RESOLUTION TIME

I subscribe to a Jeffersonian way of living -- each day I do a little of this, a little of that so I can satisfy my yearning for my many hobbies (and chores). I read some, I cook some, I garden some, I paint some, I write a letter. Hopefully by the end of the day I have some sense of accomplishment, something to mark off my list. I love to write and one of my goals each day is to write a little, so I'm embarrassed to admit here that I actually started 2 blogs in 2010, and I haven't written anything on either of them since July. My goal is to not let life keep getting in the way. Over the last few months, with the death of my father, I have felt this need more strongly as I ponder aging, memories, the afterlife...so now I'm thinking my desire and follow through on writing will be more regular.

I actually had to google the names of both blogs today in order to find them.

Since September both of my children have been in school all day so the time I have now definitely should allow for me to keep current (as long as I still have time to tend the flowers, make things, and read...).

"When swallows fly low, rain is on the way."

--anonymous

The garden is burned to a crisp.

We have had temperatures over 100 for the last four weeks and no rain...until the night before last, just as we were going to bed, the it finally finally came. Not just a sprinkle, not a little drizzle, but a beautiful downpour that lasted several hours. As I moved into another room to sleep (husband snores) I stood by the front window for a moment to watch it come down. It may have rained again last night, not as heavily, but things still look wet.

So I have definitely lost some plants -- a hellebore, curly willow, some irises -- I am trying to take it all in stride, remember that part of the beauty of gardening is the process. And who knows what will come up next year?

I toiled so hard this spring, and now that it's midsummer, it's all just maintenance, filling some pots, taking stock of what needs to happen in the fall and spring.

I plan on planting more in the fall (as opposed to mostly in the spring), to give the plants a season or two to settle, as I have found that things I planted last spring for the most part didn't come up until this spring, a year later.

After all my careful watching early in the season, some things did finally emerge, despite the blistering heat -- pastel glads, hollyhocks, cannas, callas, caladium -- and some things definitely did not. Am still waiting to hear back from the company I ordered them from, to get replacements. I am collecting a large number of succulents these days.

Successes: have been pleasantly surprised at the caladiums -- I planted a few bulbs in early May and a ton of red and green plants have emerged all over the area I put them in. More callas have come up than I remembered planting (only one has bloomed so far) -- have them in seven different places! The hydrangeas all over the yard have put on quite a show, I have about 10 different blooms/colors, will continue to add more each year. I have had yarrow grow really well, as never before (but no blooms). The japonica that I transplanted in several places has really taken off. Have added a few new beds that I am excited to add to.

A benefit of the heat: "distressed plant" sales at local greenhouses! Have picked up several lantana, mandevilla, geraniums, etc. that I am usually able to bring back to life.

MORE ON ROSES

"If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come."

Chinese proverb

My roses have exploded! I can't believe that almost all the colors are blooming at once. This is one instance where I can stand back and smile and be proud of all the work I've done. I would go hug them for being such dutiful individuals but I'd get pricked. This is one of those areas that was all brambles, especially blackberries and honeysuckle, 20 feet in the air only 2 years ago. About half the roses that are here came from other places on our property that I discovered under the weeds.

The first few photos are of a rose I uncovered last spring, now also going crazy. I've had to put up metal structures to keep it tamed! The last two photos are the rose area at the beginning of spring and a look at them now.

I have been away from the computer for a few weeks -- I've been working in the garden! The yard has exploded with color, and the many empty spots I've been trying to fill in during the last few years are green and lush. I actually think 3 little areas are done, as far as adding plants. Of course, next week I will see something I HAVE to have and decide the only place it can go is into one of these "finished" areas. I've been rabid these last months and attending all sorts of plant places -- Maymont's Herbs Galore, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, including their plant sale, Sandy's Plants, etc. My friend Anne, who owns Little Red Truck Landscaping, has the same feeling of being on crack these days as I do. I've given her several things in my yard that I've divided, and last week she invited me to come and "clean up" her yard. She has a ton of perennials that I don't have, or at least different varieties than those I have: pink lilies of the valley, columbine, love in a mist, lots of dianthus, yellow, white, purple irises, callas, evening primrose, hosta...I probably brought home about 20 different kinds of things that I immediately put in the ground. A friend who was with us and not such a gardener watched us with fascination as we reeled off names, planting conditions, bloom times. She looked at us like we were specimens she was studying.

My mother in law has also given me some things from her garden. This is one of several columbines I got. I have to admit I don't love columbine, but it does add nice color and has interesting looking flowers.

"Personally, I follow this simple rule of green thumb: Unless you're living off the land or the land is your living, the best time to do gardening chores is whenever you're in the mood. You'll win some, you'll lose some, and some will get rained out, but at least you'll enjoy your garden."

--Diane Ackerman, Cultivating Delight

The last of my tulips have faded. A dozen of these beauties came up in the back of the house near the vegetable garden. We are hoping to rework the area they are planted in, so I have dug them all up and moved them. Tulips are not known to have particularly long lives but I hope to see them flower again next spring. More waiting. As I dug them up, digging way deep to find the bulbs, I began to realize how my obstetrician must have felt when he checked on my boys in utero -- I learned to feel my way, in the earth, until my hand landed on a large bulb.

My first poppy has also bloomed. I really really hope these spread like crazy. Poppies are one of those plants that are supposedly so easy that they are ideal for a childrens' garden. Yet I have little luck with this group: poppies, carrots, hollyhocks, sunflowers. But I keep trying. Poppies are better off if you plant them in the fall and let them sit in the earth for a few months. But you can't find poppy seeds in the fall. I always think I will buy extra ones in the spring and save them until fall, but never remember to do so. Once I found some seeds that were embedded in clay balls and you could just put the balls in the ground, and these worked very well. I had lots and lots of beautiful orangey red poppies for several springs, their petals like tissue paper. But alas, we moved, and now I'm back to square one.

"I feel awed by the sense-tingling beauty of such life-forms so different from us. Simply beholding them treats our senses, and I am grateful. I don't expect understanding or response from the plants. I offer them my goodwill anyway, and the simple intransitive gratitude of "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful."

--Diane Ackerman, Cultivating Delight

My Bleeding Heart has finished blooming. Whenever I mention this plant I feel like I should say it with a Cockney accent. To watch this flower grow and bloom is crazy, it is such a beautiful and delicate little treat. Not too showy, usually in the shade, you have to search a little, but what treasure is to be found! I planted a white one, a bulb I think, but I see no evidence of it. Maybe it has to rest for a year and will then show its stuff next spring. The one here I had transferred from another sunnier location last spring, I'm so pleased it took root!

Tear Down This Wall!

"When other people see that our hands are busy, they often give us a few moments' peace before making their next request. What they don't know (and we shall never reveal) is that when our hands are busy our minds can rest."

--Sarah Ban Breathnach

So much of our yard was covered in weeds, brambles twenty feet or so high clinging to trees, that we have been slowly, slowly clearing them away. We were careful to get the roots and the time we have taken is starting to pay off. No Roundup as we have lots of rabbits and birds we'd like to keep as friends. We now have some large spaces that are cleared and I'm planning whole new garden areas! I have cleared the land and fence between our house and our neighbors next door and now we can actually see one another through the fence. I feel a little like Ronald Reagan when he stood by the Berlin Wall, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Here are a few of the cleared areas, lots of potential here!