Working In The Garden

Monet garden in Giverny, Eure, France

Monet garden in Giverny, Eure, France (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recently, I have used other people’s work on this blog. My time in the garden takes its toll on me and the result is a lack of energy left to write. My Lions Club work suffers also. Here it is the third day of summer, and I am still planting annuals in the 2013 Monet Vision. Hopefully, the plants will have enough daylight to survive and thrive before the first killing frost.

Spring came late for me because I spent most of it in Arizona. When I finally did arrive home, the temperatures in Illinois were much the same as what I had in February. The temperature reached 100 on the day we left. After spending three months in tee shirts and shorts, I suddenly found myself looking for warmth. Another delay occurred because my sister-in-law suffered a stroke shortly after we returned. We spent a good bit of time visiting with her and were at her bedside when she passed. Before I knew it, June had arrived and established itself before I pulled a single weed, bought flowers and even considered getting into the garden.

All of that stuff is over now, and I attack the Monet Vision daily with vigor, which runs out in a few short hours. So when I read a news articles like a Zombie, and it appeals to me, I re-blog or link with a minimum of personal expression. Hopefully, I select topics that appeal to my followers.

Being in the garden gives me time to think and to set goals. My list suddenly becomes almost impossibly long, but I will  take the goals baby step, by baby step and get the important things done. The Monet Vision is at the top of the list, next is blogging, third is work on my novel, and forth is the workshop. Oh, I completely forgot, Peggy fits in there too, and I also have to squeeze in a few moments for physical fitness like walking and bike riding. No, wait, I need to find time to spend with family and friends too. I can’t neglect personal relationships for mundane things like the workshop, blogging, and physical fitness. After all, imbibing Winking Owl with my old fart buddies takes precedence over everything else including Peggy(please don’t rat on me by telling Peggy I said that), and the Monet Vision.

Yesterday, it rained and I watched a Wabbit under the eaves eating bird seed dropped from the feeder. He looked familiar to me, but larger than the last time I saw him. Yes, it is the same Wabbit, it is Aga Bambi, last seen eating Petunias from the 2012 Monet Vision. Not a problem anymore, I’ll call the IRS and ask them to send a FBI drone over to keep the garden under surveillance. If the drones spot any signs of terrorist activity, they can tell me to take positive action.

Vote for My Garden Please(Second Edition)

Lobelia

I have never enterred a contest before today. The Chicago Tribune is co-sponsoring  a contest called “Glorious Gardens,” with Home Depot.  An entrant is allowed to place five photos into the competition. I uploaded five.  Today was the deadline for doing so. Beginning tomorrow, June 27, 2009, you can go to the Chicago Tribune Website and vote for my garden.

(Edited 3 August 2009)—-I went tothe Tribune site today and found out that the glorious gardens contest is opn for voting. I spent an hour rating photos, and only came across one picture of my garden.  If you go to vote, the pictures will appear randomly and you have to give each one a rating from 1 through 10 to go to the next picture. There are so many beautiful gardens it is hard to pick a really good one. Many of the photos were presented multiple times.

(Edited….July 25, 2009—-I am sorry, but the Trib is not conducting a popular vote for the most glorious garden. I was wrong to ask you to vote. Sorry for any confusion this caused you.)

Since, I’m not a machine politician, I can only offer you my ‘thanks’ for voting. I’m proud of the garden and I love taking pictures at different times of the day. I call it the ‘Monet Vision.’  The goal is to create a horticultural scene of magnificent complimentary colors. I have a long way to go, but I’m on my way. Hopefully,  the image I see in my mind will be realized in the backyard. That is, if Bambi doesn’t decide to taste all of the new entries like he has been this year.

Propogate in Abundance

Grumpa Joe Looks at FlowerToday’s excitement came with the UPS truck. My mini-forest arrived in a box. In the Monet vision of the garden there is a miniature forest of Eastern White Pine trees. The forest covers a corner of the yard. Right now the trees are three years old, and 9 inches tall. In fifteen years they will be twenty-something feet tall and spread across the corner. The long pale green needles will give us color in the winter. The trees will provide the birds and animals some shelter. Hopefully, they will also give us a break from the north winds. The baby step, today is to plant these bare root specimens before they dehydrate. The next step is to protect them from the evil cutter, the rabbit. Last week, I planted several baby Rose of Sharon only to find them nipped in two within two days. Rabbits have a nasty habit of tasting eveything they come across. After they do the damage, they spit out the un-tasty morsels. The plant may recover, but it may have two new stems growing from the cut.

Learn from nature, propogate in abundance, and just maybe one or two specimens will survive.