It’s a holiday weekend.
Cooler than usual
For Labor Day.
So I think instead of taking time
Out of the garden
To write.
I’ll just take a short
Blog break.
Be back soon.
Happy gardening.
Gail
MAXINE’S VASE
If you are going to grow flowers
You’ll eventually need a vase
Or two………….dozen.
Somewhere over the last few decades
I developed the habit
Of finding old vases
At garage sales
And estate sales.
At first I wanted crystal vases.
That’s what my mother had
And now her vases grace my dining room china cabinet.
Mother loved crystal.
And so do I.
Then early in our marriage
John & I ventured to Europe.
Where we discovered pottery
In Florence
And Barcelona
And lugged a bit of it home.
But my vase collecting
Really kicked in after we settled in here
And began to make connections with people
Of all ages.
Many of these were women I knew from church.
It seems when you’re a Presbyterian in these parts.
You have a long
And interesting life.
So as these and other ladies around town died
I would go to their estate sale
And find a single thing
That would remind me of them.
The first was this vase
From Gladys.
Gone now probably 30 years
I still remember her spunky nature.
Eventually I focused my purchases
On painted pottery from the 40’s and 50’s
McCoy is the best known brand
Thus you can find many knock offs
Of their soft color palette.
I’m partial to white, yellow, soft blue and lime green.
My mother in law’s blue pitcher is a favorite
Along with a yellow vase my friend Marilyn
Brought from her mother’s home in Louisiana.
Then there is this terrific lime green Claire Lerner
That I found at a neighbor’s garage sale
At a cost of $1.25!
I have two rules.
Don’t go crazy on price $10. – $15.
Is usually my max.
And you have to know where you are going to store it
Before you bring it home.
The second rule has forced me to slow down a bit
Since my garden house cupboards are filling up.
So it was this history
That followed me to the estate sale of
My friend, my neighbor, my fellow Presbyterian
And wise women extraordinaire
Maxine Sanford Austin.
Maxine died this year at the age of 102.
Her life
And her home
Were filled with treasures.
She was a poet
A teller of tales
A loyal friend
And fiercely opinionated.
I just loved her.
When she married in 1933
Her mother made her wedding veil.
Long and trailing
With lace flowers embroidered on it.
Her daughter Ann wore it in 1961
And Maxine wore it when she married again in 1993…
At the age of 80 something!
She was both traditional
And non traditional
All rolled into one.
It took me three trips of wondering through her home
To find my memory memento of Maxine.
I can’t tell you anything about this particular vase
I’m guessing it was from her mother’s travels.
She told me once that after her father died
Her mother began traveling around the world.
It’s very different from any other vase I own.
Doesn’t fit the mold.
Won’t have a shelf of similar stuff to join.
It’s unique.
It’s Maxine.
AWARENESS
by Maxine Sanford Austin
In every day we have, dear Lord,
Let us truly see
The things we should:
The flight of bee.
The flash of bird,
Sun on a brilliant flower,
Then thunder heard
Before a sudden shower.
In all things, dear Lord,
Let us truly know
That this is Thy World
And in our actions show
That we truly know.
Thanks Maxine,
Gail
CLEANING HOUSE
Every gardener needs an unkept place.
A place to park your wheelbarrow,
And the city composting bins
And the stack of bricks
Leftover from the patio remodel.
And my compost tumbler
And the old potting bench
Lovingly built by John
Years ago at my first big garden.
And miscellaneous clay and plastic pots.
For me it’s the area behind my garden house.
And it really needed a good cleaning.
So this was the weekend.
It’s actually driven by the fact that
My garden house floor is littered with
Larkspur, Poppy and Hollyhock stems
That have been drying out for several weeks.
You see if you compost them when you first cut them back
You’ll be very sorry.
Seeds don’t actually break down in my compost
It just never gets hot enough.
So I dry out the stems and thus the seed pods.
Shake them out good
And save the seeds.
Only then is it safe to compost the stems.
If you do this too early
You’ll have compost full of seeds
Which will be like seeding your garden to Larkspur
Or Poppies or Cockscomb come fall.
When your garden is new
That’s not such a bad thing.
But if you keep doing that
Year after year.
Oh my
So the garden version of Dominoes began
On Saturday morning.
In order to make room in this area
For all this dried stuff.
It went like this.
Load up and haul away 2 years of plastic flats and little pots.
Luckily my favorite green house – the Garden House
Reuses these so I don’t have to add to the land fill.
Take bags of last spring’s leaves
To Loaves & Fishes for their new garden beds.
Thankfully John has learned never to put leaves on the curb.
They will find their composting home sooner or later.
Then dig up compost and take it to where I’ll be testing out
A fall vegetable garden spot.
Plant lettuce in the empty spaces
Along the edge of the garden.
Move some of those leftover brick to finally finish out my path.
How excited will the kids be next Easter
When they discover they can walk the path
Through the garden – end to end.
I haven’t had a day this productive
In months.
Tired hands.
Tired body.
Now this kind of work
Doesn’t really make for pretty garden pictures.
So I’ll just dot in a few
Without any real connection.
But as always
There seems to be a lesson here.
The beauty of a garden begins
Deep within the soil
Waiting for someone to come along
To care for it.
To nurture it.
To bless it.
Just like people.
Gail
Dahlia in Elliott & Kristina’s Garden
Filed under cockscomb, Compost, Dahlias, Dead Heading, Fall Vegetables, Garden House, Gloriosa Daisy, hollyhocks, Larkspur, late summer garden, Lettuce, Poppy, Seeds, Uncategorized
We moved into this house 9 years ago this summer.
It was a very busy summer.
It began with my father’s Memorial Day visit to the emergency room
Followed by his quadruple bypass surgery the next week.
Daddy and his grandsons on his 85th birthday
Two weeks later Elliott and Kristina were married.
Two weeks after that we moved here.
By August I was unpacked
But far from settled.
My memory is it was a cool August.
Much like this year.
I had moved my house
And since I work at home
My office had come along.
The only thing left behind
Was my garden.
Kind of.
Earlier that spring
Before we put our old house on the market.
I had dug up about 1/2 of my garden
And planted it in a borrowed bed.
My old friend and new next door neighbor Patti
Was graciously loaning me a flower bed
At her house.
It was packed with plants
I was anxious to put in their permanent home.
But it was after all August.
And our “new old” house
Didn’t have a single flower bed.
The back yard was a blank slate.
We had big plans to add beds
But not until the next spring.
So it was my first summer in decades
Without a garden.
A slight depression began to set in.
I was understandably tired
With no place to contemplate it all.
Nothing to lose myself in.
No garden for my quiet conversations with God.
Then one day hope arrived.
I stepped out the back door
Rounded the corner of the house
There they were
With no warning
Right in the middle of the yard.
Surprise Lilies
Alias Naked Ladies.
I’d seen them around town
But never had planted any.
What a gift.
Though I’m sure the saying
“Hope springs eternal” is true.
In my case it’s more like
“Hope sprouts eternal”
Gail
SHARING SEASON
Gardeners are known for sharing.
They love to share
Information
Plants
Flowers
Seeds
Cuttings
And, of course, the bounty of their gardens.
Zucchini comes to mind.
For me it’s all of the above
But mostly flowers.
I have long contended that flowers
“Are food for the soul”.
That we need flowers
Just like we need food.
I think this goes back to college
And John.
When we first began dating
He brought me flowers several times a week
For months on end.
The most spectacular was that first spring.
He brought me an enormous bouquet
Of Iris.
Years later I realized that florists don’t sell that kind of Iris.
You know them – German Bearded Iris.
The kind that grow in little old ladies gardens
In college towns.
I’m not sure she intended to share!
His choice of vases was most unique.
A plastic pumpkin
Left from Halloween.
Simply had to marry the guy after that!
And so in the ensuing 40+ years
I’ve made it a point to make bouquets
And spread them around.
I’m pleased to say that Elliott and Kristina
Are carrying on the same tradition.
Kristina rarely leaves home for an evening with friends.
Without a bouquet in tow.
And she always has fresh flowers throughout their home
When we come to visit.
I must confess here that this year my bouquets are going
Not to individuals so much
As to places.
On Saturday I pluck whatever is happy
For church on Sunday.
Then during the week
Loaves & Fishes gets a bouquet.
A cheerful greeting for the volunteers
And clients who come in need of help feeding their families.
Now all of this is well and good.
Lovely really
But it doesn’t hold a candle to the real pros
When it comes to sharing from your garden.
Those of you who focus on vegetables
Leave the rest of us in the shade.
Just this week
Kelly came by with a basket of green beans.
Yum!
Earlier in the week the Koehns
Brought tons of cucumbers and squash of all sorts
To Loaves & Fishes.
Mitch brought squash, too
Ann gave her weekly supply of basil
And assorted veggies.
Then yesterday the fun and lively members of the Freed family
Called at the end of the Farmers Market
To donate what was left to Loaves & Fishes
I met them there.
Their 4 sons, daughter and her friend
Unloaded hundreds of pounds of freshly picked produce
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Peppers
Eggplant
Squash
After working at their produce stand all morning.
They loved the cooler.
What a great family
Working together
Laughing
Sharing
Those are lucky kids.
I know
I come from the same kind of family
And it has painted my life
With sharing.
Gail
Early 1950’s
Filed under Basil, Bouquets, Farmer's Market, Flower Arrangements, Gardening Friends, Herbs, Iris, Uncategorized, Vegetables
HALF TIME
If you count the days between
The last freeze of winter
And the first freeze of fall
You will find that we are at half time
Of the gardening year
Here in zone 7
So is the season half over?
Do we just maintain from here on in?
Cup half empty.
Or do we revel in the days to come?
Cup half full.
If you look closely
You’ll find that some things
Are just beginning
Or beginning again.
For instance.
I don’t plant my Zinnias
Until the Larkspur and Poppies
Have died and made room for them
So they are just beginning to bud out.
The Arugula on the other hand.
Has gone to seed
Giving me a second crop.
Which is great
Since I’m a fan of Arugula
Tomatoes are ripening on the vine
Except for the ones my nighttime visitors
Have dined on.
But volunteer tomatoes
Are just beginning to bloom and set fruit.
And because we are having a great summer
Eight inches of rain in July!
The roses are budding and blooming.
Dahlias are equally happy
And Cleome has re-seeded itself
After those dastardly harlequin shield bugs a few years back.
Earlier in the spring I cut the tall garden phlox back
And it has paid me back with lush blooms.
They came a little later
But it was worth the wait.
And of course the Cockscomb
Is beginning its takeover of the garden.
And Peg spends endless hours in the garden
Doing what we have dubbed
“Bugging”
She loves the hunt.
So here we are at half time
Enjoying the view.
Yes, there is much that can be done.
Much that actually needs to be done.
But for now I’m just taking it in
Knowing that there is much more to come
Much more to give.
Gail
PS. If you have extra garden produce please drop it by Loaves & Fishes Monday, Wednesday or Friday 9 – 12 or call for special drop off times. With kids out of school we are seeing more and more people in need of food. And what’s better than fresh garden produce shared.
MARY, MARTHA & BUMBLEBEES
It’s been a glorious week here for gardening.
Imagine.
Mid-July
Three days of rain.
Slow soaking
Drenching
RAIN
Cool crisp mornings
And bike riding evenings.
Which, of course, leads to weeding.
The ground is soft and willing
To let the weeds go.
What joy.
All of this means that I’ve spent the week
Crawling around my garden
Pulling weeds.
It’s amazing the difference a week can make in a garden.
And I only spent a few evenings
And Saturday there.
From my ground level vantage point
I’ve noticed that this year
It seems that lots of Bumblebees
Have decided to call my space home.
During this morning’s sermon on Martha and Mary
It occurred to me that Bumblebees are the blend
Of these two sisters
That Andrew, our minister, was encouraging us to strive for.
They are known for their Martha like busyness.
Buzzing about all day.
Even major pieces of music have been composed
And played and played
About the busyness of the Bumblebee.
They have work to do
And they do it.
Constantly.
Or maybe not.
I’ve noticed this week
That they also rest.
I have found them during the middle of the day
Being Mary
Nestled into an east facing Hollyhock blossom.
Sheltered from the afternoon sun.
I imagine that they sleep there as well.
But the place I most often find them
Is fast asleep in the spent blooms
Of the Disco Belle Hibiscus.
I have a habit of walking through my garden
First thing in the morning.
As I walk I often deadhead a bit.
Popping off spent blooms here and there.
But I’ve learned that morning is not the time
To deadhead these perennial Hibiscus.
Here they start blooming around the 4th of July.
And if you deadhead consistently and properly
You’ll have some blooms through Labor Day.
And these are BLOOMS.
The size of dinner plates.
But they only last one day.
And as they close their petals
At the end of their single day of glory
They create a soft cocoon.
That Bumblebees consider
A perfect bed and breakfast.
They seems to have struck
A balance in their life.
Doing the work that God created them to do.
And just “beeing”.
Enjoy the week in your garden.
Gail
Filed under Bugs, Bumblebee, cleome, Dahlias, Dead Heading, Gardening, Gardening;Perennials, Hardy Hibiscus, hollyhocks, Larkspur, Uncategorized
The Untended Garden
I have often wondered how long a garden lasts
When there is no one there to tend it?
A season?
Maybe two?
I’ve come close to getting my answer this spring.
I’ve spent very little time in my garden
Since May
And…well…it’s a mess.
Oh, not to the casual observer
But to me
The gardener
Who knows the bones and body of this place
It’s a mess.
The larkspur is well past its prime.
And should be long gone.
In this year where everything is about 2 weeks late
Cockscomb is all ready starting to bud and bloom
Crab grass and clover think they’ve died and gone to heaven
Because I’ve let them grow
Unfortunately.
There’s a forest of baby trees.
Mimosa, Elm, Maple and Pecan
Planted by well meaning squirrels last winter.
And so you lovers of mulch
Are likely wagging your “I told you so” finger at me.
Remembering the tough stance I took on the stuff last week.
But the truth is for me
Well, I’m standing my ground
Even at this stage of disarray!
Here’s why.
I rely on a variety of self seeding annuals to give my garden
That lush cottage feel.
We’ve talked about them before
Poppies, Larkspur, Hollyhocks
And the 3 C’s Cleome, Cosmos and Cockscomb.
Without them I would find myself needing a lot more perennials.
Now I love them all
But to have so much renew itself each year
Is a strong statement of life.
If I covered my garden with inches of wood chips.
Few of these seeds would work their way into the soil
And grow and bloom.
So what do I do to prevent those much maligned weeds.
Nothing.
I don’t use a pre-emergent
And I don’t mulch.
I accept them as part of this creation
I don’t plant them
But they just keep coming
So there must be some reason for them.
And I think I’ve finally figured it out.
They are there to slow me down.
To make me sit in my garden
And pull weeds.
You really can’t see the details
And touch the earth
Unless you sit
And dig
And pull
Disturbing the soil along the way
Just long enough to experience
The life within.
Gail
Filed under cleome, cockscomb, Cosmos, Gardening;Perennials, hollyhocks, Larkspur, Poppy, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Shasta Daisy, Uncategorized
GYPSY GARDENER
I’ve been reading a great gardening book
“Grass Roots Gardening”
By Donna Schaper
It’s a quick read
Packed with thought provoking words of wisdom
She is described as:
“Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church
Mother of three children
Author of 28 books
And happiest when she is in her garden.”
She has introduced me to the idea of being
A “Gypsy Gardener”
You see she has found herself gardening
All over the country.
From Arizona to New England
To Florida to Minnesota.
She has covered the country with her gardens.
This is a great read.
I found my copy on the close out table.
Find it and buy it.
I finished her book this week while vacationing
In Colorado
And as it happens
I got to garden there.
I’ve learned a lot in these few short days
Of high desert gardening.
One – don’t get gardening advice from the Big Box Stores.
Me: “What is the USDA zone for this area?”
Big Box Employee: “Western”
Me: “No it’s a number.”
BBE: ” Oh 7.”
Me: “I don’t thinks so Oklahoma is a 7.”
BBE: “We have a lot of varying weather here”
Seriously!
Time to move on.
So I just started digging.
Here’s the problem
Mulch
Inches and inches of cedar mulch.
Now, I usually try to not get too opinionated in our weekly visits
But, I’m about to go off the deep end on the subject of cedar mulch
So if you are a big fan of the stuff
I’d suggest you just stop reading now
And tune back in next week
When I’ve put my high horse
Back in the barn.
So let’s talk mulch.
I have long held the theory that cedar mulch is part of
A “great cosmic commercial gardening conspiracy.”
Think about it.
Convincing homeowners all over this country
That each year they should buy bags and bags and bags
Of commercially produced mulch
Now forget that they never tell you that
As the mulch decomposes it will zap every bit of nitrogen from your precious soil.
And all kinds of ants and other not so great insects love this stuff.
My theory has always been
That if I – a living thing – don’t want to live under it
Why would any living thing.
Like a prized perennial.
The thing is this new garden that I was digging in this week
Is covered with no less than 4 – 5 inches of cedar mulch.
I’m told a heavy layer has been added each spring for years.
“Keeps the weeds out and the moisture in.”
They say.
Except that as I began to work I discovered that the mulch is so heavy
That the rain and irrigation water only go as deep as THE MULCH.
The soil is as dry as can be.
And there were weeds
Mostly grass and not overwhelming,
But weeds.
And forget worms.
In three days of digging I only found 5 worms.
Not good.
Though I did meet a fox
Up close
And Peg met a deer.
So I set about removing years of bad gardening decisions.
Mulch is gone
Mushroom compost added
Probably not enough
But it’s a start.
I bought a few perennials that I can’t grow at home
Delphinium, Iceland Poppies and Lupine.
And planted Arugula and Mixed Salad Greens
Which will probably be eaten by the deer
Before I have a chance to return and make a yummy salad.
And with much of the mulch now history
Perhaps seeds from the existing perennials
Or those I bring from my first love
My home garden
Will have a chance of filling in the blank spaces
And making this mountain garden
Look more like an actual garden
And less like a Mad Men ad for mulch.
So my advice for this week is
Buy the book
Forget the cedar mulch.
Pretty simple.
It will be safe for all to return next week.
Till then
Happy digging.
Gail
P.S. Next week if I remember we’ll talk about what I do in place of mulch.
Wouldn’t want to leave you hanging.
Filed under Delphinium, Gloriosa Daisy - Rudbeckia, Lettuce, Peonies, Perennials, Poppy, Uncategorized
SEEDS – THE BEGINNING & THE END
My father often told me that he didn’t want to slow down as he aged.
Mother and Daddy riding in a parade circa 1962
Parkinson’s Disease forced him to
But it wasn’t his idea.
He would say
“If I sit down I’ll go to seed.”
Time and Parkinson’s won out
And his life slowly wound down.
But never completely
He conducted a meeting about the future of public education in Oklahoma
On the Thursday before he died the next Tuesday.
He got his wish
He never went to seed.
But going to seed is a natural event in a garden.
Flowers come from seed
And most go back there sometime during the season.
That process has begun in my garden
The “going to seed” sequence
Follows the blooming sequence
So since Poppies are the first
Of the “self seeding annuals” to bloom
They are the first to go to seed.
So the process looks something like this
Bud
Bloom
Seed Pod
Dried Seed Pod
Seed
Next spring it will begin again.
This week it’s the Larkspur’s turn
I know
It’s late
But remember that the season
Could be as much as 1 month behind normal.
So the Larkspur blooms have begun to turn
To seed pods.
I’ll let some dry out in the ground
But not all.
I can’t imagine how much Larkspur there would be
If I let it all “go to seed”.
So I’ve begun the process of pulling up Larkspur
And laying it on the garden house floor
To dry
So that I have seeds to share
With anyone who would like some.
And what goes in the space created
When I pull up the Poppies and Larkspur?
What else but
Zinnia and Cosmos seeds.
They will go through the same bud, bloom and seed process
During the second half of the season
Hollyhocks
Cleome
And crazy Cockscomb
Will follow.
These are the things that give my garden that look of abundance.
They fill in between all the flowering shrubs and perennials.
So, though the actual plant dies after one season
The seeds fall to the ground
Waiting patiently for the next year.
Popping up in new and unexpected places.
Teaching me each season.
It’s the cycle of nature
A going backward
So that we can go forward.
Nature
Pay attention to it.
Take time to observe it.
It has much to teach us.
Gail
Filed under cleome, cockscomb, Cosmos, Gardening, Gardening;Perennials, hollyhocks, Larkspur, Perennials, Poppy, roses, Seeds, self seeding annuals, spring, Uncategorized, Zinnia
In My Garden 