My Sister's Garden

My family has always been very pragmatic gardeners and never wasted time growing silly things like flowers. When we lived in Kansas, the front yard was a space where I planted marigolds, pansies and daffodils. In our giant backyard, my sister planted rows of corn (seeds brought from Vietnam), apple trees, arugula, water spinach, twenty different types of herbs, tomatoes, chilies, watermelons, opo squash, bitter melons and anything that we eat and will grow could be found in our garden. My American friends would gaze in amazement at our backyard because practically everyone in that little Kansan town had perfectly manicured lawns. I had the chore of plucking dandelions from our front lawn and hated it so much that I still remember it to this day. I think this is the reason why I have no desire to ever live in a place where one has to maintain a lawn.

My sister, KC, has quite an impressive Florida garden. When my parents visit from Hawaii, they would hide seeds from Vietnam or Hawaii in their checked luggage to plant in her garden. So, she has a few banana plants, a couple coconut trees, a lime tree, dragon fruit plants, various medicinal herbs and these:

Sweet 100 Hybrid tomatoes

Hot banana chili peppers

Sweet banana chili peppers

Tabasco chili peppers

Anaheim chili peppers

Coconuts

Rau lang (sweet potato leaves)