The rains have continued this week.
So much so that even wooden shovel handles
Are sprouting mushrooms.
Which means the colors just keep getting better.
With the cool cloudy days.
The intensity seems as if we have dialed it up
A notch or two.
One of the things I love about this house and garden
Is that I look out onto the garden
Off and on during my day.
From both the first floor and
My second floor office.
I see if from afar inside the house
And up close as I putter away.
And putter is what I’ve been doing these days.
Still planting
And transplanting.
Deadheading roses and iris and the other early bloomers.
And there is always weeding.
Which I actually enjoy.
I’ve been gardening now for decades.
And every time I walk through it
I’m in awe.
A garden is a place of miracles.
Tiny ones
And great big show offey ones.
And I’m not responsible for a single one.
Enjoy the sunshine and rain.
Gail
Filed under Uncategorized
My part of the world
Has been in a drought
Not a California kind of drought,
But we have been considered Severe or Extreme
For years.
We got our first 3″ rain
Around the first of May.
A rainy day view from the garden house door.
And it’s been raining off and on ever since.
We are now somewhere north of 7 “.
Farm ponds, creeks even lakes and rivers are filling up.
Roses and peonies are blooming wildly.
The vivid colors of iris fill the garden
Cassidy and Sloan came over
To make surprise bouquets for their mom.
Hard to catch these two without one of them being silly…or both.
Next door hundreds of praying mantis were born
To the amazed eyes of a child.
It’s a new beginning.
A second spring if that’s possible.
And what more appropriate weekend than Mother’s Day.
For a new beginning.
They are there at the start of our lives.
Queens of second chances.
But the truth is we don’t get to pick our moms.
I got really lucky in this category.
She taught me well
And was tons of fun along the way.
Mother and Elliott in the early 80’s.
Another mother you don’t get to pick
Is the mother of your grandchildren.
That was Elliott’s choice.
He did good…no great.
Kristina and Elliott have been married almost 11 years now.
They’ve survived graduate school for both of them.
The normal stresses of early marriage
And lots and lots of real life.
They have thrived.
Now they are parents.
Busy parents.
When babies come in twos
It’s all hands on deck
All the time.
Kristina is a wonderful mother.
She is patient
She sees joy in her children
And she’s relaxed
Which is huge in my book.
Motherhood is tricky territory.
It is not what Hallmark wants you to believe it is.
It is demanding, exhausting and rewarding.
The rewards keep coming long after the sleepless nights fade from memory.
But in the trenches that’s far down the road.
So this Mother’s Day
I wish for you Kristina, and mothers of young children
Not a single day, but days and years filled with real life.
Days of joys and challenges and giggles and growth
And love
And peace.
Gail
Filed under Uncategorized
I love my perennial border
For all the color it brings into my life.
The back of my house looks onto my garden
So I look at it off and on all day.
But color in a perennial border
Can be a tricky thing.
You see, unlike annuals
Perennials don’t bloom all summer.
Most bloom for a few weeks
A month
Or maybe several weeks
If I’m attentive to dead-heading.
So summer is a bit of a dance
With colors coming and going.
But May!!!
May is such a gift.
Color everywhere.
Columbine is one of the first to appear.
Then big blousy peonies.
And the flush of rose bushes.
Starting with Katy Road Pink
Followed by Aloha
Belinda’s Dream
And a host of others whose names escape me.
And of course, Iris have their brief but glorious moment in the sun.
With a few Dutch Iris thrown in amongst the lot.
Then there’s this tiny little orchid looking flower
With intense orchid color
Orchid is the Pantone color of the year for 2015
So I’m glad mine are putting on such a show.
Diversity.
It’s one of the keys to a healthy garden.
It’s one of the keys to a healthy world.
Enjoy this glorious week.
Gail
Coming color
Filed under 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
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
It arrived over the weekend.
A bit later than the lunar calendar
But you could feel it in the air
Cool
Crisp
Fall
I love this time of year.
Beginning in August
We can hear the high school band
Practicing each morning
Soon after
It’s the sound of the Friday night football crowd.
Shortly after that
The whistle of the train in the park
Is silenced.
It’s the seasonal rhythm
Of the sounds of my backyard.
The change of season
Is also happening
In my garden.
Monarch butterflies
Stop for nectar
On their way home for the winter.
Others flitter about.
The roses give us another burst of bloom.
Praying mantis appear
Along with some of spring’s lady bugs.
Dahlias are glorious in this weather.
And we all know what happens to cockscomb in the fall.
Basil is reaching for the sky
Which means it’s pesto making time.
Peppers finally begin to come on
And speaking of obstinate vegetables
Tomatoes are happy!
So am I.
Hope you have a happy fall week.
Gail
Filed under Basil, Bugs, Butterflies, cockscomb, Dahlias, Fall, Fall Vegetables, Herbs, Lady Bugs, Peppers, roses, Uncategorized, Vegetables
In My Garden 