I recently read through old gardening columns and ran onto one about my son, who was nine at the time, and how we had gardened together since he was a toddler. It brought back fond memories. And when he and his siblings call to ask gardening questions now, it makes me smile, because I know that we are sharing life experiences again, even though none of our children live close to us.

I think of gardening as a life-long hobby. Teach a child to garden today and you have hooked him for life in a worthwhile endeavor.

If you have thumbed through catalogs or walked through garden centers, you probably noticed the varieties of hydrangeas on the market.

If you are up on your hydrangea lore, you may be hesitant to purchase these shrubs if you live in a USDA zone 5 and/or have alkaline soil.

There are so many summer bulbs available today, that it makes it impossible to choose from them or to actually opt for not having any of them at all.

Today’s column is about bulbs that are too tender to be left outside to winter over. While I might love to have a swathe of these bulbs four-feet-deep and ten-feet-long in the summer garden, I know I don’t have the energy to dig and plant them. I also don’t have storage space for that many.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them in a smaller quantity and so can you.