Spring Has Sprung, Day 2

Apr 4, 2012

I’m happy. I’m very happy!

I endeavored to beautify outside my house, and with cooperating weather and an assisting Mother [read: someone with more gardening experience than myself], I think it’s going to be a success.

I finally took the old pile of scallop bricks and cleaned them off of bugs and whatnot. This disturbed the yard lizards, as they lived between the bricks. I’m pretty sure they’re a little upset with me as they scurried back and forth today just waiting for me to stop wrecking their homes. Well, too bad, Longfellow! Too bad, Izzard! I was tired of looking at a cobwebby pile of brick like this:


And since we chopped down the tree last year, there’s been a stump in my front yard as well. So today, I took the brick and laid out a general idea for two flower beds. Last week I bought a canister of desert flower seeds: just sprinkle and water, and see what takes.

So now, instead of a stump and a pile of bricks, I have these:

 

 

 

 

 

This is my attempt at creative photography:

This is my Heavenly Bamboo that I planted a month ago. I took a new picture because I want to remember today.

I lowered the root ball for better protection. And had an encounter with the hugest black widow spider I’ve ever seen. Now, I’m used to seeing black widows out and about, but usually they’re either dead or dying, thanks to my monthly pest control guy. But today… apparently, she thought the opening at the bottom of the planter would make a good nursery and I didn’t discover the egg sac, or her, until after I fixed the Bamboo. As I was wiggling the planter back into place, she ran up the side. Of course, of course I screamed. More than just a little. Cuz this was one stinkin’ huge black widow. Complete with red hour glass. Talk about… well, ugly. Luckily, the Raid was within easy reach and after a few doses of aerosol poison and a beating with a big stick, Ms. Widow and her kids were no more. I conquered the Great Outdoors!

Yesterday I realized the lilacs were starting to bloom. They smell wonderful! I wish they lasted more than just a few weeks; and I wish they all bloomed at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, ta-da!, I finally hung the Topsy Turvy Tomato Grower. This is the finishing touch for today. I’m so very excited. We had some problems with the drill. I couldn’t get it to go more than a tiny bit into the hardened wood. It was really frustrating… until hours later (like, about 36), I realized we’d had it set on “reverse”. Yeah. That’s a conversation that ended in more than a few laughs!

 

 

 

 

 

I call him Fred. [I call everything “Fred”, but that’s another story..]

So. Yesterday nature came to my yard. And today I began to give back.

Now I just have to wait and see what happens. I’ll consider it a success if nothing dies in the first week.

And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!

Sweeten my tea and share:

Dead or Alive

Aug 27, 2011

by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy

Life is like a garden: many different species living together; some harmonious, some hurtful. Pesky weeds try to strangle the fruits and flowers as birds steal seeds only to drop them somewhere unplanned.

I don’t know what made me think of all this, except that it’s been exceptionally hot here in the desert and I’m worried about my potted garden dying on me. As the caretaker of my garden, I do my best to nourish it and enjoy it. To accept its beauty, individually and collectively. To prune when necessary, and to give it room to grow. And as my mind wanders, I soon found myself wondering about other plants and their survival traits.

The corpse flower is a strange thing. It grows to great heights, and some consider it to be exceptionally beautiful. With its variegated shades that blend from almost ivory to green to purple and red, I find it absolutely stunning. It’s one of those things that I’m not sure I like, but I can’t stop looking at it. It’s mesmerizing.

Of course, that’s not what piques the most interest. Some varieties bloom once a year, but most corpse flowers open only once every few years (some take more than a decade!). The aroma they reveal is what gives its common name: the smell of, well, rotting flesh.

People are like plants. Some are herbal: they serve not only to keep fresh greenery to look at it, but they spice up a recipe, and can be medicinal (good for the soul) as well. Others are decorative as well as useful. Roses, lavender and mint make great tea and potpourri. Good to look at, and soothing.

Still others are like the corpse flower: They hide behind their beauty, never letting anyone in. They open up to the world only once in a great while, and when they do, it’s offensive. They tower above the rest of the garden, and scream for attention. When they get it, they offer nothing in return but their stench. They bloom for two or three days, then they go into hiding until they have the courage to come out and roar again. It’s fascinating. And ugly.

In my garden, I would desire to be sage: a culinary herb, or a wise person. I would even like to be the aforementioned lavender: soothing to the sight and smell. Whatever I am, I choose to be alive, and share this life. Not to hide it behind false beauty, or release it upon the world with an ugliness that causes so many to turn away.

What you see is what you get. Sometimes I’m reaching, sometimes I’m done for the duration. Sometimes I close up for the night. Sometimes I last for a season. But there’s always some weeding that’s necessary, and always new growth to show for it.

If life is a garden, what kind of plant are you?

Life in the Desert

Life in the Desert

And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!

Sweeten my tea and share: