What Did You Expect?

We all want to be hopeful. We try to be optimistic. But often it just isn't our nature. I was reminded of this one beautiful, spring afternoon when I worked at a nursery and retail garden center. A customer spread her carefully-chosen selection of plants on the counter in order to pay for her purchase, and confidently stated, "I know I'll kill every single one of these." When I asked her why she would make such a statement, she replied, "Because I've killed every plant I've ever tried to grow. I even killed Kudzu once."

Disturbing the Soil

Occasionally there are those rare years when I can get an early start in my garden, and I can stay on top of things all season.  But those years are few and far between, and this is not one of them.  I tell myself that it's just as well, because if I had done all that work early on, then had experienced the destruction on the spring storms we've had... well, my feelings really would have been hurt.  I don't know that I've ever been more behind on my yard work than I am this year. 

A Job Partially Done

We used to have a beautiful water garden, my husband and I.  But recently we converted it into a planting bed.  I don't know what kind of bed to call it, because it has yet to be planted.  Eventually it may become a perennial bed, but as of this moment we're still in the process of filling in the gaping hole that used to be a one-thousand-plus-gallon pond.

Add Water to Activate

Water is an amazing thing.  Everything on this earth depends on the availability of water in specific amounts.  Its makeup is far beyond my understanding.  Read the nutritional label on any container of commercially bottled water and what do you see?  Nothing.  No calories, no vitamins, no protein, no fiber... none of the things that our bodies need to function properly are listed there.  Yet without it, our bodies could not survive.

Juncus 'Spiralis' (Corkscrew Grass) in water garden

It was during a thorough cleaning of my storage building recently that some of these thoughts of water began to "flood" my mind.  But the thoughts weren't so much of water's life-giving properties as they were of the affects that water has on various things - in particular, a bag of fertilizer.

Back to the Basics

The coldest part of winter has just passed.  I haven't seen many signs of life in my garden for a couple of months.  Now that the weather is beginning to warm somewhat I'm itching to get outside and dig in the dirt.  But at the moment all I can do is gaze out the window and dream of Spring and the gardening I plan to do when the weather is right... or I can start to formulate a plan.

  
By formulating a plan, I mean planning my plant purchases... getting ready to buy.  If you have ever ordered anything from a business that sells plants, or even anything plant-related, you have more than likely landed on a dozen or more mailing lists.  Plant catalogs are arriving in your mailbox right about now in a steady stream.  Maybe it's your e-mail inbox that being innundated.  At any rate, the plant businesses know that we're all working ourselves into a buying frenzy.

As a rule, when I think of putting more plants into my beds or borders, I usually don't find myself considering purchasing more of what I already have.  If I wanted more of the same, all I would have to do is dig and divide.  I want something new.  I want something different.  I want something that my fellow gardeners don't have (and that they will envy).  So I peruse the pages of the printed materials and surf the web to find anything with those magical words "New and Improved!"

Zinnia 'Cascade Beauty' - Trailing Zinnia

Saying "Thank You"

My next-door-neighbor, Pam, had a look of near shock on her face.  "Oh, no!  Now they will surely die!" she shuddered.  I was quite puzzled, standing in my back yard and holding the armload of Iris bulbs that she had just given to me. "You never tell someone 'thank you' for a plant they give you!"





Daylily given to me by my sister, Linda.