Around the House

Anju’s Decorative Powers Bring May Flowers

mika

Those of you who have been to our house in the spring have probably noticed the beauty that is our backyard. I’m aware that may sound like bragging, but I feel like I can get away with it because the credit is due to our landscapers and my mom, not to me. (It’s okay to brag on someone else’s behalf, isn’t it?)

We scored a pretty cool backyard when we moved into our home, one that has a built-in barbecue and seating area that is covered by what I would call a “gazebo thingy,” but is actually called a pergola. For those of you like me who had never heard this term prior to today (I looked it up!), a pergola is “a garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice.” Fun fact: pergolas were common features of Italian Renaissance gardens, often covering walkways or serving as grape arbors.

Anyway, as I was saying, we were fortunate to end up with the lovely backyard that came with our house. And then unsurprisingly, my mom made it even better. As with everything else in our house, she could envision how to turn perfectly nice into simply stunning. She decided our pergola could benefit from some sprucing up, so she decided to plant yellow “Lady Banks” roses all over that would climb up and around the pergola. Indeed, over the years, these roses spread throughout, turning our pergola into a gorgeous sight every spring when the flowers blossom.

I’m going to keep this post short and sweet, as the pictures below explain a lot more than my written words do. Although unfortunately I don’t have any “before” photos, I’m sure you can imagine what these would have looked like. As for the “after” photos:

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Enough said.

12 thoughts on “Anju’s Decorative Powers Bring May Flowers”

  1. Thanks Mika in once again bringing to our memory the things your mom loved and was so good at. Love you. Rajiv M

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  2. Mika, the pictures are gorgeous. I was reminded of your moms green thumbs. Many years ago, Deepak and I visited your Connecticut home, probably around the time when you all were about to move to Korea. She had many many healthy indoor potted plants, and she generously gave me many of them to bring back to our apartment in Boston. They livened it up, and later they moved with us to Wellesley and then Needham. Finally when we were moving back to India 10 years ago, I left them in the care of my ‘green thumbed’ friends.

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  4. Dearest Mika: “Lessons from Anju” is one of the most longed write-ups I await from you – in fact anything on my precious darling Anju. As usual, it filled my heart with emotion. We are back in India after a fleeting visit to HK and miss our annual sojourns to USA. Love Nana

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  6. The last time I went to meet Anju she pointed out “see how pretty the roses look” , so I know exactly which beautiful roses you mean Mika . Thanks again for sharing.

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