9 Lessons These Gardeners Learned From Their Moms (and Still Use as Pros)

Every gardener starts somewhere, and if green thumbs run in your family you may have learned a few gardening skills—or even developed a lifelong love for gardening—from your parents or grandparents.

To celebrate Mother’s Day and the joy of sharing gardening with others, we’ve asked professional gardeners to share their favorite gardening tips, tricks, and memories passed down from all the moms in their lives.

Be Patient

Patience can be hard to practice at times as most growers can’t wait for perennials, trees, and shrubs to fill in and start fruiting and flowering.

“One of the most important things I learned from my mother about gardening is patience,” says Justin Hancock, a horticulturist at Costa Farms. “Everything has its own timeline and, as gardeners, we need to appreciate that rather than trying to bend our gardens fully to our will.”

Remember: It often takes more than a season to see the results of gardening labor, but those results are always worth it.

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Use a Hands-Off Approach with Daffodils

Master gardener Jodi Cahillane of Ward’s Nursery shares that she learned some of her favorite tips for growing daffodils from her grandmother Charlotte.

“I learned that daffodils planted in woodlands will return and bloom every year because nothing bothers them,” says Cahillane. “I also learned that if you leave the green daffodil leaves in place, they’ll feed next year’s bulbs.”

Grow the Right Plant in the Right Spot

Cahillane also remembers how her grandmother always grew beautiful rhododendrons by her home in New Jersey. But after her family moved to Wisconsin, she noticed even as a child that rhododendrons and azaleas just didn’t grow as well in the more alkaline soils of the area.

She muses now that her grandmother’s rhododendrons taught her yet another important gardening lesson: “Gardening success starts with placing the right plants in the right place.”

Always Be Prepared

Some gardening lessons are more subtle than others, but they still influence the way we go about our day-to-day life. Gardening author Amy Pennington offers a simple story that shows how she and her sister still carry the gardening lessons they learned from their mother with them wherever they go.

“I was back on Long Island where I grew up and driving down the highway with my sister the other day,” says Pennington. “We were noticing all the wild lilacs and I was like, ‘Oh too bad we don’t have pruners!’ Then my sister opened up her glovebox, and there was a pair of pruner in there. She said, ‘Do you remember when mommy used to just pull over on the side of the road when we were kids?’”

Propagate Your Own Plants

Aside from taking cut flowers for bouquets, Pennington notes that her mother often took her pruners with her so she could gather plant cuttings for propagation.

“My mom would find plants in the wild and take a cutting or a bit of root and propagate them for her garden at home,” says Pennington. “Today, my sister and I continue to propagate wild plants!”

Having pruners at the ready is definitely helpful if you want to propagate plants from cuttings, but knowing the basics of soil and water propagation helps, too. It’s also important to follow basic foraging rules, like:

• Don’t take cuttings from protected plants.
• Don’t take cuttings from private property without permission.
• Never harvest more than 1/10 of the plants you find.

Control Pests with Feathered Friends

Pennington has her mother to thank for some of what she knows about natural pest control, and she uses a few of these lessons in her garden today.

“I grew up on a little hobby farm and my mom let the chickens loose in the garden so they could do their job with the insects,” says Pennington.

You don’t necessarily need chickens or ducks to keep pests out of your garden; inviting wild birds into yards with well-placed bird feeders or bird houses, or attracting predatory insects with companion planting can easily do the trick.

Embrace Imperfection

Hancock attributes his love of nature to his mother, and this love taught him a few valuable lessons that go far beyond the garden.

“I learned that nature isn’t perfect and our gardens don’t need to be either,” he says. “Sometimes there’s more beauty in the mistakes, and the things we don’t intend than the things we do.”

Choose Geraniums for Low Maintenance Planters

Plant preferences are often passed down just like gardening tips from the moms in our lives. Cahillane personally learned to appreciate annual geraniums thanks to her mother Marcia, who always favored them because of their easy-care needs.

“They’re perfect for containers, take loads of sun, can handle dry soil, come in many bright colors, and have few pests,” says Cahillane. “They only need to be visited about once a week too.”

Ask for Help

Cahillane had one final tip to share that she learned from her mother: Always have a good gardening resource on hand for pest issues, plant care needs, and any other gardening questions that come up during the growing season.

“My mom always consulted her garden books and loved going to a nursery to speak with the growers about what would work best for her,” says Cahillane.

Today, many gardeners rely on websites, apps, and online forums for their gardening tips and advice. But the lesson still holds true: Don’t be afraid to ask for gardening advice when you need it.