Monthly Archives: May 2013

May 27, 2013 · 4:58 pm

SEEING DIFFERENTLY

After gardening for decades

I think of myself as fairly attuned to nature.

Observant of it’s changes.

Aware of it’s endless offerings.

Then came last weekend.

Sunday morning

Just as I’m heading off to the shower

The phone rings.

It’s Christianne with news.

Our annual outdoor worship service

Has been moved inside.

The weather is a little unpredictable.

So…could I make two flower arrangements for the front of the church.

This is my normal pattern but put on hold this week.

Since we planned to worship

Under the canopy of that great

American Elm tree on the front lawn of the church.

The cool late spring.

Combined with high winds and rains on Saturday

Had left me we very few blooms.

But I told Christianne I’d give it a shot.

Two days before we both had endless Viburnum blooms.

Now we had what she describes as “snow”

Created from fallen petals.

I didn’t have much time

Or many flowers

But out I go in hopes of finding some protected blooms

On the Viburnum.

No such luck,

It looks nothing like it had the week before.

But as I looked a little closer

And found that though the petals have fallen

What’s left is just as beautiful

And makes a great flower arrangement as well.

What a lesson.

Look beyond what you normally see

Look deeper

There is beauty there

There is life

There are lessons to be taught

And learned.

Within 24 hours

The skies would darken over our beloved state.

Several communities would be hit

By tornados more powerful than we have ever known

26 people including 10 children would lose their lives.

Thousands of people would lose their homes

They will spend weeks

Sorting through the rubble

Looking for bits and pieces of what we call their lives.

But they have learned to see differently

Look beyond what they lost

And focus on what they have.

There is beauty there

There is life.

And gratitude.

Gail

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Filed under Tornado, Uncategorized, Viburnum

May 19, 2013 · 1:33 pm

50 SHADES OF……PURPLE!

It is amazing to me

How each spring

The same plants emerge from their winter’s sleep

To create my garden

And yet

Each spring

I am surprised by what happens

In my own backyard.

This year

This “I can’t believe how late spring is” year

I am struck by the seemingly endless shades

Of purple.

I know that I have 2 new shades

Of purple Iris.

Plus the standard deep purple

And it seems the Columbine

Has a trifecta of purple.

Then there is my mystery wild Orchid

And the last of the Violas

Before the heat of summer knocks them out

There’s a rich purple in this year’s

Mixed Lettuce greens.

And a new purple in the Alliums

Planted last fall

After seeing Kristina’s great Allium seed pods.

I also have a new lilac bush

Small…but covered with blooms.

Add to them the purple Rose I planted last year

Could it be

That purple is the “new pink”

Of my early spring garden?

Not for long

Peonies and Roses can’t be far behind!

Enjoy the week,

Gail

3 Comments

Filed under Allium, Columbine, Gardening, Gardening;Perennials, Iris, Lettuce, Peonies, Perennials, roses, Spring Flowering Bulbs, Uncategorized, Viola, Violets

May 13, 2013 · 3:24 am

VIBURNUM

My current garden is my 2nd perennial garden.

We moved into this house shortly after

I quit designing garden for other people

So I brought with me all of that experience

Mistakes and good ideas

Successes and failures.

This garden is bigger than any other I’ve had

So I made the conscious decision

To use more flowering shrubs.

And as is typical in spring

Every week something new would bloom

And I’d go out and buy 3 of them!

There was method to my madness

Flowering shrubs take up space

Lots of it

They also give literal armloads of flowers

Which are fun

To cut and share

So the bones of my garden are

Hydrangea & Roses

Lots of these

Because they give you so many blooms

Off and on during the season

There are fewer Peonies

Because they just bloom once.

But who can live without them!

Then there are those early spring-flowering bushes

That take on a life of their own

Forsythia, Quince, Spirea, Lilac

And Viburnum

You may know it as Snowball bush.

That first spring I bought 3

I don’t actually remember where I first planted them

Somewhere in the middle I think

In a sort of triangle.

By the next spring

I realized I had made a mistake

They were going to get too big for their present home.

So we dug them up and moved them.

Now remember that these were all 3 about the same size.

Two were moved to the west gate.

Where they reside today.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Why the left side is not as healthy as the right

Is likely a conversation for another day.

Then there is the third one.

We couldn’t really come up with a logical place for it.

So we just put it in a hole on the far east side of the yard.

Along side of few other “homeless” plants.

We never did find it a real home.

Over the years it has driven me crazy.

I’ve actually wished it would die.

It’s under one of our big old cedar trees

And keeps growing into it.

I’ve whacked away on it

Year after year

Just to keep it kind of under control

Or so I thought

I guess I must have missed its annual haircut last spring.

Because this year

It’s well … GIGANTIC

And loaded with blooms

Which is wonderful

Because with the late spring

My yard has been pretty void of blooms.

So I’ve been cutting and cutting.

Armloads of flowers are such fun

To cut

And share

The stems are woody

So when you cut them

Be sure you either slice or smash them

And feel free to cut away

Because a happy Viburnum

Is a big Viburnum

So why is it that sometimes

The things that annoy us the most

Turn out to be our best friends

When nothing else is blooming!

Enjoy this wonderful weather.

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Bouquets, Forsythia, Garden Planning, Gardening, Gardening;Perennials, Hydrangea, Peonies, Perennials, roses, Snow Ball Bush, Uncategorized, Viburnum

May 5, 2013 · 7:03 pm

MEGAN

A couple of decades ago my job was designing, installing and maintaining perennial flower garden

All around town.

It was fun and very hard work.

During the summer maintenance season

I would hire daughters of friends to help me.

Megan, Cristina and Ashley outlasted them all.

For instance Megan’s sister Katie told me at the end of the first…and only summer for her.

“This has been fun, but I don’t ever want to do this again.”

But it was Megan who just kept coming back.

She worked from Jr. High through High School.

Then in college she would come back each fall to help me plant bulbs.

Even post college she was there for me digging trenches

And burying bulbs.

We’ve had great conversations

That have matured with each year.

We often talked about the garden party I would have for her.

When she married.

Last fall when Megan came for our bulb planting ritual

There was only one subject of conversation

So it was no surprise that at Christmas Megan and JP were engaged.

After years of dreaming about Megan’s wedding and parties

The planning began.

What’s that saying about making plans.

“If you want to make God laugh…tell him your plans.”

Well God must have doubled over with laughter at this one.

Because JP is in the Navy

Scheduling of everything was on Navy time.

In this instance that means fast.

A mid-April wedding was planned not at home

But in Corpus Christi where JP was stationed.

No problem…if there’s anything Megan loves as much as JP and gardens

Its’ the beach

But there was only time and space for family and a few close friends.

No problem…we’ll have a reception here

In my garden

Just like we planned

Sometime in Mid-May when all is happily blooming!

Well…maybe not.

JP and Megan have to be in their new destination by May 6th.

OK we’re flexible

May 2nd it will be.

A simple ice cream social with wedding cakes

Friends and family in attendance for the perfect send off.

Well…maybe not.

The morning of May 2nd brought

Sleet

Rain

Clouds

30 mile an hour north winds

With gusts to 40

OK God I get the idea.

Thankfully for once I half way believed

Our over zealous weather forecaster

And cut every tulip that was blooming

The Saturday before the party.

They spent the week in the safety of my spare refrigerator.

And the day before the party Kay – Megan’s mother suggested

“We might want to go ahead and cut whatever else we need.”

So we cut buckets of Boxwood and Viburnum

And even cut a few Lilacs from Kelly’s yard.

We simply brought the garden indoors.

Now there’s no doubt that I was disappointed

That I couldn’t give Megan the garden party of her dreams.

But here’s the thing.

When Thursday night came.

Megan and JP were beaming

Friends who have watched her grow up

Family who loved her from the moment they knew she was coming into this world.

All of us were there

Eating gelato and wedding cake.

And sending Megan & JP out into the world

Knowing that they are deeply loved.

That they are rooted and grounded in this place with these people.

As my sister Pat said at Elliott & Kristina’s wedding.

“We have loved giving you roots and wings

It is the greatest satisfaction of our lives.

Know that we celebrate with you as you join hands,

Spread your wings and fly.”

Here’s to a happy life Megan

And gardening all over the world.

All my love,

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Bridal Showers, Flower Arrangements, Garden House, Gardening, Gardening Friends, Gardening;Perennials, Perennials, spring, Spring Flowering Bulbs, tulips, Wedding Flowers

Monthly Archives: May 2013

SEEING DIFFERENTLY

50 SHADES OF……PURPLE!

VIBURNUM

MEGAN

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