I have this extraordinary hydrangea plant in my garden that makes gigantic flowers every year (and by gigantic, I mean the size of a big cantaloupe!). It’s particularly beautiful because every year, when my mom comes to visit from France, she takes over my garden and trims everything. Actually, the first time she trimmed my beautiful hydrangeas I was furiously mad at her! She cut down a shrub the size of a golf cart to ten spindly, little, bare sticks, standing barely one foot tall. I thought she had killed my hydrangeas! But she told me to relax, and wait and see. Anyone with a mom knows that moms know best (!), so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. And of course, she was right. My hydrangea bush came back with a vengeance, and made even more beautiful flowers in the fall. Since then, my mom has been the “keeper of my yard” and all was well.

However, there’s one more part to this story. In 2020, my mom wasn’t able to come visit from France because of the pandemic. So for the first time, I had to do it completely by myself! I cringed the entire time, feeling like I was cutting my plant to shreds and simultaneously channelling my inner gardener. I sent a picture to my mom, who was very proud of me, and the hydrangeas are doing very well!