3/24/11

Gardening time

If you've followed my blog for a while then you know that I enjoy my garden as much as my sewing room. Not more. I'd need a gardener to enjoy the garden more than the sewing room. But, short of that, they are two of my favorite places at home. Just a month ago, it looked like this.

These violets just jumped out at me this morning. My mom gave me one clump about 15 years ago and now I have them everywhere. I keep them in large pots with trees and other large plants as a ground cover and to let me know when the pot needs water. And, they spring up in the ground from everywhere. They'll bloom constantly until first frost, even when the temp outside is over 100*. They are NOT "shrinking violets" but are a hardy perenial down here.



This is what I laughingly call the kitchen garden. Potatoes, tomatoes, snow peas in bloom, sweet golden peppers, lemons and some flowering shrubs and perenials to make it all look pretty. I'm about to put in a row of carrots right next to the snow peas. they should be getting green growth about the time the snowpeas are finished.


This is the daylily bed. It is jam packed full of daylilies and huge purple cannas and elephant ears and my three new shrub roses. This bed will come into it's own in about May.



And, this is my sitting area. I can sit here, in the garden, or in the swing and look at the garden. That tree on the right is a lemon and the two trunks on the left are crabapples that are just finishing their bloom. I should have plenty of apples for a full jar of jelly this year. Last year, I only got a half jar, but it was yummmmmmy!



This is the closer to the sitting area. The mailbox holds a few gardening tools. A pair of clippers and a trowel and pair of gloves. They stay dry and I don't have to walk to the shed for a quick tool fix. I love to come out to the glider and sit and sew or knit. The birds are coming in and Sydney has committed to keeping the feeders and baths full. We've seen doves and grackles and then the bluejays, and now the cardinals and even a few finches. Won't be long and the hummers will be back. Still just a bit cool for them.



This is the bed that Sydney and I worked on last year. She complains that it is too green. Green is fine with me. Flowers are nice, but the greenery makes things look so cool when it's 107 and there's no breeze. There will be flowers this year. Not a lot because this is a shade bed. But, some flowers.





That's my garden. Eleven years in the making to get it to look old and worn like the southern gardens I grew up seeing. My gardening theory: buy it cheap and stick it in the ground. If it's not happy, move it. If it's still not happy, get something else. I say that even though there are some things that get moved regularly, still trying to find that right place where they'll grow for me. But, I think that's part of my controlling nature. The only thing I've given up on is azaleas. They just will not grow for me down here. But, that's okay. I spent years trying to control them and get them to grow. Now, I spend that time on a 13 year old.

I miss Elizabeth Taylor already. It's been so long since we've seen her, but to know that she's gone for good is heartbreaking. My favorite of her movies? Cleopatra, of course, but more favorite are Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf, Summertime with Katherine Hepburn, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. We watched Summertime not long ago and I tried to explain to Sydney how she got that tiny waist and why there were no undergarment lines; layers and layers of silk, darling. Undergarments they don't even make anymore.

Have a great Thursday. I'm already looking forward to the weekend.
Lane




6 comments:

Hazel said...

I'm green with envy ,our tulips where just popping out of the ground ,then we got 10 inches of snow yesterday .I think I need to move to a warmer climate .

Becky said...

I am sure enjoying the pictures of your garden.....we woke up to snow this morning! I love the mailbox for the tools...fabulous idea!

I know what you mean about Elizabeth Taylor. She was one of my very favorites. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is my favorite, but I really can't think of one I don't dislike! I just like some more than others. She was definitely a star...but soooo human. Life was not always a bowl of cherries for her....yet she persevered! RIP, Liz!

Becky said...

OOPS! I meant "one that I dislike". Duh.

lw said...

Your garden is beautiful! I agree with your fondness for green in summer. Mine, sadly, is trying to recover from a false spring that has almost killed my plum tree (that and the shade from the neighbor's tree.)

I think I love Elizabeth Taylor in all of her films, but I have a special fondness for Giant and A Place in the Sun. Her acting in Giant was great, but oh! the gowns she wore in A Place in the Sun! As a woman I appreciate her unapologetic love for life (and men.) And her strength in taking a stand for her beliefs in the 80's when almost no one else did...wow!

Elizabeth said...

Love those shrinking violets! I'm going to have to check out their hardiness zones.

Gardening and sewing are both really great therapy hobbies. Everything comes into perspective when you're on you're knees digging in the dirt.

My spring bulbs are really in swing right now. I love it! Thanks for sharing your garden. I always enjoy your tours. Wish I could come sit on the glider and sew and talk with you.

xo -El

Coloradolady said...

Beautiful gardens. I can not grow azalea either. I see them all over town, but not in my yard...I have given up on that too!

Have a great weekend....looks like good outside weather.