Spring 2006

March 30 06:
I feel like God has given me the perfect place to plant and enjoy all the gardens and plants that have been just dreams or hopes until now.

My past garden was very small..just a few borders, although pretty. One week He spoke to me about the paralell of my outdoor gardens with the garden in my heart. The garden against the back fence represented my walk with Him - the most important part of my life. I had allowed everything to get overrun with neglect. As I went through that bed, pulling weeds, I found that under that covering the ground was still moist and friable, and the plants safe and full of life. So many times I've allowed things to distract me from my walk with God - and even though I've been neglectful, He certainly has not. He's kept all things safe in His presence.

The bed against the back of the house represented my relationship with my family. All that was not intentionally planted are considered weeds. There were very few things there that were not weeds. =Sometimes we bring things into the garden of our family which are detrimental to our family. I had planted sever pieces of sanseveria.. snakes tongue..although I wouldn't call it that.. It established itself so rapidly that it filled a good portion of the small bed between the sidewalk and the house... and grew 3 feet tall. I shared with my oldest grandson what I felt God had shown me.. and part was that it was detrimental and needed to be removed by the roots. It was something I couldn't do alone and asked him for his help. He never did help me. I told my husband about it and he went out and dug and dug until they were all removed. We had several huge piles.. but it left room for desireable things to be in that garden. Just like with our hearts, when we take out the bad, we need to replace it with the good, or we are apt to allow that bad to come back into our life.

The short bed on the end of the house was for others to see.. very showy.. large shrubs with beautiful colors.. a very tall jatropha which happily bloomed nearly 12 months of the year, hosting so many butterflies; a lavender lantana which grew up and out of two tomato cages.. a large white lantana and a french blue plumbago. That plumbage was a very sickly small cutting planted by our landlady. She had some extreme problems and apparently found peace coming over and working in my gardens. Because it was so important to her, I carefully nursed that plant until it became about 6-8 feet across and tried to wrap itself about anyone entering the front door.. and had to be pruned severely constantly.

For years I've dreamed over Park's seed catalog in particular because they give such concise all on two pages, information about growing each particular flower. When we had a commercial greenhouse we purchased most of our seeds and plants from Parks...

And now.. we have a property which is ideal for gardens. We've been here approximately two years next month. There are 3 very large, thick oak trees.. One by the front next to the driveway, one as you enter the back yard, overhanging the side porch and one end of the front porch. The side porch is always in deep shade and wonderfully cool and breezy. The front porch is much larger and has great places for potted plants. I may grow all the tomatoes up on the porch this year. We may also need some type of small mesh caging for them as the birds enjoy sampling just ONE tase of each tomato as it has a hint of red. Most of the tomatoes I planted last fall are about done producing, but the new ones now have small green promises of ripening fruit. The third tree is behind the house and covers a large section of yard and a shed. There is a wide expanse of lawn with no shade, just needing some curved borders, or secret rooms.

The members of the Florida Forum on GardenWeb are wonderful.. so full of knowledge and so willing to share. I followed a link to the garden site of Corinne:

http://www.gondtc.com/~rivrats2/index.htm

Her gardens are so beautiful.. and even though they are a northern garden, there are so many things to be used which would give a similar feel. I felt SO energized and inspired for the first time in many many months.. perhaps years. Almost like.. YES.. I can do this. I've had fibromyalgia for several years, had my thyroid removed because of cancer.. and they are having ahard time regulating the amounts.. also diabetes which keeps me pretty tired also.. and yet.. hope always springs eternal... I can do anything for 15 minutes at a time.. and when I can't.. I can do 5 minutes, sit a bit and keep on.

The electric company was in the neighborhood this week trimming trees to protect our power when the summer storms come. (we were at the point where 3 hurricanes crossed two years ago. They were giving the mulch to anyone who wanted it. When I asked for some, the very nice young man tried to tell me that it was very hard to spread.. and that the full load was SO huge. I think he though "MOm" when he talked to me. LOL. They did end up leaving half a load for me. It steams in the morning making me just a bit nervous. I would not like to see it catch fire! My doctor told me I could move ONE wheelbarrow per day for a time.. so today I moved 4 trash barrels full. So far this mulch is very light and fluffy and I had to rest in between each barrel, but its getting done.. one bit at a time. I'm amazed at how much mulch there is and what a large space a barrel full will cover.

Today is my 64th birthday. My husband offered to take me to Home Depot for a wheel barrow. Smile.. He would prefer to buy me fancy things, but he knows what truly pleases my heart. However he also knows how much I'd like a better camera. I have a mavica digital which has been wonderful and I have some great photos, but they can't be enlarged because the camera is only one meg. I'm looking at a Minolta Dimage with 12 optical and 4 digital zoom.. and then a telephoto lense which attaches to that. I love to take pix of birds in flight etc.. my daughters horses running.. and macros of flowers. It seems that God has put all these things before me.. and I want to appreciate every single moment of them.