Spring 2012

On the other side of the world I hear of bombings, insurrections,and battles with fire arms. Here in American we are having a national battle with words to determine who will be top dog in the governing of us in Washington D.C.

Up on the hill where I live all of those events are dimly in the background as I peacefully water my two tomato plants. In the cool of the morning and the quiet of the day, I take inventory of what the plant world is fighting for. I see that the lilac has given up the lavender blooms (or some passing deer ate them). They were there last week. Wild blackberry is displaying many small, tight, white, buds waiting for blackberry winter. The red and also the pink camellia has done with blooming. My newly planted Mapleleaf viburnum has many prosperous looking leaves starting to dance up its many small branches.

Close to the house the white and pink blooms on the Indian Hawthorn are scattered about on the four bushes in front of the house. There would be more blooms but the deer favor the buds in winter. Nothing deters the pink Oxyllis on the east side near the azaleas in full bloom. Each year it seems larger and wider than the year before. Bugle plant is blooming bravely in and around the clover and periwinkle. You can hardly see the stepping stones being overtaken by the eager rising plants.

The 5 year rose bush is five feet tall and I counted 11 buds up and down its thorny limbs. The wild rose bush that I started from a cutting is struggling to keep up with the tea rose. Many of the oriental lilies have not appeared this year. Perhaps the voles found them. Many fall blooming, tall Stone Mountain daisies are spreading far from the mother plants further up the hill. The competition for water with the Leyland Cypress has caused this plant migration. Plants are smart that way.

All along the back side of the rock wall are paper white Narcissus giving the wall a "Kramer" like hair do as they stick close to each other. The Plumbago is not afraid of being crowded however. It is not a mighty plant but is faithful to return each year to this same spot and display its small blue blooms. On up the mound of earth, Moon Glow Liriope is coming back in all directions. They are a beautiful sight in the dark of night looking like skinny white fingers reaching up in little groups.

At the shadiest part of the back, near the back door, a thirty year old white Shamrock is perky and mounded along side some of its offspring. A lovely little plant as sturdy and reliable as the country it represents. It puts to shame the other perennials in front of the stone wall. As long as I can remember the fall blooming Chrysanthemum pacificum has stood guard at the center and both ends of this garden space, at the foot of the wall. The other old reliables there are Baths Pink Dianthus, Autumn Joy Sedum, Iris, Manarda, and not to be overlooked is Confederate Jasmine. Try as I may I cannot get that plant to move away. It has crept through cracks in the stone wall and made a natural green spot in several outcroppings. I will keep it trimmed and who knows maybe one day it will fool us all and put on blooms.

My wish this spring is that all those discontented people in far off places, have a quiet little place to commune with nature and escape for a while at least, the things that disturb their peace and compel them to make war.

Palm Sunday Indulgence, 2011

My usual routine on any Sunday is to attend the adult Bible Study Class, and visit the Nursery where we have a great lady who watches over any young children who come in.  Next, I go into the worship service which affords me the opportunity to "recharge" my spiritual life.

After returning home and having lunch today I indulged myself  by watching a Robert Downey Jr. movie.  Then further indulged myself by reading a long email from my daughter.  Next, having had no real exercise, I decided to have a walk about,  to see how my tomatoes fared overnight in the cooler temperatures.  Bonnie and Jim and some gardeners from church all thought my tomatoes would be just fine.  My first task on this walk was to see if they were right.  They all spoke the truth.  My tomatoes all were just fine.

Down in the raised beds, the lettuce was up about two inches.  This was my first attempt to grow lettuce.
Also the yellow squash plants in all three hills were up, about eight in all.  I will have to do some thinning.

I am happy to report that the Navaho blackberries are in bloom.  I have five of those plants.  Just this morning I indulged myself with a biscuit and blackberry jelly. I had a discussion after church with a veteran gardener, who happens to be a retired Eastern Airline pilot.  I told him that he always reminded me of blueberries, as he has some fine bushes which keep on producing year after year.  Today he told me of when he was a youth.  His father had around ten acres of blackberries, where he honed his skills as a blackberry gardener.  He said that they cut down the dead stalks each year .  To reward him for his gardening advise I told him I would bring him a jar of home made blackberry jelly.  That brought  a big smile to his face.

Back to growing things, some time ago I wrote about how Jim had used the chain saw to cut two enormous logs from a fallen oak tree.  The logs had imprisoned a voluntary magnolia tree.  Much to my delight I discovered that the tree will be rewarding us with blooms this year.  I counted around twenty of them.  The tree is about nine feet tall, and this is the first year for blooms to appear.

Another pleasant surprise was that two small Alpine Spruce are putting out new growth.  They both were Christmas gifts from my children going back four years.  They are not known to thrive in the south, but so far they are still where I planted them and still looking good.

The blueberries have lots of buds on them and this year the deer will not get them, as they are covered with netting.  Also inside of the rabbit fencing around them, the strawberries are showing green berries.  I have some slug bait which is safe to use around edibles, so one of my chores in the morning will be to use that inside the fence.

There were other surprises on this walk.  I had forgotten that I planted Japanese Iris in the front beds.  They are interesting as they grow in a circle.  The buds on them were ready to open and show their white faces.

I promised to report back on the bulbs which took seven years to bloom.  I got varying opinions, but I think my daughter gave the right answer.  She said she thought it looked like Scilla.  Then a light went off in my head which caused me to remember the word Scilla was on the label.  I think it really is Blue Scilla.  What I do not know is why it took seven years to bloom.  I do have an idea however.  I noticed that the places where it had been reported to grow, were all north of here.  My thoughts are that I did not bury them deep enough for our warm climate.  In the fall I plan to dig them up and replant them much deeper and see if they reward me for this act of kindness.

One thing was missing on this walk about,  that one thing was someone to exclaim with me on each little discovery.  Gardening surprises are best when served up with a friend.