Baby Nikko Blue

Impatien(ce)s

How does your garden grow?

Right now, mine is growing great though it is still such a young garden I find myself impatient for a few years from now when the hydrangeas will be much larger and fuller and the clematis taller. Three to four years, the advertisement promised, and my Nikko blue hydrangeas will be five to six feet tall.

By the way, can you tell I’ve finally figured out how to work the digital camera I gave myself for my birthday last August? And I finally learned how to download the pictures onto my computer without having to call into the other room for husband help. Well, if I do it correctly next time I will have finally learned.

That’s what it’s like with a garden, too. Sometimes you need to call for some help, sometimes you learn to do it yourself and there is almost always something of which you want to take a picture.

So, I'll go take some pictures including one of my poor little Nikko blue hydrangea. It has a lot to do over the next four years. Like teaching me patience.

Lists

All too often my lists are “to do” lists of what chores I need to do today, but I do have a several much more fun lists. I hope everyone does.

Favorite things to do
Laugh with friends and family, in fact making a friend laugh until they’re wiping tears from their eyes (hi, Penny) is my favorite thing ever
Read and write
Cut flowers from the yard for the mantle
Check out wineries and brew pubs
Sip coffee and eat good chocolate
Make good chocolate truffles that make people smile when they bite into them (hi, Marie)
Enjoy dark, quiet unhurried mornings
Create

Favorite movies (as of today)
To Each His Own
The More the Merrier
The Lady Eve
Stranger Than Fiction
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The Uninvited
Christmas in Connecticut

Favorite fictional characters
Sherlock Holmes
Daffy Duck
Bugs Bunny

Favorite stuff in general
Family
Friends
Quilts
Cats
Books
Flowers
Music
Old movies
Old radio shows

I could go on and on and, one day, I will. For now I hope anyone reading this can put aside their “to do” list of chores for a moment and consider one or more of their own “favorite” lists.

A Room with a View

Just a couple of the wonders I could see from my office window this past week.

In between raindrops.

Late Bloomer

I came to gardening late in life. Growing up, I hated dirt, hated getting sweaty and the idea of finding any joy in digging around in the dirt and pulling weeds was beyond my comprehension.

Then we put up a privacy fence and what I had was no longer a lawn that marched alongside and right up to all the neighbors’ lawns, but my very own secret garden, a walled space that no one else could see unless by invitation. I have a couple of winding paths through cat mint, tall bearded irises and smaller rock irises, dahlias, roses, coreopsis, Becky daisies, zinnias, variegated willows, lilacs, hydrangeas, cosmos, peonies, petunias, watermelon colored poppies, day lilies, pincushion plants, bell flowers, hostas, painted ferns, veronica, asiatic lilies, ornamental grasses and boxwood. I have seating areas and obelisks covered in autumn clematis, climbing sweet peas and morning glories. There is a bird bath as well as a set of steps at the back fence so we can still give treats to the neighbor’s dogs. Closer to the house, a deck partly sectioned off with a pergola that will soon be covered in more clematis vines awaits anyone who would like to sit with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. One step down from the pergola-covered deck is a section of brick patio with a sitting area before an outdoor fireplace.

So, to anyone reading this, give me a call and I’ll put on a pot of coffee or open a bottle of wine. I’m inviting you to sit with me in my secret garden.