Gardening

Morning Glory

/ Kevin / 4 Comments

For all of my life, I have been a morning person.  As a kid, I loved being the first person awake in the house — especially on a Saturday morning.  That was prime television watching time, and I didn’t have to share the clicker.  As an adult, my favorite morning is Sunday — it’s designed for pre-crowd food shopping, breakfast, a leisurely read of the newspaper, a crossword puzzle, and a nap — all before 11:00 a.m. 

Drops of rainwater on an Elephant Ear leaf look like beads of liquid silver in this morning's light.

Now that I’m on summer vacation, mornings are even more special.  You see, I love my garden in the morning — and there are some times when morning almost feels like a religious experience.  The light is soft.  The air is fresh.  As the sun starts to warm the air, the dew evaporates, so that the few rays of light are like beams.

But it’s the human silence that I appreciate.   For many of us, this is the closest we can come to feeling alone, as if we were the first person to set foot on this land.  There are no lawnmowers revving.  No cars and sounds of traffic.  No voices.  Just a non-stop soundtrack of songbirds — sparrows, robins, doves, cardinals — all stirring to greet the day alongside me.

Yes, the garden changes throughout the day, and volumes of poetry could be written about the garden and the play of light and shadows as the day goes on.  I just think there is more of an intimacy in the morning.  The plants seem to agree with me.  They appear rested and alive and alert, as if they are determined to put on their best show.

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Bloomin’ Update

/ Kevin / 8 Comments

Plant seeds.  Add sun and warmth.  Mix with water.  And wait.  Well, the waiting is over, and it seems like everything is exploding in the garden.  Here are some pictures of what’s blooming right now.  Enjoy!

The Niko Blue Hydrangeas are full of blooms. I actually rooted several of these from the original one that Joe's grandmother had planted about 40 years ago.

The Hardy Geraniums are out of control.I planted a ring of white Hydrangeas under a pine tree in the front yard. They're still on the small side, I think because the giant pine sucks all of the water from them.

Remember the Gloxinia that I wrote about in a previous post about bringing plants home from the office? Well, this is the result.

This is the "red something" Hydrangea that I purchased from Home Depot a few years ago. Clearly, the blooms are not red, but they do appear to glow in the dark at night. This picture probably does not do the shrub any justice -- you'll just have to take my word for it.

Purple Petunias.

I have a love affair with Hydrangeas. I rooted 5 plants from the original one, and planted them along a stone walkway leading to my backyard.Bees are going crazy with the newly opened Liatris.

Lavender is planted along the walkway to the front door. My plan was to have people brush passed it, releasing its scent. Of course, I find myself intentionally making sure I touch it so that I can smell its fragrance.

Please indulge me one more Hydrangea. The blooms on this one are various shades of purple.

Thanks for visiting, and stay tuned for more blooms.

Celebrating The Good Old Summer Time

/ Kevin / 2 Comments

Aaaahhhh.  The Summer Solstice.  For me, it’s a reminder of just how little we are.  Just think about it.  As we go about our ordinary lives, our giant orb revolves and rotates in a celestial dance, rewarding northerners with the longest day and shortest night.  (Of course, the pessimist in me says, “Great, now the days start to get shorter, the nights longer, and winter is just around the corner.”  Quite a jump, I know.) 

The Three Village Garden Club held their judged flower show at the Neighborhood House in Setauket, Long Island.

In any event, it’s no wonder that ancient Druids to modern-day beachgoers celebrate this day.  That’s why I took up my friend Rachel’s invitation to attend a judged flower show, hosted by her Three Village Garden Club on Long Island and scheduled to coincide with the Summer Solstice.

Although I do consider myself a gardener, I am of the backyard variety.  Garden club members, though, are a whole other breed of gardener.  I mean, I like to garden, usually for myself and Joe.  Garden club members take it to a competitive level, and the Three Village Garden Club is no exception.  These gardeners know latin and common names, and they carefully drive their entries, each in small glass vases, to the competition.  I get upset when my grocery bag with the milk falls over when I make a left turn — can you imagine if my hydrangea entry took a spill?

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Here’s One For Dad

/ Kevin / 6 Comments

A few posts ago, I wrote about mowing the lawn and now that it’s Father’s Day, I’d like to revisit it. 

My father is the one who taught me how to mow the lawn.  It was an orange, gas-powered model, and my father taught me how to pull the cord, adjust the throttle, pour the gas, and the all-important mowing pattern.  The idea was to mow the perimeter, and then to continue in smaller and smaller circles until  I reached the middle of the yard.  In reality, it was a rite of passage; a passing of the torch.

My mother and my father had different approaches to gardening.  My mother planted flowers and filled pots and worked at making the yard and home look pretty and appealing.  My father, on the other hand, was the gardener.  He did the digging and turning of soil.  He pruned the trees and shrubs, including the blue hydrangea in the backyard.  This is still a sore point, because it never rebounded.  It may be why I’m hesitant to cut any of my own hydrangeas.  I know there are those that bloom on old wood, and those that bloom on new wood — but for me, there will be no hydrangea pruning, thank you very much.

My father organized and planted the family’s vegetable garden.  It was filled with tomatoes, carrots, pole beans, bush beans and so much more.  What my father didn’t realize is that he planted more than vegetables in that garden.  It was the family garden, our garden, and each one of us participated in the planting and caring of our small home garden.  We weeded and harvested and told Dad of any pests that were getting too comfortable in it.  And although it was small, for us it was “the lower forty.”

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Say What?

/ Kevin / 4 Comments

Gertrude Jekyll

“The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies.” — Gertrude Jekyll

Long before I started writing about gardening, there were lots of other people who had a way with words.  Fortunately for all of us, the Internet is a fine resource where their words are not only documented and preserved, but they can also be shared.

When you do some research, it’s amazing to discover just how many quotes there are about gardening.  It kind of makes me wonder, “What does it take to be someone whose words live on?”  A friend of mine once said that gardening is like a natural surprise party.  At the time when she said it, we laughed about it.  But you know what?  Nearly two decades later, I still say it each season.  Usually I say it when a yellow zinnia blooms in a flat of red ones.  Surprise!  It’s one of those phrases that takes the edge off of any frustration in the garden, and it makes me smile.  I think that’s why my friend’s simple sentiment resonated with me.

I started this quest for gardening quotes after my chairperson told me she was retiring and asked me to organize her retirement party.  She gave me strict orders that I was not to have a retrospective slide show of her career.  But since she’s a gardener, and the theme of the party was a garden party, I created a slide show of gardening quotes and photos.  

As I searched the Internet for quotes,  I harvested them, savored them, and added them to photos of flowers and vegetables and gardens.  Each one seemed to speak of my chairperson’s passions; each one seemed to speak to what I feel and think inside — only that someone else was smart enough, poetic enough, and prolific enough to write it down.  And I am — we are — all the better for it.

And now, I’d like to share the slide show with you. 

I hope you enjoy it.

 

Special thanks to macmanx for guiding me through the embedding process.

June Is Busting Out All Over

/ Kevin / 6 Comments

This is the start of a very hectic week for me, so my writing time is limited.  I hate when that happens, since writing is one way that I like to unwind from a busy day.  In light of this, as well as the fact that I can’t figure out how to post a PowerPoint on the blog, I thought a walk around the yard and some photos would do me some good.  Besides, it gives me a chance to play around with a different kind of post.

 The truth is that this walk was an inventory of what still needs to be done.  The beds are mulchless, and a weekend of rain and cool weather seems to have washed away most of the flowers and turned the lawn into a jungle.  By the way, the cool weather was a bit of a shock, since last week was stifling hot.  But that’s how the weather is on Long Island these days.

Nevertheless, the walk was a nice breather.  And now, without further delay, are some photos of what’s blooming.

Here is Gazania (above), which I started from seed a few months ago.  I was thrilled with the colors, and I’m looking forward for more of them to bloom.

This is a lace cap hydrangea (above).  I picked it up a few years ago from Home Depot because it had red or burning in its name.  To me, that meant it would have red flowers.  In actuality, the branches have a hint of red.  As you can see, it’s covered with blooms, but I’m never quite sure that I like it — since I was really hoping for red flowers.  But when I see it covered with this:

then I have to admit that I love it.  What’s especially nice is that as the flowers age, they seem to glow in the dark at night.  It’s truly magical.

When I look at these photos, I’m stressed and relieved all at the same time.  Stressed because there are those days and weeks when life takes us away from what we truly love and enjoy.  Relieved because somehow, nature takes care of itself and it allows me time to stop and smell the roses.

No Sunflowers, Ever!

/ Kevin / 14 Comments

In my last post, I made brief mention of my Mommie Dearest moment — a not-so-proud incident that clearly illustrated the ugly and, yes, comedic side of gardening.  I had asked people to remind me to tell the story, and they have.  So here it is.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a backyard not so far away, there lived a young gardener, me.  Joe and I had recently purchased his parents’ home, and the yard presented us with a blank canvas.  I had always enjoyed gardening as a kid, but that was usually relegated to the family’s vegetable plot.  Now, I had a whole yard and a big vision and no money.  The layout in the back was pretty basic.  There was a large built-in pool with red and green patio blocks surrounding it.  To the east, there was an area of pebbles and stones, and this led to a small lawn.  The rocks were held in place by a low wall of cinder blocks, all placed on their sides.

I decided to start small one year, and I planted marigolds in each of the cinder block openings.  They did quite well, thriving on neglect and heat.  The following year, though, I saw on Martha Stewart’s early television show that she grew gigantic sunflowers and would harvest her own home-grown sunflower seeds.  Then, in true Martha-style, she would even hang some of the flower heads in the trees to feed birds and squirrels.  The whole idea sounded like an eco-friendly winner.

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No Plant Left Behind

/ Kevin / 9 Comments

Rudy -- the movie.

I have always been a sucker for the underdog.  In the movies, I love the story where the weakling, the geek, the wallflower, the fill-in-the-blank, comes of age, achieves self-realization, and conquers against all odds.  It’s like in the film Rudy, in which Daniel Ruettiger is told that he is too small to play football for the University of Notre Dame.  Everyone has to root for the guy.  That’s probably part of the reason I chose my profession, school social work.  You really can’t ever give up.  You just have to keep finding new ways to help, so that everyone can have their moment when they can be hoisted onto the team’s shoulders.

The same philosophy has followed me into the garden.  As soon as seeds begin to sprout in the greenhouse or ground, the experts say it’s time to weed out any plants that are not keeping up.  Huh???  Doesn’t everyone need a chance or two or three?  Maybe some plants are slow growers.  Maybe they need some extra time to reach their full potential.  Maybe they could flourish with some differentiated propagation.

Believe me, I am no Mother Teresa of the yard.  I have had my moments when I have lost it with a plant.  Remind me to tell you about the sunflowers and the squirrels — definitely a Mommie Dearest moment.  It’s just that there are times, many times, when I attribute human emotions to plants.  Who wants to have a legacy of never bloomed?

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A Bird In The Head Is Worth. . .

/ Kevin / 25 Comments

A lot has been written here and on other blogs about the peace and tranquility of gardening.   But let me tell you, there’s some stress growing out there.  Am I watering too much or not enough?  Too much sun?  Just how dappled should dappled shade be?  Who will water while I’m away? 

And if that weren’t enough worries to cloud my sunny day, now it’s this.  There is a bird’s nest in one of the white pines that line the back of my property.  Very early in my gardening life, I realized that I was creating my own ecosystem.  As soon as everything bloomed, it seemed my yard became a resort for butterflies and bees and even a praying mantis.

But now there is a bird’s nest.  Blue Jays to be exact.  What’s surprising is that the nest is only about 7 feet off the ground, so Joe and I can get a pretty clear look at the goings on.  And if we can, so too can the local varmints.  Now, I’m on guard for any intruders.  I am like a mother hen, although I haven’t quite perfected the whole regurgitation of food thing.  But when Mom and Dad are away gathering food for the youngins, I feel obligated to bird sit.

I happen to like birds.  I especially like hearing them when I spend some time in the yard in the early morning hours.  But if truth be told, I’m also a little bit edgy around them.  I wouldn’t call it a fear of birds — it’s more like a fear of getting hit in the head with one.  I can hear you saying, “Kevin, how common can that be?”  In my world, it’s pretty common.  My head has been a bird target — not a bird poop target, but an actual bird target — three times!

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Three Cheers For The Red, White, and Blue

/ Kevin / 10 Comments

Memorial Day.  I really struggled with writing something to post in honor of the day and in honor of gardening.  Every newscaster is quick to point out that today marks the unofficial start of summer, which in my world means that all of May has gone by and I have yet to get everything in the ground.  As I worked outside this holiday weekend, digging, planting, weeding, pruning, and barbecueing, my first instinct was to take a couple of photos around the yard and post them — you know, a red, white, and blue motif. 

Red, white, and aaaahhhhhh blue.

Then I had a second thought.  It seemed disrespectful toward the true spirit of the holiday.  So I went online to look for something that I could comment about, something about veterans and gardening.  There was plenty of information on Victory Gardens from World War 2, as well as healing and therapeutic gardens for returning soldiers and older veterans.  One website, though, captivated me.

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