As an "intro" post.....I've been gardening and growing things my entire life.  I seriously cannot remember when I wasn't interested in what was growing in my mother's and my grandmother's yard.  We called my maternal grandmother "MAMA" and she was my original mentor when it came to flowers and growing things.  She first taught me how to grow a carrot top in a jar lid, or a potato in a jar of water.  I can picture her yard right now in my mind and heart.  I don't remember learning the names of plants/flowers either - that's something I've taken for granted, I guess.  I learned so much from these first two gardening greats in my life, and didn't even know I was learning.  Mama's house was built in the 1800's, nothing fancy, just a small farmhouse.  She and Papa raised 11 children there, and grew or raised most everything they ate.  And OH the flowers! In front of her house, Mama had persimmon bushes, irises, azaleas, wisteria, a mimosa, wedding veil spiria and kerria.  In the back there was a long row of day lilies, sweet william, daffodils, roses, grancy gray beard and milk and wine lilies.  We (the cousins) knew which ones we could pick and which ones we couldn't.  There were pear, apple and figs.
I remember when we moved when I was 11 - my mother had been living in the same house for about 30 years, and couldn't bear to leave everything behind.  I can remember that she wanted to bring at least one of everything she had.  The house we moved into had a BIG yard, but lots of pine tree - not good for growing things, but if anyone could make something grow, it was my mother.  So, that was my start, helping my grandmother and my mother in the yard.  Neither of them were much for flower "beds". I think they both saw the entire yard as theirs......