Bloom where you are planted ...

Bloomin' in the Clouds

This is my garden blog and yet my Life-Garden seems be affecting my "in-the-dirt" garden to the point where it is appropriate to post a few details about my "other" garden, too.

Learning how to spend time every day in my garden — in the midst of prepping to take the GMAT, the details of my high-school-age son's educational requirements and "other" activities. (Did you know that 20 minutes in the sun at noontime provides you with a day's worth of vitamin D? And the benefits of pause and fresh air are priceless!)

This past weekend, I purchased a tray of bright yellow pansies, with a few pots of demin blue pansies, too! Transitioning to Autumn gardening is wonderful. Cool mornings and less work as the growing season tapers off.

Did some weeding and clearing but the big news was making notes for the continued remodel of my gardens. There is much that can be accomplished 15-minutes at a time, I have here to tell you!

Clearing ...

A Happy Bee
(covered in pollen)

My garden and mind are being cleared today. A simple and enjoyable way to accomplish both simultaneously!

It has been a while since I have had any time in my gardens. Home school has resumed (my son in a sophomore this year!) and my Star Garden Greenhouse (a garden greenhouse of a different variety) has been a busy place! Of course, I have enjoyed my gardens via photos, cutting flowers for "inside blooms" and drying, rubbing my Mints and Rosemary and the occasional weeding. However, today I delight in the tasks of detailed maintenance and the purging which accompanies the change of seasons.

Blessed with clouds, mild temperatures and a gentle breeze, I set out with the priority of pruning back the wildly-happy Sweet Potato Vine and the exuberant members of the Mint family! Along with a prune here and there on the fading-blooms of the Crepe Myrtles and weeding out the crabgrass and Bermuda hither and yon! As well as the task of deciding which plants need a proper burial in my compost bin and which ones may remain until the first frost.

It truly has been a wonderful gardening year! Over the past 12 months, I reaped the promise of Van Gogh's wisdom: Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

That is how I started last year. I knew my health-rollercoaster-ride could dip or it could take me to new highs. Fortunately, it has been "up" for most of the past five months! :-) And I feel stronger than I have in many years.

Other fun things in my garden right now:

• Rosemary topiary
• Cuttings from Pineapple Mint
• Cleared areas for Autumn plantings
• Herb Harvests
• Photos of Hummingbirds and Bees and Butterflies!