There’s a line
In the title song of Camelot
That rings in my head
This time of year.
“It’s May
It’s May
The lusty month of May.”
I’m pretty sure they were singing
About a garden.
Iris
Peony
And Roses
Are hitting their stride
Just in time for Mother’s Day.
So sharing seems like
The natural thing to do.
Thanks for coming girls.
Happy Mother’s Day
To every conceivable kind of mother.
Gail
Filed under Flower Arrangements, Garden House, Gardening, Gardening Friends, Generations, Iris, Mother's Day, Peonies, roses, Uncategorized
It’s been a glorious weekend here.
70 degree days
Lots of sunshine.
We are told tomorrow
Will be another story.
This on again off again weather
Has given me the chance to do
Some important fall chores.
So let’s just call this
The weekend of shoveling.
On Saturday I purchased
15 – 40 pound bags of manure
That’s 600 pounds!
I’ve developed a great system
Have it loaded into the back of my SUV
At the store.
When I get home
I just wheel the wheelbarrow
Up to the back of the car.
Split the bag open
And slip it into the wheelbarrow.
I never have to lift one of those big bags.
Then I just shovel 4 – 5 shovels full
Onto each Rose, Hydrangea and Hosta
In my garden.
It does two things.
Provides winter protection.
Serves as a slow fertilizer
Come Spring.
It also makes you a little tired
And sore.
You also may find
A few more Easter Eggs.
But by Sunday afternoon
I’d recovered enough
To attack the compost pile.
All those leaves, garden clippings and food scraps
Turn into a rich garden amendment
By fall.
So I got out my handy little shovel
And scooped it into my wheelbarrow
Spreading it onto the garden.
I got about 1/4th of it done today.
There is still more shovel time
In my future.
Having the right equipment
Makes chores like this
A lot easier.
Years ago John gave me this little shovel.
For Mother’s Day.
Last summer he snapped the handle
On the original.
He quickly replaced it.
A small shovel is a real help
For a gardener’s back.
I did have a friend to help me
With all the shoveling.
This giant praying mantis reappeared.
I first met it a few weeks ago
When it landed on my dahlias.
Now it seems to be scurrying around
Looking for a place to hide out
For the winter.
This is not the glamorous side of gardening.
It doesn’t make for lots of
Pretty pictures.
But digging in the earth
Playing in the dirt
Is the beginning of any garden
And perhaps a new gardener.
Photo credit Kristina Wynne
Gail
P.S. Thank you to everyone who has kindly mentioned the Oklahoma Gardening video of my garden house. My favorite comment was from my friend Kay…”I’ve never seen it so clean.” How true that is!
I bought these little enameled vases
Years ago
At “Crazy Days”
And only remember using them once.
Until Harper and Henry discovered them
One Easter.
They spent most of that Friday
Snapping off tulips
To make “rrangements”.
So, of course, I had to send some home with them.
Later that year when I visited.
I noticed these little vases all over their house
They were constantly changing the flowers
Kids love to pick flowers
And they seldom leave enough stem
To actually put in a vase.
So these tiny renditions
Were just the ticket.
Kids also learn by watching.
And they have a splendid example
Of arranging in their mother.
In all the years of their marriage
There are always flower arrangements around
When we visit.
In the guest room
On the fireplace mantel
And kitchen window sill
Along with the dining table.
The kids have picked up on this
Often having flowers in their room.
Luckily, Elliott is good at growing flowers
Supplying dahlias and roses and hydrangeas
All season long.
It’s the simple things
That we often remember about our childhoods.
The smell of my mother’s pies in the oven.
The warmth of the fire that my father
Built each winter day.
Standing over my grandmother’s floor furnace
Making my night gown into a warm balloon.
The roses at her front door.
I’m thankful for the memories
That Kristina and Elliott are creating
For their family.
And happy that flowers are part of those memories.
Happy Mother’s Day
Gail
Filed under Children in the Garden, Dahlias, Flower Arrangements, Gardening, Grandchildren, Gratitude, Hydrangea, roses, Uncategorized, Vases
You may not know this
But there are two “gardening deadlines”
Here in my Zone 7 garden
That fall on the 4th of July.
I’ve learned over the years
That the 4th of July is the last time
To plant Zinnias for fall bloom.
I know
Most of you planted yours weeks
If not months ago.
In my over-planted piece of this planet
I don’t have space for Zinnias
Until I pull up the Poppies and Larkspur
That have gone to seed.
Yesterday I went a little beyond just pulling up the dead stuff.
I went a little crazy.
My garden is now 11 years old.
As a result
It’s overgrown in may places.
So along with the waning Poppies and Larkspur
I dug up two Rose bushes
About a dozen blue Veronica Spicata
Several white Iris
Some Purple Coneflower
An a lonely Gloriosa Daisy or two.
Normally, I wouldn’t excavate quite so much
Especially since I have no idea who will adopt these plants
So, I’ve taken a new approach.
Let’s call it the “Urban Dumpster Method”.
In cities if you want to get rid of something
Just lean it against your dumpster
It will disappear long before
The Sanitation Department has a chance.
So this afternoon
I put my garden abundance on the curb
With a sign saying
“Free Plants
Take what you want – need a sunny home”.
When I last checked they were all still there.
I’m hoping for a swarm of midnight gardeners.
To take this stuff off my hands.
So I’ll feel good when I attack the rest of the garden
Tomorrow.
The second deadline has to do with mums.
If you have the old-fashioned kind
That grow and grow
This is the time to give them one last
Harsh trim
So that they will be thick and full
Come fall.
May have to fudge on this one a bit.
That’s what I love about gardening.
There’s always grace.
Gail
Fall arrived last week.
It’s the reason I abide summer.
You can’t fully appreciate
These cool crisp sunny days
Unless you have lived through summer.
It’s the same relationship
That spring is to winter.
One of the reason I love life here on the Great Plains
Is that we experience all four season.
Some years
Some seasons more than others.
It’s the change that seems to appeal to me.
And since I spend many days outside
I consider myself to be
An observer of those changes.
So as the season comes to an end
I carry a list of changes
I want to make in my garden in my head.
This weekend I began to work on the list.
John and I both have wanted a lilac for some time.
We’ve planted one
But it seems to be suffering from
“Failure to thrive”.
In this case it’s a lack of sunshine.
I’ve found it a sunnier home
But there’s a rose bush there.
Or at least there was.
This particular rose bush
Is very finicky.
It only blooms
If it’s not too wet
Or not too hot.
Or I threaten to murder it.
So yesterday
After years of fiddling to make it happy
I cut it down
And dug it up.
I know
It’s not a very friendly thing to do.
But I need its sunny home
For the lilac bush.
And there’s time in the fall
To make these changes.
Their lackluster performance
Is fresh on my mind
In the fall.
If I wait till spring
To do the dastardly deed
That “hope of spring” thing
Will fog my fall reality.
All this digging and moving around
Has me thinking about changes in my life as well.
There are times when one thing must end.
In order for something new to have a place to call home.
That’s the trick as life lumbers on.
Making room in your life for change
For the things you learn
And people you meet.
Change brings growth.
If you let it in.
Gail
Filed under Fall, Lilac, roses, Uncategorized
This morning’s sermon was about miracles.
A reminder of those familiar Bible stories
And a challenge to think about miracles
In life today.
For gardeners this is not really a challenge.
We spend our time observing nature
Digging in the dirt
(Sorry Daddy – soil)
And watching what are for me
Miracles everyday.
Who among us can turn this
into this?
Plant a seed or plant
and you end up with this…
or this…
or this…
It can’t possibly be what we do.
I for one, can’t even imagine how this happens
Yet it does.
Season after season.
Year after year.
Now there are weeds along the way.
This particular season it seems to be
Crab grass in my garden
And there are years when
Things don’t go as we hope and plan.
For instance it’s another year of limited hydrangea blooms.
But all in all
The miracles are there
Every day.
We just have to stop
And look
And open ourselves to see them
Everywhere.
Gail
Filed under Clematis, Gloriosa Daisy, Larkspur, Lilies, Miracles, Perennials, Poppy, roses, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Stella d Ora Daylily, Uncategorized
Blogging is a curious adventure.
Some weeks ideas pop into my mind
All week-long.
Other weeks
Like this one
The mind is a void.
Not an idea at all.
So with the clock ticking away
On this Sunday evening.
I simply went into the garden
Breezy evening that it is
And clicked away.
Like any garden stroll
Questions arise.
So tonight
We’ll just do a little review
Of what’s blooming.
And ask a few questions
That popped into my mind.
The roses continue to bloom
And thrill my soul.
The staples in my garden
Are Katy Road Pink
And Belinda’s Dream.
But this week
Some new and old friends
Have been making me smile.
In my quest to add yellow roses
Sorry Daddy (he disliked yellow roses)
Julia Child is happily blooming away.
Then two that I dug and brought
From my old garden
Are the best they have ever been.
If only I knew their name.
.
It’s poppy season here.
And the rosy red ones that dot my garden
Remind me of my neighbor Patti
And the fun we had gardening
Back and forth over the fence
That attempted to divide our yards.
I can’t look at a poppy or a lady bug
Without smiling and remembering Patti.
Now for the questions
What’s the deal with the Redbud trees?
The are loaded
No, over loaded with seed pods.
So much so that the branches are
Hanging even lower than usual.
It seems to be a good year for seed pods
Not only Redbuds
But the Silver Leaf Maple has produced
Enough “helicopters” to replant
The southern plains.
So…did you ever wonder
Why columbine has these funny little
Spear like things coming off
The back of the bloom?
I’m not sure I really want to know the answer
To my questions.
You see
I love the mystery.
Of nature
And of life.
Gail
Filed under Columbine, Gardening, Redbud Trees, roses, spring
Every time I looked at my garden this week.
Alan Lerner’s words from Camelot
Kept going through my head.
“It’s May, It’s May
The LUSTY month of May.”
And lusty it is.
Roses
Peonies
Iris
Columbine
Allium
I don’t know how Mother Nature pulls it off
But every year on Mother’s Day
My garden hits its spring stride.
There is still much to come
But this week
It’s glorious.
With lots of blousy blooms.
Perhaps it’s Mother Nature’s way
Of honoring mothers.
Those who nurture
And prod
And encourage things to grow.
Happy Mother’s Day
Gail
Four generations of the women of my family circa early 1950’s
You may recall that spring was a bit late this year.
With four freezes continuing through the end of April.
We had a late start to the season.
That’s why I have reveled in this glorious fall.
Endless days of crisp air
And sunshine
And all this color.
I knew it would eventually freeze.
But I am grateful for the “catch up” time
Mother Nature has given us.
Last week it did finally freeze.
Not a light frosting
But what we gardeners call
A “killing freeze”.
I did pick
Green tomatoes.
The last batch of produce for Loaves & Fishes.
The last roses of summer.
And cosmos.
And hydrangea.
But a hard freeze is inevitable.
Necessary really.
We need things to die
So that we can clean up
And put our child to bed.
Mounding it all up to compost
So that we can return it to the earth.
But before I can even begin to think about all of that
I have to finish planting
ALL THESE BULBS!!!
What was I thinking?
So on Saturday
I began.
Digging trenches
One section at a time
Along the path
Leading to the garden house.
Then over planting
With Pansies.
Now I won’t bore you with the details
Since it’s the same process
We walked through
In the front
A few weeks ago.
But I will tell you
I’m glad to have it done.
It’s a big job
That needs a chunk of time.
Pulling up
Cockscomb, cosmos, tomatoes and peppers
Can be done in small snippets of time.
As is the case in most years
I was ready for the freeze.
To rest.
Gail
The last rose of summer.
Filed under cockscomb, Compost, Cosmos, Fall, Fall Vegetables, Flower Arrangements, Gardening, Green Tomatoes, Hydrangea, Peppers, roses, Uncategorized
This morning our minister, Andrew, spoke about gratitude.
This afternoon I’ve been puttering away in my garden.
A place where it’s almost impossible not to feel grateful.
And I am.
For the glorious weather we have been having.
For the gift of fall roses
That seem a bit different from their spring sisters.
Perhaps they’re a little sturdier knowing that
They are among the last of the season.
For the abundance of tomatoes
Both green
And ripened.
For peppers that take all season to grow.
And come into their own as others fade.
After all, if I were a pepper
I’d wait till all that squash finished showing off
Before I made my appearance.
And you can’t write about gratitude this time of year
Without talking about dahlias.
They are among the most amazing of all the things I grow.
And yes, I’m even grateful for cockscomb.
But…
As glorious as this day has been.
And as giving as my garden continues to be.
It pales in comparison to my friend Suellen.
Last week after 11 years of silence.
The miracle of the Cochlear implant was turned on for her.
And she can hear.
Think of it.
The voices of young grandchildren she had never heard.
Birds singing
Crickets
Music
Even traffic.
There’s likely no one else I know
Who’s more grateful tonight.
There’s a community of those who care about you
Who are grateful to the bone.
Gail
In My Garden 