One cold, late-summer day, I removed a number of droopy annuals to plant herbs that had been in pots since Lynn, our daughter-in-law, gave them to me for my June birthday, which at that time of the year every available space in the flower beds are filled.

I didn't know which were winter hardy and which were not as I had mislaid the tags with the needed information. To be on the safe side I planted and mulched all of them.

While I did this spot of gardening in a cold wind, I thought of how dumb I was to be digging in the dirt and being worried about the herbs surviving the winter.

Maybe my thoughts ran in that direction because I can't shed my British roots where Christmas roses, Wallflowers and pansies bloom during the island's mild winter temperatures and Privet, Laurel and Holly bushes are green through every season.

I didn't do a lot of gardening in my homeland except for helping my sister Diana plant miniature gardens in wood boxes that our Dad made.

He nailed together narrow, wood slats to make a box about 14 by 20 inches.

My picture of him standing by a bench holding slats together and from his lips taking one tiny tack at a time to secure the corners is clear yet today. To help us get started Dad layered the bottom of the boxes with soil.

Diana, 18 months my senior, had a good eye for design so had the role of supervisor.

I had the role of errand girl which I liked. She sent me looking for moss to cover the soil for miniature lawns and I scoured our gravel pathway to find tiny flat pebbles to make curved pathways which meandered through ridges of dirt, elevated for flower beds.

In a field beyond our back garden fence wild flowers grew in abundance.

My sister, the landscaper, suggested that I crawl through a hole in the fence to look for blue birds eye, scarlet pimpernel, pale blue forget-me-knots, shepherds purse and small creeper-like weeds that would be perfect for the miniature landscaping.

She ordered small, wild yarrow ferns, that a child's fingers could easily handle and she planted them under the imaginary trees of rosemary, sage and sprigs of lavender.

A saucer from our doll's tea set served as a lily pond and white daisies floated on the surface that we pretended were water lilies.

Our box garden didn't need to be watered every day as rain showers pass overhead at least once a day in that country during the summer. Most winter days are damp and temperatures seldom drop below freezing.

Knowing that some of the herbs I planted wouldn't make it through Montana's winter made me think of those long ago summer days when Diana and I made box gardens that would survive outside until the following spring.