Ok, now I think I've totally screwed up my blog. Figures. I just can't leave well enough alone!
:)
A friend of D's asked him to bring me some dwarf douglas firs after their house burnt in late July. They were in a nice raised bed by the front door that was going to be bulldozed.
I wasn't sure they were going to make it.
The poor things were singed and completely dried out when we planted them. Wow, what a difference a little TLC can make! They've perked up nicely.
And they're so cute!
Well, I couldn't find any kind of law prohibiting it.
Maybe there is and I just can't find it, but it doesn't seem like something 'unlawful'.
Ok, get your minds outta the gutter!
There is a small cottage house in our town that sells their garden produce off of a small table placed right up by the road. The lady of the house even puts out her jams, jellies and preserves to sell. Unfortunately, this year they've had to padlock and bolt down the pay box since, as they noted: "Someone has been 'borrowing' the money in the box." What IS wrong with people? Granted, the house is beautiful, expensive and well cared for, but because they have money doesn't mean they'd not have a problem with someone pillaging their spare change! Thieves make me crazy! That's as bad as someone swiping someone else's carefully grown produce in a community garden!
Anyway, with Christmas coming (according to the stores, I should have had my shopping done in August for Pete sake!) my brain was whirling on how to get some extra change. (Yeah, yeah, I know I'm the dumbass that should have thought of this in like...March?) But why couldn't we do that? I just give away all my extras to friends and family after my freezing is done. (I don't can - I'm terrified of poisoning the fam by not doing it right.)
There's really nothing stopping us, except maybe all that work. But why not do something I enjoy and make some Christmas money doing it? Everyone has been on my butt about selling my quilts and cross stitch, but they just take so dang long to make. And when they're completely hand made, well, honestly - no one wants to pay you what they're worth. So, maybe gardening is the answer.
But, we're so rural, I don't know how that'll work out. We could give it to the food bank if nothing comes of it. We'll have to give it a bit more thought...
Bishop's weed, gout weed, snow on the mountain, Aegopodium podograria.
It doesn't matter which alias it has decided to use to hide its hideousness from the unwary, it's still the variegated PLAGUE!
Eradicating this beast is Mission Impossible because it DOES irradicate.
One small sprig 20 years ago - still here. Leave one, tiny microscopic piece behind and you're doomed. Urghhh!
Don't even think it won't creep out of your rock garden. It will chuckle as the roots slip a foot deep beneath that boulder and pop its ugly head up on the other side. It's a curse!
NO, it isn't pretty.
NO, it doesn't brighten up a shady spot.
NO, it doesn't stay contained just because you're planting it in hardpan clay.
NO, it doesn't care if there's a drought (It will sacrafice the leaves to keep the roots alive).
NO, it doesn't care you popped it in a bog.
NO, it will NOT stay in a container (You might get lucky for a few years).
NO, it doesn't care you've planted it in the middle of a concrete contained, acre wide parking lot (Have seeds, will travel).
NO, it doesn't care your fingers are bloody from ripping the crap out of the ground.
NO, it doesn't care you're showering it lovingly with RoundUp.
NO, it doesn't care you've slaved over that perennial bush/shrub/vine/flower for 50 years, it will happily kill it.
Please people, please, for your own sanity - don't nicely send seeds, swap it, buy it, plant it, or even think this plant would look nice anywhere!
Personally, I think it's some kind of a sick, twisted Garden Gods joke. NOT funny.....
Disease, sickness, addiction, compulsion - obsession. (surprise, eh?)
I have it, I know I do! Where's the thermometer? I wonder if I should ask the doctor about it, or maybe a psychiatrist would be a better choice? Chicken soup is on the menu. Maybe I need the emergency room...
Don't laugh! You know what I'm talking about in my sarcastic way. Besides, you probably suffer from the same affliction...
It starts innocently enough with reading one interesting blog. (In my case, I blame Old Roses )
They mention an interesting link; click.
Wow, this person has some interesting photos, and another interesting link; click.
They mention someone elses blog they find interesting; click.
They talk about '__' being an expert on '___';click.
Wow, awesome gardens! Ooo! Their friend lives in my zone; click.
They thank so-and-so with the tips. TIPS?; click.
Odd plant. Ahh, from another blog; click.
Such-and-such grows WHAT?; click.
Never heard of that, but they got the cool garden craft idea from here; click.
Well! They left a rather interesting comment!; click
You know It's the truth! There are so many blogs and such interesting news and views. Virtual garden upon virtual garden. (What did we used to actually DO all winter?) They're all beautiful and interesting, and your 'favorites' list gets longer and longer. You have a special Garden Blog folder now to hold them all. You can't wait to explore again. You can't stop looking, reading, gasping, laughing and suddenly - you're addicted! Aha! It has happened! You've been sucked in! Want some chicken soup?
Ugh! I can't imagine how they deal in the northwest.
I feel accomplished today: I figured out the email link. lol. Ahhh, small steps.
Des has been invited to a friends Halloween party on Saturday...then I got to the bottom of the invitation - 'costumes required.' Uhhhhh.....
Needless to say, she's freaking out about it. I came across some 'maybe do' costume ideas. Hard to find something to whip up out of nothing. One idea was a Trailer Trash/White Trash costume. (Deja Vu) White trash bag, attach trash.
Baseball cap with leaf hanging in face: Leaf blower. lol.
Don't know what Des will think of the ideas though. Oh, yes, I do: "Ick! Mom, are you nuts?"
At this point I'm thinking of just ripping up the dead tomato plants, pinning them on her and telling her to go as a compost heap. Well, it is original, right?
Any ideas for a quickie costume?
Dug up the elephant ears, paired them up in a container with some of the impatien cuttings. I waited too long and they look thoroughly peeved with me, but hopefully they'll bounce back. I swear, if I keep this procrastination up, the Garden Gods are going to get me! I was thinking about taking the impatiens out of the pond and waterfall and bringing them in too, but to where? Besides, they're so happy in the pond. (ok, so that's my excuse for not having to deal) But they are huge and still flowering their little heads off. It seems they're the only thing I can get to grow in the pond these days that the koi will leave be. Those and chocolate mint, which they completely ignore. I guess Des and I aren't the only ones that hate chocolate!
Exactly what I feel like some days. I read through seed swap lists, but know I can't afford the postage. Maybe for something really special I want. The only time I did, I stole the stamps that were suppose to mail bill payments.
I wonder about all those people that order off the net or take an expensive trip to the local nursery and comment that they spent tons on plants and seeds because they just couldn't resist. Do they ever really end up planting or growing them? Do they appreciate them as much as those of us less fortunate? Do they stare in wonder at their beauty, or do they just take them for granted because they didn't have to scrimp and save to obtain them?
I'm not complaining, just curious. It completely caught me off guard one day when I found myself sitting quietly by the pond gazing at the flowers and suddenly welled up with tears from the sheer beauty of it all. Granted, there's nothing super special about the flowers I was looking at, but it took me 24 years to get where I am, and I appreciate every single plant or flower I have.
There's just something so special about a garden. Maybe it's more of a spiritual thing for me, or then again, it may just be PMS. What do I know?
Do the people who can afford to throw money to the wind walk by their plants every day and not even look at them? I can't walk in my front door (not even with my hands loaded with heavy groceries) without stopping at the front garden to admire something, even at this time of year when there isn't really much to admire. There's something very sad about knowing that the people who can most afford it don't appreciate it. But, I suppose that's the way it is with most things in life.
I know there are more out there like me...gardeners on social security, disability, or simply down on their luck that read through plant and seed swap posts and wish they could, just once, ask for something they want.
I've read through tons of garden journals this weekend and am thoroughly humbled. There are so many awe inspiring gardens out there. But, I still wonder - what did it take for them to get there? Did they start out on nothing and slowly build up over the years, or did they have the means to order, plop in the ground and say, "Look what I did"?
The gist of this long, pointless rant: I feel like an outsider of sorts. And I'm positive I'm not alone.
The reason for this long, pointless rant: Someone asked me why I never post pics of my flowers. I don't have a cam, can't afford one, and if I could, the money would be spent on plants and seeds instead. So, now you know.
I want chaos! Why should I succumb to the organized, color themed, uppity, perfectly structured ways of fellow gardeners? I won't. I won't I say!
I WILL have an unorganized, colorwheel-be-damned garden! I want the plants I want, where I want them, flowering at the time they see fit and where they suit themselves most.
It so aggravates me when someone points out that my purple salvia most definitely should NOT be planted with my blazing red bee balm. Says who? Maybe I like clashing colors. Maybe just to tick these people off a bit more I'll plant orange calendula right smack-dab in the center of that bed next year and call it the 'tie-dye' garden! Take that Miss Nose In The Air Upper-Crusty Garden Maidens!
I sigh heavily and know that come spring I'll still worry about what my fellow hands-in-the-dirt peers will say. There's just no getting around it. It's a hopeless, yearly, spring garden dilemma.
This year I will simply do as I please. I will not give in to the norm. It's boring. Who likes boring? The butterflies, hummingbirds and hummingbird moths who visit daily could care what colors I put together, and neither does mother nature. Thus - neither do I!
My purple will stay snuggled next to the red, and maybe, just maybe...I will add some orange to my chaotic cottage gardens.
