Page 84 - February Sun Rays
P. 84
A World
in Bloom
By Hank Ziegler
PHOTOS COURTESY OF HANK ZIEGLER
Vun Ziegler has adored flowers all her life. Here in Sun City Texas, she puts her passion into practice, working hard to keep
her garden in bloom all year long.
If you know Vun Ziegler, you’re likely an opportunity to grow her own flowers When we moved to the United States,
aware of her “growing” passion for – in the desert, of all places! Even then, Vun’s green thumb came with her. We
flowers. Even the word passion may we were not able to move into a house bought a one and a half acre lot in Lake-
not be the correct word. Obsession? Yes, with yard space until 1985 due to my way, Texas, covered in woods so dense we
it has always been that way. Where there company’s housing allocation system. could barely walk through it. In just a few
were flowers, there was Vun. Once we did, however, it was game on. years, however, it had become the floral
paradise everyone had begun to expect
When I first saw Vun walking the flower- Our assigned yard caretaker began from Vun. From Texas it was on to Fall-
strewn streets of Vietnam in 1969, I planting the occasional flower here and brook, California, where we purchased a
noticed the light in her eyes as she took there - basic stuff for the region – and Vun spread overlooking the avocado farms in
in the aroma and sights of thousands of jumped right in. With seeds brought back the valley. While I tended the groves and
blooms of all varieties. Many she knew from the U.S., plants from local markets enhanced the landscaping, Vun made the
by name. This was at the Tet (Chinese and lots of support from the local Aramco flowers bloom and the yard come to life.
New Year) celebration in Saigon and Landscaping crews, Vun began to trans-
probably among the happiest moments form our yard from a barren desert scape Eventually we found ourselves moving
for a big-city girl. to an oasis everyone in our community back to Texas as we headed to our final
was talking about. A sign reading “Yard destination, Sun City. When we moved
For all her love of flowers, for many years of the Month” soon became a permanent into Neighborhood 46 in 2008, Vun wast-
Vun was unable to actually get her hands fixture in the front of our house. Yard of ed no time before beginning her botanic
“dirty” in the garden. It wasn’t until 1979, the Year honors were always a given - not transformation process once again. In a
when we moved to Dhahran, Saudi Ara- bad for a community with 12,000 homes! short time, our simple house had turned
bia, that Vun was finally provided with
82 | SUNRAYS FEBRUARY 2017 ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
