Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Buttoning up


Brilliant sunshine Sunday, and just plain cold.  Perfect day to see what my garden crew is made of.  We are short Emily these weekends; she got herself a job on a real farm.

Hamilton and Laura selected more flat rocks from pile we unearthed last May, and Hamilton laid another stone path into the garden.  My hope for a cairn continues to diminish.



I’ve told Hamilton my dad would be proud of him.  No matter what else he sets his hand to in life, he can go out back and plant a garden.  He handles the shovel well and understands important stuff like setting a river stone firmly into the ground. How to loosen roots.  How deep to plant.



Laura and I made a plant run, to the nursery across the road.  I knew there was a sale and we loaded up on succulents.  All the tags are in the recycle bin, so I have a good excuse for not remembering, except all require full sun and I’m stretching that a bit under the oak tree.

Grandma put the pots here and there and the crew planted.  The royal “we” then spread the last dozen bags of mulch.  We discussed whether we should have mulched first, planted later, as I occupied my garden stool and they pushed mulch around the crocus and the succulents, and the last aster from our not too successful wildflower garden. “We” decided plant first probably was the best idea.



It looks lovely, all those little lavender flowers poking up.  More come up every day.  A few were unearthed in laying the stone path, and had thick root beards hanging from their bottoms.  With apologies we reset them.



Today I saw the first honey bees of the season, working away at this perennial we added earlier in the year.  It spent all summer with dark green leaves and recently burst into bloom.  Of course I don’t recall its name.  I know most everyone will say “It’s …..”, and that’s as much fun as knowing to begin with.  Some ring a bell, like the Solomon’s Seal, and I can point and say its name.  But the rest are still in that vast reservoir of lost nouns, and come and go like pleasant memories.


Our neighbor across the road has hives and I’m sure the bees are from her hives. I’m sorry they ignored our flowers all summer.  Next year I’ll try to select for them, as well as for the bumblebees.  Or, perhaps they spent their summer in the clover we planted by the barn.

24 comments:

  1. It will look great next spring when things are growing and the contrast with the stone path makes plants look even better!

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  2. You've got a hard working crew there.

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  3. What fun to have a whole crew to do planting, I just have a superviser to advise, sometime he says something wise mostly not.
    Merle...... ......... .........

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  4. I'd say the bees spent a good deal of time in the clover, they love clover. It's a nice idea to plant for them. I used to have a list of plants that attract bees, but it's long lost.

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  5. You have made gardeners out of them, and in record time.

    Lovely turns of phrase -- resetting the bulbs with apologies, the royal "we" spreading the mulch, and the plant names that come and go like pleasant memories ... such good reading.

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  6. Your garden and your prose are a delight. And I am not sure which is more fertile.

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  7. Plant first, mulch later is my garden creed. It is much easier and neater.

    Joanne, how lucky you are yo have a ground screw.

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  8. Looking good; will look better when everything starts blooming and growing :)

    betty

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  9. It must be nice having a green thumb...or is a green thumb really just hard work and patience?

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  10. "Reservoir of lost nouns that come and go like pleasant memories." You are poetic. Your flowers look lovely, and getting kids involved in planting is a reward in itself.

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  11. Hari Om
    Oh it does indeed look good and I am sure the youngsters get the fullest satisfaction from seeing the results also.

    Regarding that last plant with the bees,,,a little difficult to be sure from the picture, but am suspecting elderberry - grandma used to make a 'brew' from the flowers! YAM xx

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  12. Lovely photos. I have never seen lavender in real life. Would love to.

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  13. It's a beautiful thing when the whole family is involved in the planting. Well done, all of you!

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  14. I love a family gardening day. You're making me miss my Portland fall planting routine!

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  15. Not elderberry. It's ageratum. We have a wild variety and its bluish purple, common name mist flower because when you have a lot and it blooms it looks like a blue mist in the yard. I noticed we had a big white one last year at the city house. It wasn't planted so I think it must be a genetic mutation.

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    1. Thanks, Ellen. I can remember mist flower. The leaves all summer actually were a mahogany color, but suddenly they're more green.

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  16. I love it: Gardeners being trained by the Master Gardner!

    When I was a teen-ager, I considered myself as a Slave in the hot sun, but now I know better.

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  17. Jealous of your gardening assistants and also your mild weather that allows for fall planting. The only thing going in the dirt here would be tulip bulbs and since I have so many now that I find them everywhere I dig--guess I'd better be selective if giving into temptation at the store.

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  18. I think you're grandchildren are such a credit to you. Your garden is looking fantastic.

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  19. You have a wonderful garden crew.

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  20. I am sure the garden will be a joy to behold in the months and years ahead.

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  21. This is so perfect for the grandchildren. Dirt and fresh air... wonderful for growing bodies and minds.

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  22. Dear Joanne, teaching the younger generation to care for the earth seems to me to be a sacred trust. And you had willing "disciples." Peace.

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