 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Photography by Ted Huffman
udging by the marketing being done in Wal-Mart and Target, you would think that the holiday season officially began the millisecond Halloween candy was no longer being handed out. I never have been able to decide if its obnoxious to see Dancing Santas and revolving pre-lit Christmas trees before Thanksgiving, or if it is just another amazing symbol of capitalization. Whichever it is, the holidays are on their way.
For the first time in forever, I have found myself in the unfamiliar position of being totally prepared for the holidays, even before Thanksgiving. My trees are up and decorated, I’ve already written and addressed my Christmas cards. Our Christmas party is planned and set up and the invitations are out there floating around. My gifts are all bought and wrapped. I am actually looking forward to sitting back and RELAXING as Christmas approaches. There will be no midnight runs to the supermarket for tape. No late mailings of forgotten cards. No scrambling around to get things “just so” before guests arrive to celebrate. It’s done. Everything. (Granted, some garland and one wreath are still hanging up in the same place they were from last year, but, hey, one less thing I have to worry about.)
Or is it?
For years, my mother has spent her holidays up to her eyebrows in poinsettias. She runs a retail greenhouse up the road in Lexington, and every Christmas for the past decade, she has filled her two full size greenhouses, plus an array of other buildings, to the hilt with all types of poinsettias. Pink ones, splotched ones, massive ones, teeny ones, white, red, salmon…you name it, my mother had it. We would estimate at the end of the year, that my mother would have sold tens of thousands of poinsettias in the time between November and December. And no matter how many she would get her hands on, she never had any left by the time she took off for the holidays on Christmas Eve.
She always made me look good, too. It’s like the saying goes, “It not what you know, it’s who you know.” Mom has never made it to one of my Christmas parties, though she’s been invited to every one. It’s not because she doesn’t want to be there, but it’s because she was always buried under a sea of poinsettias. But she would always make me a hero by sending down a truck packed with poinsettias of every description for me to have to decorate for the season. And she never sent just a couple to brighten up an entryway. She would send scores of them.
I would often protest saying, “Mom! I’m going to have to pass out stilts to my guests so they can see over all these plants!” She would just tsk-tsk me away and lie to me saying, “It’s nothing, honey. I wasn’t going to sell these anyway.” I learned long ago that it is futile to argue with her, so I set about the task of filling my house with poinsettias. And when it was all said and done, it never seemed to be too many, but rather, just the right amount. My guests would arrive and gasp and laud me on how beautiful the house is and say I have a knack for decorating with plants. I always felt like an imposter.
But now my sister and I have created a monster.
For years we have been telling my parents to leave Columbia and move down here. We know we’re not leaving and we rarely make a huge effort to go up the highway to Columbia (no rivers and marshes, you know?). We argue that they spend more time down here on the weekends than at home anyway, especially during the off-season at the greenhouses. We rationalize that their house is paid for in Columbia, their grand kids and grand-dogs are down here, they’re putting too many miles on their cars, we don’t feel comfortable with them driving all the time, this is where the action is, you can use the boats any time you want. None of it seems to work.
Until this year.
I was passing through Columbia one afternoon on business and decided to stop by to visit Mama at the greenhouses, though I could feel the rivers pulling me towards home some 153 miles away. We were having a pleasant conversation when I mentioned something about poinsettias and my Christmas party. That’s when she hit me with the news: “I’m not going to do poinsettias this year.”
I would have been less surprised if she sprouted a second head from her shoulders and they both turned all the way around in opposite directions.
“What do you mean ‘I’m not doing poinsettias this year’?” I asked, incredulously. “You mean those striped ones? I don’t think you should either. They didn’t sell very…”
“At all,” she politely interrupted. “I just want some time to enjoy the holidays down in Bluffton.”
I stared at her for a second or two. “Yeah, whatever.” It was like she said the tides stopped moving. “Anyway, Mom, I was wondering if I could get some more of those orange ones for this year’s party. People seemed to like…”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to call David at the supply house. But don’t expect a discount.”
It was like one of those movies where everything started spinning around. I was feeling faint. Something terrible had just happened, but my mind did not comprehend it yet. I quickly held on to the counter top to keep my knees from buckling under me. What in the world was I going to do for Christmas? I had nothing. Nothing! There were a lot of bare corners in my house. Maybe I could put pumpkins in each one. Yeah, that’s it. That would work nice. Pumpkins for holiday decorations. Nobody would notice, right? Besides, I was in a real crisis. People would understand. I could just turn the rotten corners into the wall. The smell wouldn’t be too overpowering. Maybe if I burned some pot-pourri nobody would even notice. Yeah, that’s what I could do . . .
“But I’ve got another suggestion for you,” I heard my mother say.
“What?” I looked up at this strange woman. Who was she? She’s not the poinsettia girl anymore. Who was this evil, wretched woman speaking to me? “Are you talking to me?”
“Stop acting like a moron, Mitch. I want to get out of here. Come here and look at these and tell me what you think.”
I stumbled behind her, thinking of ways I could hide the body. Who was she to stop selling poinsettias? And what was this “enjoy-the-holidays” rigmarole? She was the poinsettia lady, for crying out loud. It’s like being Santa. Her holidays don’t start until the 26th.
We walked into a small glass enclosed greenhouse that was filled with bromeliads, colorful spiny plants that are native to the pineapple.
“I thought maybe you could use these this year, instead.”
Like the poinsettia, these bromeliads came in all different colors, including red, pinks, oranges, and yellows. They had about the same spread as a poinsettia which made them perfect for decorating around the house with, plus they satisfied my urge to stay one beat off from a normal drummer.
I looked up at my mother, the feeling returning to my legs and the snarl and drool disappearing from my face. I was surprised to see that her forked tail and horns had vanished and in their place was a brilliant halo and a pair of shining wings. It was a little bit infuriating, though, to see that smug, I-told-you-so, look on her face.
“Mom, that’s a perfect idea. You always know how to make me look good.”
“I know,” she accepted her praise with her usual grace.
“This will be great! How much are they?”
“I’ll give you family prices,” she said, meaning they were free.
“Excellent! I knew you’d come through for me. You know, I was thinking about poinsettias again this year, but, you know, they are so yesteryear.”
“Mitch,” Mom said.
“Yes?”
“You’re an idiot.”
Thanks again, Mom. You were right. As usual. People raved. I’m looking forward to having you down this Christmas.
unshine Nursery & Landscape has a very “colorful” past. We’ve been adding beauty and color to the Lowcountry landscape and assisting residents and businesses with their landscape decisions for over 20 years. We are a wholesale/retail turnkey company offering a comprehensive service for the design and installation of your lawn and plantings. We offer a state-of-the-art wholesale/retail nursery at which builders and homeowners can select from a large inventory of high quality plant material to suit personal preferences and plantation requirements. Our friendly, knowledgeable staff is ready to assist you with all your landscape needs.
Whether you are designing or building for new construction or revitalizations, the team at Sunshine Nursery & Landscape includes a Registered Landscape Architect, Certified Horticulturalists and Irrigation Technicians – all ready to help you make the right choices. The Architectural Review Boards (ARB) require that a landscape plan is prepared and submitted for their approval. We review these requirements with you and prepare an individual plan so that landscaping specific to your choices and the ARB’s requirements are met. Our Architect will walk the property with you to ensure that your preferences are recognized while informing you about which annuals, shrubs and trees do best in this climate. Landscape, irrigation and lighting can be installed prior to home completion or after you are living in your new home. New for the landscape industry, create a full-color visual image of tomorrow’s landscape today with our computer design service. Click on “Our Portfolio” and view some of the fabulous landscape design projects we’re so proud of.
