plant a garden

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things in the garden

I love doing a little walkabout in my garden… there is always something to find ;0}

I love how she has aged in the garden

had the snowball viburnum cut down… and found this =0}

it has been YEARS since a family, with children, has lived in this house… and yet, each year, I find at least one forgotten toy, somewhere in the garden… and then, of course, there are the remnants of the veggie gardens past…

doesn’t take much to delight me =0}

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things are a happenin’

Spring has definitely sprung:

hellebore

Loshka and Vandana

rhubarb and alpine strawberries

garlic and leeks

happy together – Suki, Loshka, and Vandana

sedums

viburnum

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Another peek at the Good Old Days

I did it again… spent an unmentionable amount of time, flipping through old pictures in an antique shop ;0}

love that she’s wearing pearls!

they deserve a rest with that garden

garden work is never done

growing sticks, all in a row

three generations in the garden

look at those rose bushes and the clematis!

THIS, I think, is my favorite!

I’m thinking, “grandpa’s pride and joy”

just makes me smile =0}

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The Good Old Days

I am a sucker for the good old days! I live in a house built in the early 1900’s. Every once in a while, I find myself wondering what my home and garden have been witness to. What stories would they tell?

Occasionally, while digging in my garden, in an attempt to create my own history, I get a little glimpse theirs…

What was the perfume, and on which occasions was it worn? Who did it belong to, and who gave it to her? Did the child know this woman who lived in this house before her?…

On other days, I wander in antique stores, looking for other stories. My favorites are the photos… oh, the photos. Windows into a moment of time…

Gardens:

 

Love the laundry behind the neat little rows of the garden!

Oh, those smiles! What I really want to know, is what are those cans on the sticks used for, and what was the purpose of the large barrel?

I love to so the same thing… wander the garden and touch the plants ;0}

Captured Moments:

What is the occasion? New home, engagement? Is that a hankie in her hand? Why? What is behind her smile?

Love the babies serious little face… perhaps because she is bundled up and others around her are not… why is she in a coat and hat and the woman holding her is in a dress? Love the woman’s smile as she is looking at the little one… adoration of a mother?

This one just makes me laugh! Would love to know what they are both thinking… and which one had this in a photo album?

This one, I have had for a while. One of my favorite time periods (explains the house I live in ;0})… and I just love her stance and expression… I want to be her!

I think I like this one, because it reminds me of a few of my baby pictures, where I am squinting :0}

Who is she posing for? Did he take the picture, or did her girlfriend take it, so she could send him a picture?

I love the brightness of this image… not just the light, but the feeling of it.

 

It isn’t the blurry little boy who caught my eye, but the girl/woman on the porch. What is she reading? What was the story? Was she struggling to read? Why is she reading on the porch? And why was that more interesting than the person with the camera?

Now I want to go wander in antique stores again ;0}

 

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Garden creativity

As some of you know, I have two hens. I allow them to roam my garden… I can’t stand to see them locked up in their coop/run… even though it is quite large for just two hens. There is something about watching them roam freely… following the sun or a bug.

As some of you also know, I have a garden filled with plants. Sometimes my girls… actually just one of my hens, Goldie, gets a little aggressive with her worm/bug search. She has been known to uproot plants. So I have begun to block her from my plants. Here is my newest creation… I love being able to use discarded things for new purposes.

IKEA crib base and trimmings from my hazelnut hedge

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Stones and Soil

It has been a long couple of days… Thursday night I felt an all-too-familiar twinge on my right side. It was the deep pinching pain of a kidney stone. I have had them in the past… so I knew what was coming… at least I thought I did. In the past, it was all over within 48 hours… I had endured the grogginess of narcotics and the embarrassment of pulling over and puking in the neighbors bushes… and later puking at work and having to ask for help to clean it up. The pain had eased, but never ceased… allowing me to continue working. Five days later I was still feeling that deep pinching sensation… at Urgent Care it was confirmed that kidney stones were still present… four to be exact. Suddenly plans for my two days off changed…

I had planned to be in my garden, for hours, over the next two days… so many seeds to plant and seedlings to transplant. Between my pain and the effects of my meds I was not able to be where I wanted to be… on my hands and knees digging in the soil of my garden. Instead, during moments of occasional lucidity, I made plans for the garden… digging thru pages of the work of others… hoping to glean something of the time they spent in their gardens… We shall see what effects the meds had on my mental state… I will wait to put my plans into action when I am no longer under the influence of narcotics… perhaps I should do the same for this post =D

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Little Delights in My Garden

I know I have mentioned this over and over… but I love to wander my garden. As I walked out my backdoor this afternoon, the first thing that caught my attention was the smell of lilacs. I don’t know how old my lilac is, but I’m guessing at least 25 years… it is more like a tree… the base is pretty thick. I love to think about who planted it… and why… Wish you could smell them!

Then there are the Columbines that have been scattered thru out the garden. There are pink, purple and yellow ones that are not native… have to keep them separate from the native one I added last year… she apparently doesn’t play nice with the other colors… takes on their color instead of keeping her own lovely blend of red and yellow.

A walk through my garden wouldn’t be complete without coming across a critter of some sort or another… today they were beneficials… a ladybug and a bee. Always delighted to find them! I don’t know which one delights me more… the ladybug, because I have a huge infestation of aphids on one of my roses; or the bee, because I have seen so few… I’m just glad they are here!!

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Fingers Crossed for No More Frost

May 15th is the official last frost date for Olympia… meaning it is “safe” to put out my starts/seedlings… no more cold nights. I find myself wondering if Mother Nature has looked at the calendar lately. Does she know that May 15th has come and gone? Spring has been a cold (and wet) one this year… the last time it was this cold, was before I was born – 1955. So, you will forgive me if I am not ready to risk my little seedlings… to walk out to my garden, and find them chilled and lifeless, due to an unexpected frosty night. I have invested too much time and effort…

I planned this time around… I had to. I had limited heating mats –  enough for four flats… and just about all of my seeds needed heat for successful germination. I had more than four flats of seedlings in mind… I had to have a plan. I learned last year, that not all seeds need to be started at the same time. So I poured over a handful of books and determined when each seed needed to be started. I took into account the length of germination, which allowed me to determine at what time I could move them from the mats… freeing them up for the next set. I mapped it all out on a calendar. I knew when each needed to be planted, moved from the heating mat, up-potted, fertilized, transplanted and how many hours of light. It ran pretty close to plan… there will be some adjustments for next year. Now I am waiting for Mother Nature to follow the plan =D

Until I see proof of her cooperation, my starts will be in the cold-frame I made of the old chicken coop and some thick frosted plastic… am I ever glad that I took the time to actually finish that project – okay, it’s not completely finished, but it is functional. Bringing all those flats out every morning, and putting them in every night, would have gotten old, real fast. Now my seedlings can acclimate to temperature fluctuation and daylight hours, without the fear of frost. I just have to remember to water them, because the rain can’t reach them. Soon enough they will be in the garden… and then I will be able to reap what I have sown… at least that is my plan =D

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Aging Gracefully

Do you recognize her? Can you bring to your mind’s eye what she looked like in her younger days… just seven days ago?

I haven’t looked in on her all week. I was surprised to see her so aged, when I came across her today. I removed the flower, to allow her to put her energy into vegetatively reproducing… it is reported, that this is more effective than allowing all her energy to go into forming a seed pod. But I couldn’t bring myself to just toss it into the compost pile. I found myself captivated by the details of her aging… I saw an unexpected beauty that could not be ignored or tossed aside.

I love the curls and ringlets… the delicacy of the petals. I love that she seems to have found a beauty of her own… a beauty that is often overlooked… at least by humans. Aging is not something we celebrate past a certain age. How many of us have celebrated our 29th birthday more than once? How many of us spend time worrying about the ever-increasing wrinkles on our faces or grey hairs on our heads, rather than celebrating the life experiences that put them there? I know I have been guilty of it… and I have a face that causes most people to guess me to be much younger than I am… they somehow don’t see the grey hairs I see every morning =D We spend time (and money) trying to recapture our youth and we miss out on the beauty of the here and now. I, for one, intend to follow the fawn lily’s example… and age gracefully!

Erythronium oregonum – in my garden

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