Loving My Garden

I have become a passionate (outdoor) gardener this year. I think I finally get what gardening is all about, at least for me. It's about getting to know the plants I use, figuring out their needs and providing a nurturing environment for them to grow. Not unlike raising children.

I'm so glad I was a mother because now I can dispense all sorts of motherly advice from a position of knowledge and relative power. Prior to raising Mike I was likely viewed as merely pompous with my hints and tips.

Now I can be a pompous asshole about gardening and plants, too, thanks to the beautiful success of my garden this year.

The lantana like more sun but are doing well enough in their part-sunny spot. The osteopermum are not quite so happy right next to the lantana but they're not getting transplanted now. The gerber daisies and caladium are, once again, not happy and I think I'll not try them again. They belong in someone else's garden. Maybe primrose would be happier...note to self to keep that in mind for next spring.

The rock garden is so-so. The pincushion flowers are dying but the alyssum (annual, I hope to find a perennial version next season) is taking and the pink saxifraga and nestor speedwell are doing well. My common thrift's foliage is anything but common...no flowers yet...and the lysimachia, a "tender" perennial, is taking hold amazingly well. I have no idea what a "tender" perennial is. I guess I'll find out if it doesn't survive the winter. I'm sorry, but it makes no sense to plant perennials then dig them up at season's end. Sure doesn't sound like my kind of perennial.

The rock garden (brand, spanking new this year) is challenged by living on a slope. Unfortunately, the drainage is very poor in my apartment complex and a mini river runs through that bed in any rain, becoming a torrent in a heavy downpour. That seems to be what's done in the pincushion flowers. Many of them were exposed at the roots by erosion following a considerable amount of rain over the past few weeks. Live and learn. The rock garden is a good experience and will get better next year.

As always, the impatiens are going like blockbusters! I have white and salmon in the bed next to my steps with a few pale yellow begonias peeking up for interest. I have lavender and deep pink impatiens in my stump bed, along with a torenia and a couple of coleus. And, if the rain ever lets up a bit, I'm sure the impatiens and torenia in a sloping border will settle in and thrive. Pictures should be coming on my return from vacation.

I ordered a garden gnome online. The gnome I ordered was supposed to be 11 inches tall. The gnome they sent me is over two feet tall, and that's in his seated-and-resting-my-eyes pose! He was way larger than the tiny, GI Joe doll-sized space near the rock garden I had in mind for him so I stuck him behind a fallen log. I wasn't happy. I have, however, now found the perfect spot for him...I placed a few large, flattish rocks behind my impatiens border (in the path the bulk of the rain water flows) to act as a visual stair. There is a dead vine hanging there beside the trunk. I leaned his back against the tree trunk where he now reposes, eyes shut and one leg drawn up, dreaming the day or night away. It's perfect! I wish I had a photo...I surely will next time I go out. I was chased in the house after gardening yesterday by a heavy shower and had no time for photos.

Oh, and speaking about my vacation, my passport arrived today! I was surprised and a little disconcerted that this wasn't something I had to sign for (passport and birth certificate all in the same envelope). I fully expected it to arrive over the weekend and that I'd have to go sign for it at the post office on Monday. Oh well. Who am I to tell the Department of State how to manage the security of an American citizen's passport, huh?

Now I know they're going to let me out of the country. The big question becomes, will they let me back in???

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