Appreciating Impermanence

 Each one of the flowers pictured above is a perennial, meaning that it will return and re-bloom each year, for a few days to perhaps a week. Annuals, on the other hand, bloom for an entire summer, although they only last that one season.  Each has its benefits: the annuals provide reliable, long-lasting color whereas perennials return yearly, but only for a fleeting time.  

There are a few annuals in my garden, some nasturtiums and marigolds in the veggie garden and several pots with lobelia, alyssum and impatiens.  Annuals are nice, but my passion has always been with perennials. Such a stunning assortment of forms and colors! The trick, one I've yet to master, is to have a mixture of perennials that will provide constant bloom throughout the season.  Every year I learn more about each plant: where it will be happy, what other plants complement it and when it blooms. Eventually, I hope to have color everywhere in the gardens from spring to fall, using only perennials.

When each flower appears with its colorful beauty it would be easy to feel disappointment at the short time we are able to enjoy it, or frustration at the fact that it doesn't last longer.  Over the years I've learned that it's important to appreciate them while they are blossoming, but realize that they'll never last as long as I'd like. Nothing does, whether it be something good or something bad, a lesson that is important to keep in mind.

Rain, Rain, You're Ok

Many years ago I read  that it was better to take outdoor photos on a cloudy day, rather than a sunny one. The less intense light allowed the colors to be more true and less washed out. It had never occurred to me and seemed counterintuitive, until I actually tried it. The colors really were more vibrant. Since then, I've tried to get garden photos on cloudy days and just this spring found how beautiful things can be after it rains. 

It's true everyone loves a sunny day and after a week of rain our moods certainly do suffer. It's good to be reminded that even rainy days are good for something, even if it's just getting a few photos to be looked at on another, brilliantly bright day.

Farmville

A non-gardener would think us completely crazy; today Joe and I emptied the back of my car, rounded up every available bucket, pail and rubbermaid container we could find and drove 45 minutes north to a horse farm in Boxford. Our quest? Horse manure!  Just look at this beautiful stuff:

I expected to need to roll the windows down on the ride home but the stuff is so well composted there wasn't any odor of dung; just a sweet, earthy smell of dirt. No need to Fabreze the car!

The raised beds are filled with peat moss, compost, soil, vermiculite. I added fresh compost from our bins this spring, but I really wanted some horse poo to amend the soil. After several false starts on Craig's List, I found a place that would give it away- free!  What's not to love?

The green lettuce is growing well, but for some reason the red lettuce is way behind, though the seeds were started at the same time. Hopefully with the newly added manure the red ones will take off and catch up with their green neighbors.

The broccoli is finally starting to increase in size and the carrot seeds have sprouted. Once they get a little bit bigger they'll need to be thinned out.

The garlic seems to be doing well; it's very difficult for me not to dig down to check on it.    A practice in patience......

A new bed added this spring. This year it has potatoes, which are still underground. This was the real reason I wanted to horse manure- to hill around the potatoes as they grow so they'll produce more tubers. The 4 containers have what's left of the manure, saved just for this purpose. 

This may be a yearly trek if there is a big difference in the amount of produce we get from the garden. And if the plants are half as happy as I am about the manure we'll be just fine. 

By Any Other Name

The weather has finally turned cooler for a stretch with crystal clear nights and warm sunny days. If I was in charge of heaven I'd arrange for this climate- cool enough so that the nights are chilly but the days only need a light tshirt and shorts.

Even the garden seems relieved to be rid of the hot, humid weather; the rose has produced a single, red, perfect blossom as if thanking mother nature for the reprieve. Even Irene couldn't discourage this bloom, which is all the sweeter for it being the only one.

Wouldn't it be really cool to be a bee and see that pink speckled landing strip leading up to the pollen you will collect?

I love the folklore that Foxgloves got their name because the flowers are the right size to slip onto foxes' paws, allowing them to creep silently up to their prey.

Peonies made heavier by the rain.

Garlic! Potatoes. Green lettuce. Broccoli. Something keeps eating my carrot seedlings. >:(

False indigo. This has to be one of my favorite colors of all time.

An exquisite pink and yellow peony.

Peony Time

The peonies are extremely happy this year and are putting on a spectacular show.

Beautiful Addition

This lovely birdbath is the latest addition to the garden; the leaf is meant to collect rainwater, there is a perching branch above and below and a bronze bird looks down from above. I absolutely love it and put it right beneath the back deck where there are foxglove and clematis behind it with white and red rose bushes adjacent. Hopefully in another week or two the plants will have matured a bit so the ground doesn't look so naked. This is exactly the sort of thing I would have picked out for myself for the garden, it fits in perfectly, but as it so happens it was a surprise gift from some very special and dear friends.

I'm looking forward to all the feathered visitors who will surely enjoy this as much as I do! I am very lucky indeed to have so many wonderful people in my life.

More Garden Tour

When we had the outside of the house re shingled in 2009 we had a small (8x8) deck put on. It's only big enough for 2 people to sit on, plus some plants, which was the primary purpose, rather than a big "party deck" for entertaining. On a warm summer's evening or weekend morning we enjoy sitting at the little table and enjoying a cup of coffee or meal al fresco.

I've been keeping a watchful eye on the birdhouse every time I'm doing work outside; no viewings to date that I've seen. I seem to remember last year several varieties of birds popping in and out a few times each, checking the house out. I'm hoping it won't go unoccupied this year. Maybe everything is just that much later due to all the snow and cold weather we've had? There is snow in the forecast tomorrow, too. I guess I wouldn't feel much like constructing a nest, either.

I love having little figures and statues around the garden - but no garden gnomes here! This is Easter Island Man with a bunch of daffodils coming up behind him. I'll have to take photos of the other statuary: a turtle, 2 cats, a bunny and a couple of owls.

The gardens are ready to go! Now if only the weather would cooperate and warm up a bit. I received the seed potatoes yesterday and set them out on the 3-season porch to chit. I'm hoping for a nice crop this year; Yukon golds and some red variety which I can't remember the name of right now. Yum! The seedlings were transplanted into larger pots yesterday and all seem to have survived.

This is my favorite spot to sit in the early morning and have my coffee. Joe and Wilson gave me this garden bench for Mother's Day many years ago; I love the weathered look. Next to the bench is a "Miss Kim" miniature lilac bush which I picked up at Home Depot last year on the cheap. There's also a wine box planter and stone owl keeping watch.

To the left of the bench is the back basement steps which leads to my little potting area. I've kept several potted plants there this winter for protection, and all seem to have survived. I'll have to feature that space in another post. Joe built me a brick counter where I can play with the dirt and pots in a sheltered area under the 3-season porch.

I have so many more photos of little yard highlights, but blogger only lets me post 5 at a time. There will be future garden posts as things begin to grow and green up.

Walk With Me

I've read that cats are very in attached to where they live, so much so that if you move and don't keep your cat inside for a few weeks for him to become accustomed to their new "territory" they will try to make their way back to their old home. It's thought to have something to do with the magnetic fields of the earth, but to me it sounds like cats just have a very sophisticated internal GPS that drives them to return to where they consider "home".

Although I enjoy traveling to different places, I am very cat-like in that my absolute favorite place on earth is the little 5000 square foot piece of the earth that is ours. I love our home and yard better than any place else on earth. Yes, waterfront mansions are impressive with their views and floor plans that are as big as our entire property, but if push came to shove I'd pick our little house and gardens any day.

Technically it is spring, but you'd never know it by walking around the yard, which is what I did this morning with my camera. If you drive or walk down our street and stop in front of our house this is what you'll see:

Because the garage is underneath

the house, one of our cars is always in the driveway. I always

thought it was strange to have a garage where there should be basement, but have found that it's nice in the winter; our garage and basement aren't heated, but unless the temperature goes well below zero outside, it stays above freezing in the garage. So much nicer to get into a 40 degree car than a 12 degree one!

To the right of the driveway and big oak tree

with the climbing hydrangea on it, there is a pathway that leads up to the side kitchen door. If you walk around the stairs, you'll follow a wood-chipped path that will take you to the back yard.

Along the side foundation there are various perennials, a rhodie, birdbath and a few herbs.

A few crocus that have escaped the hungry squirrels. They even had the audacity to leave a few chewed purple leaves and saffron tassels in the birdbath. Have they no shame?!

Further down the path is a lilac that just last year produced its first fragrant blooms. The white fence was trash-picked (I prefer the term "up-cycled") and installed to hide the compost bins. Although they do good work, they aren't very pretty.

The lowly bins and other various gardening paraphernalia.

The tour will continue with the rest of the back yard tomorrow. Please stay tuned.

Long Time Coming

When I look at the date of my last post, I'm shocked to see it is from the beginning of February. Nearly 2 months! It isn't that there haven't been things, both good and bad, that have been going on. There has been plenty of material about which to write, but for some unknown reason, I haven't been able to put anything down. I'll use the Reader's Digest format to update life events to the present.

Bathroom Renovation: Done!

New vanity and linen tower. Oh, the storage!

Toilet nook.

Millie enjoying the radiator heat. Shower to the left, toilet behind the door.

The bathroom is completed, exactly 5 weeks after starting the project. I'm thrilled with the results; we have so much more useable storage, a more spacious floor plan, larger shower and far prettier room with more light. Morning and evening rituals are now a pleasure to be enjoyed rather than necessities to be rushed through as quickly as possible. Hopefully this will be the last home renovation we need to do for quite some time.

Health

After limping through most of the fall and winter not feeling 100%, I was finally unwell enough to realize I needed a hospitalization. Well, actually, it took my docs to point that out to me, as usual. Even after being admitted, I told Joe: "I really don't think I need to be here".

Surprise! I did. It was actually a good thing. Lots of diagnostics, specialists and time to rest sorted a few things out. The IV antibiotics did their job and my lungs are now in better shape than they were prior to going in. The new medication, Revatio, the pulmonary hypertension specialist started me on back in January seems to have kicked in; I'm less short of breath with activity. A cardiologist ordered an echo and 24 hour heart monitor (both results still pending) but was able to explain the seemingly unexplainable test I had last August. Short version: it seems that I have some new abnormality with my vasculature in which the vessels don't dilate as they should when I exercise, causing my blood pressure to skyrocket. This, in turn, puts pressure on my heart, which is pumping against abnormally high resistance and causes the left ventricular dysfunction (cardiomyopathy). In addition, the vessels between the heart and lungs have a much higher than normal pressure when I exercise, also known as exercise induced pulmonary hypertension - EIPH for short. Now it all makes sense and I feel that there is a good team of docs in place who are able to treat these interrelated issues. Unfortunately, no one specialist covers all 3 things so there is a pulmonologist to treat the lung disease, one to treat the pulmonary hypertension and then a cardiologist to treat the systemic hypertension and cardiomyopathy. Bring them on, the more the merrier, I say.

The good news is that 2 weeks after discharge, I'm able to exercise closer to my previous baseline than I had been in the past 6 months. There has been an enormous amount of deconditioning which will take months to recover, but at least I have the energy and ability to do it now. Weights 4 days a week, yoga once a week and treadmill/walk at least 5 times a week- without fail. Time to get in touch with my inner drill sargent!

Garden

While I was in MGH all the snow melted, something I wouldn't have believed could happen in a 2 week period. Miracles never cease to amaze me. We were treated to several 50-70 degree days in which I was able to clean up about 1/2 the yard's leaves that had been buried all winter. The temps have turned colder this week and we've had flurries several days so no yard work this week; fortunately these things will keep.

I had planted a tray of seeds prior to being admitted and Joe dutifully watered them while I was away; I have broccoli, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and lettuce to look forward to planting out in a few weeks! He also treated me to a tumbling composter as a welcome home gift- which is now loaded up with the leaves and kitchen scraps from the past 2 weeks. More black gold for the garden, there's never too much of a good thing.

The crocus are very late in blooming this year due to the late departure of all the snow. We actually have snowdrops out now- at least a month later than usual- but no less welcome. I'll take any sign of spring no matter how delayed at this point. Next week is supposed to be a tad warmer (40s) so I'll be sure to get out and photograph what is going on in the gardens. It's good to be back.

Freeze Frame

Joe's weekend project, which turned out to be a much bigger deal than I anticipated, was to build me a cold frame for the garden. Hopefully I'll be able to put my seeds out much earlier next spring since they'll be protected. The top opens and can be propped up to allow for ventilation on warm days.

The best part of this project is that it is made from 100% scrap wood and repurposed objects. The windows were from our living room. The hinges from 2 doors we had removed and the rest was scrap lumber Joe had been saving. No longer am I allowed to be critical of his saving every little thing! Apparently, I just need to give him more projects in order to put his hoarded items to good use. Thanks, Honey!

Miscellany

Dahlia from the garden. They seem much happier now that the heat wave is over. I know just how they feel.

Faux stone trough that I planted this morning with some sedum and hen-and-chicks. Faux is such an awesome word; who else but the French could think up such a classy way to say "fake"?

Dirty, Pretty Things

The last time it rained enough that the garden didn't require hand watering was probably back in June, so the daily routine has been: cup of coffee, water and weed the garden, then pick whatever is ready to be harvested. Saturday it was our first eggplant. Last week there were the first cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. Today there are carrots!

The routine takes anywhere between 15-40 minutes, depending upon how much maintenance is needed. Admittedly, I enjoy lingering; seeing what has grown since the previous day and admiring the fruits (well, veggies) of my labor. Even on the most uncomfortable, humid days it's still a pleasure.

Shell of my Former Self

While watering the eggplants earlier this week I discovered a very strange looking insect on the underside of one of the leaves. Ok, I admit it: I squealed like a schoolgirl and jumped back. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I had to check it out. I needed to know if this thing was going to be competing with me for the vegetables.

I have no idea what kind of bug it is, but it appears to be a shell. The owner must have shed it (molted?) and has hopefully moved on. Far, far away.

I wasn't able to find the opening in the shell where he/she emerged from, which is a bit puzzling, but it is hollow and there hasn't been any movement in 3 days. Not that I'm checking or anything.

Those pincers look pretty mean.

Edited to add: Thank you, google! It's actually a cicada, or as we used to call them growing up: a "heat bug". Harmless to humans and also gardens, though they can damage trees when boring holes in which to lay their eggs. Apparently, they are eaten in some countries, the female cicada being the more meaty and tasty. Yum, yum.

Heatwave

I can't even recall the last rain we had, surely back in June, and all 4 of my rain barrels are bone dry. The garden beds are parched, only the things that were planted or moved in the past year have been watered. The vegetables are faithfully watered every day, but everything else is on its own. Crispy is how I would describe the lawn, but experience has taught me that no matter how dead it appears in July and August, as soon as the weather cools and we get some rain it will green up again. Our climate just isn't meant for the lush, green lawns our ancestors in the UK had.

The cucumber plant is hitting its stride, flowers and tiny hairy cukes appear every day. I love the tendrils that grasp the nylon lattice.

The learning curve has been steep for me with the veggies: I've learned that zucchini plants have both male and female flowers, the females being the ones that produce a zucchini. Both types are only open for a matter of hours, and if there is no male flower to pollinate the female, then the zucchini will shrivel up and fall off. Who knew?

There are a few bunches of both sungold orange and red cherry tomatoes in addition to some big beef, whose photo is on the left. The cherries are so sweet I can eat them right off the plant, warmed from the sun. They are also especially good with a nice sharp cheddar cheese on crackers or in a salad. I'm glad the plants are enjoying the heat and relentless sun, someone should!

Charlotte used to love to make the "rounds" with me, checking out what was growing in the yard, safely tucked in my arms. She'd settle right in and purr the entire time, observing her domain from on high. Gomer, on the other hand, prefers to nap in the coolness of the early morning shade on our new deck. Joe's chair is getting a healthy dose of cat hair. Why should the outdoor furniture be exempt?

Photo Shoot

I love the colors of the peony and false indigo beside each other.

A planter made from an old wine box Joe brought home from work.

Peony close-up.

Early day lily.