Diggin' It

Life is a garden, dig it! -David Spade as Joe Dirt.

Today was a lovely day for gardening in the Ozarks. I started with cleaning out one of the rose beds and expanding the perimeter, enough so in one direction that I think I have room for the two new peonies that I ordered for fall pickup. Dark orange asiatic lilies complement the Rio Samba multi-colored rose in that bed. Then I tackled the new shade bed where I put the coneflowers that sis gave me yesterday, the foxgloves dug from my parents yesterday, plus impatiens and begonias that had been waiting in pots since last weekend. The problem with pilfered plants is that they must go back into the ground. I cleaned out the rose and iris bed, then expanded it enough to put in the iris and peony plants that I pilfered yesterday. Finally, I planted the acanthus that I bought at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. It is a perennial whose foliage looks like a thistle and sports pretty purple or blue blooms. I've admired that plant on the Fayetteville Square and am excited to welcome it to my garden.

Pilfered Plants

Today I went to see my parents. While there I dug a few of their volunteer foxgloves. We then made a little excursion to a neighbor's yard to pilfer starts of plants. I got starts of a white iris and of two peonies, a pink and (maybe) a red. The ground was so wet it was hard to get any soil with the plants. Also got a beautiful bouquet of red roses. As you can see, the cats were excited about that. I caught that rascally rabbit munching in my herb bed so snapped a shot to include here. The 3 1/2 inches of rain in 3 days delayed my gardening plans. Tomorrow I start planting in earnest!

Memorial Day

'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
-Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, 1850

Yesterday I gathered a garden bouquet. It had a spray of red roses, branches of white-blossomed mock orange, stems of blue salvia and dutch iris and accents of feathery bronze fennel. I placed the bouquet on his grave. It was watered first by my tears and then by the rain.

Roses, Rozella and Rabbits

The irises and peonies have about finished their spectacular bloom season. The roses and clematis are now taking their turn to shine. Last evening the late-day sun practically caused the roses to glow. The old-fashioned red climbing roses and the red Knockout shrub rose are in peak bloom, accented by blue spikes of salvia blooms. They are in the same bed as the new Rozella peony that I purchased two years ago. Its bloom season is starting as the others finish, and the big pink blossoms hold up to the rains. The Josephs Coat rose adds a lovely contrast to the reds and pinks with its orange, rose and yellow blossoms.

Last night I mowed the lawn and conquered my fears enough to ride the lawnmower in the ditch. However, I scared a small rabbit who ran into the road and barely missed an encounter with a car. Large rabbits (relatives perhaps) were in evidence in the back where the lawn was mostly blooming clover. They would run a few feet when I got near but they seemed to be practically fearless. They will probably exact revenge on my gardens for taking out some of their food source.

a rose by any other name

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
-William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1594

Remembering the spring storms

“A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.” -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)