"Gene is really the gardener in our household," Jim will tell you. "I take care of the lawn and  encourage his flower gardening, but Gene should get all of the credit." With the beautiful lawn at their home in North Dallas, as well as all of the gorgeous flowers, they both deserve credit for lots of hard work.
"Gene got interested in gardening from his grandmother in Plains, Pennsylvania, and has been gardening for at least 21 years," Jim explains. "He started with window boxes at our apartment in Brooklyn, New York. He planted geraniums, impatiens, petunias, and dusty miller, often all in the same box. His plantings were so successful that our co-op reimbursed him for all expenses, including purchase of the window boxes so he would keep planting "Gene's primary interest is container gardening, particularly roses. He has nearly 40 different roses, all but One of the features that catches your eye when visiting Jim and Gene's garden is "We'd really like to add a fountain or two and try our hands at water gardening," Jim says, "but the problem is finding the space. Maybe one of these days we'll find a way to fit it in." Jim and Gene have been members of the club since its second meeting back in February, 1993. "We joined the club to make |
each year. He planted four window boxes and at least two other boxes along the fence in front of our building."
two in containers. He also is interested in trying his hand at vegetable and herb gardening. Personally, I love all the things he's planted that will not grow in the North, where we both come from -- particularly crape myrtles, gardenias (we have a huge gardenia bush that bloomed very profusely this spring) and verbena."
the urn with four angel faces (see above). Jim explains that Gene found it in March '99 in a shop in New Jersey near his daughter's home. He's very fond of angels (he did an all angel Christmas tree last year), so he bought it and carried it all the way back to Texas on the plane.
new friends, new gay contacts, and to share gardening ideas," Jim explains. "At the time we hadn't lived in Dallas very long and wanted to get involved in some facet of gay life. Also, we had been in our home only a year and Gene was finally able to do all the gardening he had ever wanted to. It was only natural that we would be attracted to the only gay gardening group in North Texas."