I have been at for 12 years, exactly one month longer than my boss!
Kathy Brigante came to the nursery with 20-plus years nursery experience. I came with 31 years of experience ... in the grocery business.
Needless to say, despite the disparity in our backgrounds, and the fact that we have been described as Eeyore and Tigger, she has always been my friend and mentor.
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I have gleaned 95 percent of what I know from Brigante and am grateful for her patience with my endless questions while I boing(!) about the nursery.
So I was taken aback that first summer when she looked at me and said, "I hate August."
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I was still a newbie delighting in just being outside so really didn't get her drift. But I do now!
August heat deflates the plants, their color, their juiciness and our zeal!
Endless deadheading, watering and fertilizing can't bring back the vigor of spring.
A mere two months earlier we basked in a full parking lot, a plethora of floral options, and that giddy ambiance that suggests all is well with the world!
August brings, well none of the afore mentioned. August feels flat. August doesn't even pretend they'll be abundance and growth. August says, "you'd better be goin' on vacation."
We try to ignore a declining customer count and the fact that there are more questions than purchases. We look the other way when a car pulls in, then proceeds to use the parking lot for a U-turn.
We water, prune, rake and water again. There is a tacit agreement that there will be no mention of the temperature, the stillness, or the fact that we seem to be the only people left on the planet!
And then, a van pulls in and a mom with her three charges walks decidedly towards me. When I offer to help, she smiles and says, "I need a gift for a teacher." And, as I lead her down the walk, she smiles again and says, "It's August!"
