Cold weather will be here too soon.

Everything seemed fresh and new despite the fact that it’s now October. 

The bees were working hard and a hummingbird even whizzed by while I was holding a bouquet I had just cut.

  I think he thought about zooming in on the flowers I was holding but then after hovering for a second or two, changed his mind and flew off to land in a nearby tree.

 Gave me a thrill that’s for sure ~even if it was just  a fleeting sight and a whizzing sound before he was gone.  I am going to miss my garden this winter.  Moments like that are what fuel the fire for next spring and all the maybe’s for the garden that will be,

at least in my mind.

 ~”Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”  ~Albert
Einstein

Everywhere we look and everything we hear is grim for the people of our community because so many business and homes have been destroyed.

 At least there are some pretty flowers in my garden that have soaked up the rain and are blooming away almost as if they know we need a little cheering up.

~Man is harder than rock and more fragile than an egg.  ~Yugoslav Proverb

 Since we had nowhere to plant our zinnias and marigolds we planted from seed, I decided they would make a great border for the seedlings. 

  Should be interesting to see if the bunnies “like”  the flowers or if we will get to enjoy them with our Utterly beautiful bottle border.

Speaking of Utterly, Garden Shoes Online now offers Authentic Haven Brand Compost Tea~ the natural, organic way to fertilize your garden.

R is for Rain!

And plenty of it! It’s been a long time coming,but we are finally getting our blooms of spring.  Too bad it keeps raining though. It makes it hard to get out and enjoy it all.  I ran out between the showers today and snapped a few photos of the lush green and beautiful colors. 

 Every spring is the only spring – a perpetual astonishment.  ~Ellis Peters

 

 

 

 

The original Ultimate Hose Nozzle available at Garden Shoes Online 

 

~”Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers?”  ~Maurice Maeterlinck                                       �

~~~~~

Women’s Charlot  from Garden Shoes Onlineclick on image for more info

   

 To most, Spring arrives with the crocus, snowdrops, tulips and daffodils. I too get very excited when they show their pretty faces but I don’t get to enjoy them nearly enough because it is usually too cold in this northeast climate to sit and look at them. It’s usually not even nice enough to work in the garden so that you can be around them for a bit.  So for me, I really count gardening weather to be here when my favorite perennials begin to grow. 

  When I stroll around the gardens and start to see them coming along, the old stand bys that give me the feeling that spring is here and summer isn’t too far behind. 

To me those plants are the anchors of my garden.  They are old fashioned and loved by many.  In fact most gardens contain at least one or more of them. These are peonies, lilacs,  iris, bleeding heart, roses, hydrangeas, hostas, climatis and violets. 

 For some that may even be their entire garden~ planted years ago and faithfully returning year after year. 

I get a spring in my step when they start emerging from the dirt eventhough I am always nervous that they have ventured out too soon.

 Somehow they survive and reward us with their beautiful flowers and luscious green leaves.

 Those are the days I am dreaming of.

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.  ~Ruth Stout

Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers?  ~Maurice Maeterlinck

YELLOW

What is it that draws us in and obsesses many?  Is it the lure of the flowers, their beauty, their fragrance?  Is it purely the personal enjoyment~a hobby?  Is it getting our hands dirty or feeling the soil as we work?   

Do we actually like to sweat while standing out side with the gnats swarming us?  Maybe we like muscle pains and back aches?  Or is it the feeling of accomplishment when you stand back after a long day of swatting bugs and getting sunburned to take in the bounty of your hard work?  

Having a purpose for being outdoors breathing the fresh air, growing flowers that fill our yards and vases for sheer pleasure or being one with the earth while taking in mother nature’s gifts could some it up for many.    Some garden to get food, pure and simple.  Others may like the challenge of putting order and beauty where it hadn’t existed, making  something out of nothing. Perhaps it is to see the amazing beauty and colors that Mother Nature can produce at our own hand, making us part of the grand scheme of life in tangible ways.   

 Perhaps we garden for all of the above in some shape or form but mostly I like to think that people garden because it simply makes them happy~ for whatever the reason.

  So as each of us gardeners long for springtime to arrive, and we wait for sunny, warm days that don’t last long enough to do everything we hope to in the garden that day, we can ponder why  do we do it. 

 The truth is most of us would probably say it’s just… because.

  “We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden.”~ unknown

 Since it is another November day that’s cold outside and not fit out there for flowers, to be sure, I needed to break out the pictures.  

Thank goodness for photographs and memories, they keep me in flowers until springtime

 ~”Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.”  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson