Grape Trees

We finished planting our vegetable garden today, which made Aaron very happy.  Long before planting season is upon us, Aaron begins talking about the garden - flower and vegetable alike.  He wonders which perennials will return in the flower beds..........what new flowers will I plant...........and what we'll decide to plant in the vegetable garden.

He's full of ideas, wanting us to consider planting "something different."  He has suggested strawberries; cantaloupe (which we did try one year); sunflowers; and a variety of other flowers and veggies and fruits.  He was discussing his gardening ideas one night a few weeks ago while we played Skip-Bo and said, "Mom, how about if I give you a new idea of what to grow?  How about grow a grape tree?"

The thought of a grape tree made me smile.  I almost didn't want to correct him because somehow a grape tree just pleases me.  Later, though, Gary and I both told him about grape vines............but I still think Aaron believes that grapes surely grow on trees, like apples and pears.

He was looking out our upstairs bathroom window one morning as I got my make-up on.  He saw that the yard was full of those little twirly seed pods from the maple tree.  "Mom, you know those helicopter things that come off the tree?  Where do they come from?"  I pointed to the maple tree out in the yard, but at first Aaron thought I meant the Golden Rain tree.  I said no and pointed again to the maple, and Aaron said, "Which tree?  That one?  The green one?"

Well, Aaron, they're all green.  It's the one with a million little helicopter things hanging from it..........yes, the green one!

He loves the Lamb's Ear in the front flower bed because it's so soft.  If someone mentions it or asks what kind of plant it is, Aaron immediately yanks off a leaf and hands it to the person so that they can feel it.  It's a good thing that it's a sturdy plant!  He often sits near the Lamb's Ear when he's in the mulch, and he will talk about how soft the leaves are.

Today I bought our vegetables to plant in the garden.  I had a few of the tomato plants on the kitchen table.  Aaron never can resist touching plants.........or pulling or picking or snapping off.   As he walked by the table, he saw the new tomato plants and of course, reached over and felt one of the leaves.

"Mom, these are a weird kind of softness.  What kind of soft are they?  A hard kind of soft?"

I guess when compared to the sweet softness of Lamb's Ear, the tomato leaves are a rather hard kind of soft. Who else but Aaron would talk about a hard kind of soft?

And later, when I walked past the tomato plants, I reached out to touch the leaf that's a hard kind of soft.  Aaron's right - as usual.  The tomato leaf is a hard kind of soft.

If I stop to see the world through Aaron's eyes, there just might be grape trees after all.