Gardening and Life

Ah the joys of gardening! A garden is the microcosm of life, wouldn't you agree? You plant a seed, water it, nurture it, and it blooms into a lovely flower! Just like children. And just like children, some of these flowers never go away, they just keep reappearing year after year in places that you don't want them to be. And just like children, they attract bugs and you have to buy expensive stuff to clean them up. And just like children, if they are unhappy, they let you know it.

When I think about it like that, I don't think I'll go into the back yard ever again...

Plants have to be tough to survive in my yard. Considering that I live in the greenest state in the country, I have some inhospitable conditions in my yard. I have spots that are super shady with bad drainage. I have one corner that is like the Sahara Desert. I have an interesting collection of weeds that sprout up overnight. I'm in serious need of soil amendments. And I have Suzanne.

Because of our trip to the beach, Suzanne has discovered the joys of digging. She now likes to dig anywhere. She even snatched my long weed poker (is there a name for that thing?) and decided to have her way with the petunias. And the lobelia. She was on her way to the clematis when I stopped her, which was fortunate because the stupid plant never bloomed last year and won't stop blooming this year. I've tried to reason with Suzanne and let her pick the alyssum, which has come up everywhere this year. If she can get rid of some of that, I'd be thrilled--last year's mistake lives on and on.

She has dined on quite a few blooms, which has lead me to a frenzy of research to see if any of it is poisonous (I'm in the clear on that).

I have some flowers that I can't identify because she picks the buds when she sees them. And the delphinium in corner quivers when she walks by because she's already beheaded him once this summer. He grew a new stalk, but we'll see he can make it to bloom this time...

A love of gardening starts early. Mine started when I buried my glasses under the petunias when I was 3 or 4. I think that Suzanne and I will share a love a of gardening..some day...after she outgrows the urge to pick everything she sees. That she gets from her dad--he thinks everything is a weed! After he pulled up the peonies one spring (before they had blooms--it just looked like a bush to him) I forbade him from ever pulling anything out of the ground without my express permission.

It occurs to me that there is a space where the foxglove used to be...wanna bet one of them had something to do with it?