This week in my garden ...

Garden Phlox

This week was mainly focused upon watering, watering, watering. The regular rain pattern of June has ceased and it is time for sprinklers and soaker hoses.

I have enjoyed the low maintenance of this year's plantings. I planted very few annuals this year and have enjoyed the blooms and hues of blues, purples and magentas (with oranges and yellows sprinkled in as accent color).

This week brought the volunteer Rose Moss into bloom. My Mimi always had a large bucket of Rose Moss on her patio. Each year it was faithful to fill that old aluminum bucket with bright summer color!

And I finally got almost all of the remaining bedding plants in their summer homes ... Yes, finally. ;-)

It is a wonderful way to begin each day ... To stroll through my gardens, pinching and pruning, watering and cutting blooms for tiny vases in my home.

Ah, summertime ... In my gardens.

Lessons from my Gardens

Gardens are a form of autobiography. ~Sydney Eddison

For over a month now, this thought has taken root deep in the "rich, organic matter" of my mind — and my heart. My gardens have always been a source of joy and restoration and creativity for me.

However (especially this year) I have been able to piece together a bit of wisdom, and even reason — and dare I say it, understanding — via this process.

This year my garden reflects the colors and textures and varieties of plantings that are my favorites and.or hardy, heat and drought resistant, practical and perennial. The essentials of any garden include these types of plantings and are generally growing in any authentic gardener's garden.

Last year, there were many more annuals and high-maintenance items, as well as a lot more color via my container gardens. I was able to enjoy more planning time; and more time transplanting and reshaping my gardens. I was also able to plant and care for new grassy areas due to the decision to fill-in our pool.

Said efforts were complimented and done with ease due to the record rain fall my great state enjoyed. This time last year, there was an entirely different type of music playin' in my gardens.

The year before that, I learned that all things do work together ... It was a time of heartache but the beauty was evident in my gardens. And, actually ... probably my favorite garden year since before cancer. [More ...]

... the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

I continue to experienced the outrageous joy of being one of the instruments; I have been planning, weeding, journaling and clearing (including even more of those tenacious, renegade Elm seedlings and English Ivy that I would have preferred was never planted!). My gardening goals remain rooted in a life-goal of mine: Focus upon the Grace of God, and within that measure of Grace, craft beauty and celebrate the artistry of the elements.

This day, as I focus upon the Grace of God I am strong and of a good report as I celebrate the artistry in the midst of change among the bare essentials. Because I know the brilliant but passing color of annuals and pots overflowing with life will be mine again.

Grasses and other perennials

This is an example of arranging grasses and other perennials for the sake of simplicity and beauty — year after year! :-)

Seeds along the way ...

Garden Color

Just some simple pleasures during this "light gardening" year ...

• I have become extremely thankful for perennials this year. Being gone in May (thus, not planting much before I left for vacation, knowing it would be semi-on-its-own) and the high June temperatures seem to have left me here on July 1st without much planted for this year.
• However, I have enjoyed the cleaning projects I have accomplished and a bit of gardening long-range planning for the addition of more perennials. I have been noticing hardy and heat-tolerant plants: grasses, lantanas, herbs ...
• And I have enjoyed my new garden magazine and reading articles online, such as this one.
• Planning has become "enough" this gardening years because "My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there." (Charles Kettering). I shall enjoy my gardens for years to come and the plans and enjoyment of this year will indeed be part of that future! :-)
• Morning times have been delightful, seated and practicing chair-yoga positions ... enjoying the green lawn and colors of my from-seed and perennial garden plantings!