for Mothers Day.
