Twitter Soup: A Delicious Blend of Interesting Peeps!

Twitter whets my appetite for information, friendship and sharing. Nevermore than now, during my self-imposed house/dog-sitting exile on top of this snowy mountain.

This week is reminiscent of that time back in March when I broke my ankle i.e. too much time on my hands and not enough to do, therefore I am spending inordinate amounts of time on the computer (especially Twitter and FaceBook but here I will be referencing mainly Twitter). But that is not necessarily all bad! There is a wealth about life you can learn from others! Contrary to belief, the internet is NOT a total waste of time.

In addition to enabling me to connect with family and friends, both old and new, social media can be truly educational, encouraging and enlightening, not to mention entertaining. There are quite a few characters out there whom I have enjoyed getting to know! You wouldn't BELIEVE what I have found on Twitter! I will share it with you someday :-) It's AWESOME! But for now . . .

Here are just a few of the links I have looked at and learned from today. This is a drop in the proverbial bucket as to the volumes of information available to you via, in this case, Twitter and FaceBook. Browse them at your leisure and you just might find something to interest you, too!

Click on the embedded links to enjoy what I did! Take your pick!

Truly hilarious from kissmyaster

Amazing photos from AmazingPics 2009 Nature's Best Photography

Jim Goldstein's take on Embracing the Imperfect Image

Hear about the earthquake FIRST from Interleafer

Gaze on my childhood idol Donny Osmond every so often, he's always nice to look at :-)

Be inspired and learn how digging in the dirt changed lives not just for one family but for families across the nation

Learn about new ways, coming down the pipeline, to garden for your kitchen from Jennifer Bartley

Discover how gardening is different yet the same around the country (begin with my friend Susan's blog and access the other's at the bottom of her recent posting, I found someone in MY new area I can look to for help as a result!)

Do you have ANY idea how important getting in touch with the natural world is? Shawna Coronado can share with you how it basically saved her from a horrible life!

And of course, if you're into garden porn, you can't go wrong with this scintillating, mouth-watering offering of pics from Arcadia1

Speaking of titillating, I learned of a "must-have" plant last night that you MUST take a look at and you will see why it caused quite a stir on Twitter recently. Annie's Annuals has this one! Just call him 'Mr. Happy'!

What interests me, might not speak to your likes but this is intended to show you how simply wonderful these places on the web can be and there are truly amazing people out there just waiting to make your acquaintance.

Give it a go. Look for me: @gettingdirty . See ya on Twitter!

I need all the help I can get.

NOAA says the Boulder area has some of the highest peak wind events of any city in the U.S. I believe it, all day the wind has been at about 50 mph and this hasn't been the only day. I also did some checking and my area also only receives approximately 14 inches of moisture per year with July being the driest of the summer months. Great. Cold, dry winters, too. Couple this information with my area being a zone 4 out on the open plain beneath the foothills of the Rockies where those winds come sweeping down and you have some harsh growing conditions.

This previous weekend, I notified the seed/plant catalog companies I normally purchase from, of my new address in order to begin planning what I would like to plant this coming growing season. The more I learn about this growing environment, the more I realize I am out of my element, my comfort zone. I've never grown anything in conditions like this before. Yes, I have much educating of my middle-aged brain to do. And quickly.

Hence, my plea for your help. If you have any advice, experience, or resources to direct me to, I would love you forever if you would share. I do intend to contact the cooperative extension for advice and information, although I will not be able to pursue the Master Gardener program here at this time, maybe next year.

I'm thinking grasses, prairie plants, natives and such but must learn what those are first. Direct me with specifics, please :-) I will be posting a photo soon of the house around which I will be gardening to give you an idea of the style of the structure to which the gardens will be married.

As I begin this new gardening journey, I will document with photos and journal entries my progress. Whether successful or not, you can join me in my new experience.

Come along and let the experiment begin! I look forward to your suggestions.

Stop Ducking the Zukes

This morning, I came across a wonderful sounding recipe from DDaisy, someone I follow on Twitter. The recipe is for Chocolate Zucchini Bread and is on her blog: Compost Happens. This prompted a small exchange with cityslipper about zucchini being the butt of many gardeners jokes. Btw if you are a Twit, or should that be Twitterer (?), you really need to follow cityslipper, too and check out his blog.

At any rate, I felt sorrow for the oft neglected and much aligned garden outcast, aka zucchini. So, I am here to stand up for "zuke" and shout it's merits to the world! Below is a recipe using this diehard (and yes, it isn't easy to make this plant die, it is quite prolific!) squash. If you do not tell the person eating it that it contains "zuke", they will not know.

The next time you see someone headed your way with this treasure, don't run, don't duck! Hold your hands!

So, go bake this up, let it cool, then sit down with a large piece and a glass of ice-cold milk. Chocolately and moist and cake-like, it is utterly delicious! Before you finish the last bite, you too will be a fan of this step-child of the garden! Stay-tuned for more recipes using zuke! You won't be sooooorry!

Brownies

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons soda

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup oil

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini (important! grate it into very fine shreds, i.e. NOT like a carrot)

Combine dry ingredients. Mix oil and egg. Stir into dry ingredients. Add vanilla and zucchini. Mix well. Spread into greased jellyroll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until done (the old toothpick test).

Icing

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup margarine

1 cup chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together except chocolate chips in a sauce pan. Cook for 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved. Add chocolate chips. Beat well until chips are melted and then spread quickly on brownies.

I was going to recommend you cover the leftovers after you eat some but at my house they don't last that long! :-)

Seeds of Change

Seeds: another sign of change in my life. I've never ordered so many seeds in my life, not even if you were to add together all the seeds ever purchased since my diaperhood. I prefer plants already started by someone ELSE and nurtured until they can withstand transplanting into my containers and gardens. Being ready to bloom when they are planted is a nice plus.

A year and a half ago, I put up a 9 x 12 greenhouse from a kit. It looks quite nice actually. This was the first step to my becoming a "grower". Grandiose plans and high expectations had I! This also provided a way for me to winter-over my tropicals, of which I'd amassed many since my inspiring trip to Hawaii. All throughout the winter I faithfully kept it heated and watered, nursing my tropicals along and tending to the seeds that had been started in trays and various pots. Wouldn't you know?! Surprisingly, the seeds actually grew! Okay, the SECOND batch grew, after I cooked the first batch because it got TOO hot in the greenhouse. Greenhouse experiences are another topic.

The first try at growing plants from seed was moderately successful. Many lessons had been learned and I looked forward to trying again for spring of '09.

What is that old adage about good intentions? For numerous reasons, winter was not conducive to getting a head start. For other reasons, my gardening budget for this year is severly limited (ugh! you might just as well cut off my oxygen supply!). Purchasing "already grown plants" was not going to be an option this year for annuals or perennials. In addition, I felt I needed to work on my character, patience specifically. I could use a lesson in non-instant gratification and taking my time (am not that great at waiting). The answer to my horticultural and budgetary dilemma was seeds.

Now, I've never done this before, so I will keep you updated on how it goes, but I am actually direct sowing all of my seeds this year either into the ground, the keeping bed or my containers. No messing with the greenhouse and flats. No buying already grown plants. The annuals will not be blooming in mid-May and the perennials will not bloom until next year but it will be good for my character development and of course, my bank account.

I will be brutally honest about my success or failure, what worked and what didn't. I will include photos if or when the seedlings emerge if they make it that far. Frankly? I am nervous. Will this define me as a gardener? Let's hope not!

I welcome any and all tips.

Wish me luck and we're on our way . . . we've only just beguuun . . . .

Stay tuned!

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." - Ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu

True Confessions: Garden Shame

What was that commercial jingle when I was a kid?
"Curlers in your hair! Shame on you!" Seems to me it was for a Dippity-Do ad or some such thing? Well, it might not be for curlers in your hair, but we usually experience shame at some point in our life. Sometimes it is over important things and sometimes it is over the ridiculous.

The other day, I happened across a 'tweet' referencing "garden shame". Now what is garden shame? Webster's says it is (excerpts):

a: a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety
b: a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute
c: something that brings censure or reproach

Now, how on earth could anything like that be coupled with the endeavor of gardening or the garden itself?! Yikes! In my humble opinion, if something is growing in the garden, it is a miracle, a thing of beauty in and of itself. I sensed from what I read in this tweet, the garden shame arose from a comparison of garden appearances i.e. my garden doesn't look like Martha Stewart's or P. Allen Smith's garden or maybe even a neighbors. Doesn't that seem an unfair comparison?

As I sit here, I ask myself a few questions: Should I feel shame because my garden does not look like someone else's garden? No! My garden is a reflection of me. Am I to feel shame about myself? No! Am I a work in progress? Yes! Is my garden a work in progress? Yes! Do I have a professional gardener on staff? No! Do I have loads of time to sweep my garden clean of dirt creating an impeccable space? No! Would I, Me, Myself really want to? No! (because as we know, I like being dirty!)

If my garden were perfect, why would I need to learn, try, grow, reorganize, experiment? Where would be the fun? The "growing" experience? It may be an overused and much maligned cliche' but gardening is a journey, not a destination. If your garden becomes "perfect", seriously, you need to start over!

We are not all born to our mothers to know instinctively which plants harmonize in regards to color, texture, growing requirements, etc. nor have we all been able to obtain esteemed degrees in horticulture or design. BUT, we all CAN learn by educating ourselves through various means to become competent, if not proficient, at doing those things! Would you get to interact with other gardeners (hello tweeters!), spend billions of dollars on books, read magazines when we should be working, reorder plants to fill the bare spots made by the plants we killed or spend countless hours learning, sharing, and enjoying? Besides, design and what is pleasing to the eye can be quite subjective, opinions varying from person to person (the only person you HAVE to listen to is the city inspector if you let your grass get too high and then his opinion counts unless you want to be fined). What looks good to me may not appeal to anyone else. I like that Cereus giganteus (saguaro cactus) next to the Louisiana Iris' ! Not really but you get the picture : )

In addition, consider when you began to trod the path towards becoming a gardener. Did you learn from your grandma when you where knee-high to a grasshopper or did you begin late in life? Are you a Jedi Master Gardener with the "Force" being with you or are you more like Larry, Curly and Mo when it comes to natural ability? Janet Carson who has degrees in horticulture and has been doing it all of her adult life is farther ahead in experience and understanding than I am. Although I have "green genes", my DNA didn't make itself known until I was 28 which was 18 years ago and I still come up with hideous plant combos and plants that inexplicably die. I dare you to ask me about "the Chocolate Garden".

So, if you are having problems with garden shame, don't. Do not waste your time, energy and precious brain cells, save it for something that deserves that kind of angst and self-recrimination. Love the garden you have and garden the way you love. Gardening hopefully brings joy, provides helpful therapy and an outlet for expression, not shame. But if you are affected and suffer some shame, it might help to follow a good 12 step program, here I'll get you started:

Step One: I do not really make plants grow, God does. And we know God does not make shameful gardens. Repeat after me: I feel no shame.

Speaking of which, the only garden in which shame was an integral part and understandably so, was one named Eden. And it wasn't because the plants didn't look as good as those in the neighbor's garden (soooo, maybe they didn't have neighbors yet). Who wants to keep up with the Joneses anyway? All it gets you is a bad-ass recession!

Just to show you I do not feel shame about my garden even when I am neglectful of it and it doesn't look like the New York Botanical Garden, I posted a photo of my shrub up top. Yep! It is a 'Juniperus 'Andora Compacta' (purple bronze at this time of year). Can you tell? I just happened to not weed the bermuda grass that kept comingu up in it the entire summer and it looks p-r-e-t-t-y nasty! But hey! Life happens and it wasn't a priority at the time but the fact it survived being taken over by the "devil weed" is a miracle! And THAT, my friends, is beautiful! While I am at it? Although I make every attempt to garden as organically as possible, I have another true confession: I use halsulfuron on my nutsedge, prudently, but I do.

And I say . . . I feel no shame!

Your garden is yours. Comparison only creates envy and that kind of green doesn't grow, it only destroys. So enjoy your own garden without abandon and do your best with what you have. It is enough.

And repeat after me . . .

Garden, Gardeners and Garden Shows Oh My!

"It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor, would you be mine? Could you be mine?"

Of course you can! If there is one thing I know about gardeners, it is this: no matter where you live or what what your zone (even if it's the twilight zone!), no matter how far away it is, no matter the gender or style . . . we are all kindred neighbors. There is something about getting dirty in the soil that brings us all together. The earth is a bonding place.

This has been a Garden Circus Week for me and while I could go on for hours and literary miles, I will try to contain myself :) Let me elaborate.

The promise of spring brings with it a bevy of garden shows around the country. Here in Arkansas, there is the "large" one in Little Rock (I use the term large VERY loosely) and even smaller county shows usually put on by local master gardeners which enjoy a very active and healthy following in my state. Last year I attended Philly and was disappointed in it's lack of practicality, monotony in repetition and ridiculous vendors. The presentations were wonderful, I must admit (Joe the Gardener was there and you must SEE him if you haven't already!). I was offered the opportunity to attend the Chicago show this year but the price I would have had to pay in order to attend was too high. So, this year I've had to live vicariously through other's experiences and their blogs, which indeed, I have been doing. I will say though, that although there are some shows I clearly did not appreciate in their entirety, I am able to take away something to inspire me in some way.

For me, the creme de la creme comes this next week. Sunday, I leave for the International Master Gardener's Conference. It is an every other year event held in different locations and I look forward to see what the desert hosts show us! Master gardeners tend to be focused on plants, sharing and the down-and-dirty nuts and bolts of gardening. THAT is what I LOVE! This will be an ENTIRE resort filled with no one but gardeners!

Which brings me to gardeners. A gardener of recent acquaintance, Garden Wise Guy, posted a YouTube link on his blog to show what is involved in physically putting together a garden show such as the one in San Francisco. The video was provided by Jayme Jenkins. If it weren't for the ingenuity of these fine people, the second-hand experience would be beyond my reach. I thank them for not leaving me stranded in the horticultural wasteland in find myself in out here on the delta.

The internet has given me the opportunity to meet some amazing gardener friends! GK, Cynthia, Hoodsie, Amanda, Michelle, Scott, Ian, and countless others. Again, if I expounded on each of them, well you know, the literary miles thing. Some friendships have even transcended the internet. I count myself lucky to have gotten to know them. All of us can learn from one another regardless of the level of gardening knowledge we feel we do or do not possess. Man! It is exciting to learn from each other!!!! I get soooooooo JAZZED about this part of my life!! Just give me some dirt and plants and I am SET!

Discovering the web site "Twitter" has allowed me to meet some fascinating people, mostly gardeners and some photographers, who have blessed me in the short time I've come to "know" them. Their garden advice, their compassionate thoughts, and funny life-advice have enriched my life in a short time. As I mentioned above, there is something about our love of the earth and growing things that bonds us together. Ahhhhhh, there is NOTHING like a fellow gardener! Certainly, I have learned that if we band together we can even help influence the gardening policies of the White House! There is nothing we cannot do. Now that there will be a garden at the National Residence, let us gardeners move on to helping our government take care of this recession thing :)

Gardens. For all we are about, for all we converse about gardening, it would all be just words if we did not apply our hand to the proverbial plow, so to speak, and create gardens. The culmination, the manifestation of our green madness: our gardens. No matter how big, 15+ acres, or how small, a container on our balcony, we grow gardens. We take pride in them, we enjoy them, we work them. In doing so, we grow, we heal, we pleasure in them and we share with each other. Across the fence, across the street, across the internet, across the miles.

I thank gardens for bringing us together. Sometimes I wonder, if everyone did gardening of some kind, if the world would be a less bitter and angry place? Would it culitvate peace and peas? Flowers and friends, instead of discord and enemies?

There is a garden I am growing on the corner at my business. It is at the third busiest intersection in our county and therefore highly visable, as am I when I am tending it (note: wear highway orange for safety, not my usual uniform!). It has furnished much enjoyment for the community and inspired others to created spots of green of their own along the highway. There is no end to the stream of people who stop in to comment on the garden or ask questions about the plants. This garden is raising awareness. A small garden can have big and far-reaching results. Even the number of cigarette butts being tossed out the car windows at the stop-light there have decreased significantly!

It doesn't take much to create a starting place for change in this world, in our communities, in our sphere of influence, does it?

But then, we gardeners already knew that :)

A Garden or a Yard?

As I speak or write to others, I often question how to refer to the area in which I toil. Is the area surrounding my indoor living space a garden? Or is it a yard? In order to arrive at the answer to a question of such magnitude, I consulted the "wise old sage", the "wizard of Oz", yes, you guessed it: the internet.

First stop: Merriam-Webster dictionary for definitions. Yard is defined as "a small usually walled and often paved area open to the sky and adjacent to a building" (yikes! a prison!), "the grounds immediately surrounding a house that are usually covered with grass or an enclosure for livestock" (thinking Plimouth Plantation here). In earlier times, the yard was where the laundry was done, the dishwater disposed of, the ahem "heap" kept, and the animals housed in our largely agrarian society. As our living became more urbanized and mechanized, our yards ceased to be the service areas they once were and we began to plant them with grasses to keep the dust down and to beautify our surroundings. Hence the yard became a "lawn".

Next, I checked the entry for garden which is defined as "a plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables are cultivated, a container (as a window box) planted with usually a variety of small plants, a public recreation area or park usually ornamented with plants and trees".

It would seem as though we as we turned away from our agricultural/rural way of living, we would have more time to pursue other activities if we planted our yards with grass (heck! taking care of a lawn is like planting a crop!). Now it seems as if we are coming full circle to a semblance of what we'd left behind. More money is being spent restoring lawn areas with other plants, trees, shrubs and flowers. We apparently are not satisfied with surrounding our indoor living spaces with a carpet of grass but are creating "gardens" filled not only with ornamental plants but food producing ones as well (there is a movement afoot to bring back the "victory" gardens of old). Places are being created, even small ones, in cities and suburbs filled with green growing things to refresh our eyes and calm our spirits as we inhabit our concrete jungle and navigate through our asphalt wilderness.

Next, I moved on to exploring the differences in the "mood" of a yard or garden to determine which catagory my outdoor space would best fit. The internet served as an excellent resource recording others' thoughts on the subject. I will begin with their thoughts on what a yard is.

• Buy, buy, says the sign in the shop window; Why, why, says the junk in the yard. ~ Paul McCartney


• I buried a lot of my ironing in the back yard. ~Phyllis Diller


• I always thought a yard was three feet, then I started mowing the lawn. ~C.E. Cowman


• A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule. ~Michael Pollan


• This generation should entertain this generation. It's only fair. When I was a kid, I mowed the lawn. Now, somebody else's kid can mow the lawn. ~Tom T. Hall

A yard appears most often associated with a lawn (when was the last time the lawn was anything but a headache). Or a graveyard for the things we no longer desire (old sofas, garbage or an ex :)! Just kidding! Or the place where incarcerated people receive their exercise! It would seem, the mood set by a yard is lacking in renewal, relaxation or beauty.

Now on the other hand, here is what has been said about gardens:

• The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. ~Hanna Rion


• It is good to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought. ~James Douglas, Down Shoe Lane


• I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation. It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses from and Old Manse


• Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. ~Lindley Karstens, noproblemgarden.com


• In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. ~Abram L. Urban

Ahhhh! A garden! It is sensual, peaceful, a thing of beauty. A place to dream and create. A way to nourish our bodies and our souls. I believe after reading the above and knowing how this space around my abode moves my heart, I now know there is a profound difference between what is a yard and what is a garden. Now when I converse or scribe, I can assuredly know my outdoor space is not merely a yard but is indeed . . . my garden.

Lastly,

Gardens are a form of autobiography. ~Sydney Eddison

This garden quote caused me to contemplate what my gardens say about me. That foundation and structure matter to me? That I don't need much water? :) That I love weeds? That I am creative? That I break rules? That I am vibrant? That I am not a run-of-the-mill gardener? That plant names mean something to me? That I am natural? That I am a failure? Or rather that I am a work in progress? Gardens can be a reflection of who we are, what we are about and what is important to us.

What does your garden say about you?

Begin creating your autobiography today . . . in your garden.

Another Day in My Garden Journal

A day without sunshine is . . . well, a cloudy day!

The last two days were definitely NOT cloudy days! I am from Nebraska where we make hay while the sun shines so I happily spent my time recently out of doors in the yard/garden.

Hmmmm, I've often wondered aside if I should call the area in which I toil a yard or a garden? That is a musing for another day I suppose.

Anyway, whatever it is, it beckoned! Thursday dawned bright, warm, humid and quite windy. Assuredly, it was not a day for an industrious raking of the leaves (where they spawned from, I do not know as I raked all of them up in the autumn!). Not only was the day absolutely perfect for doing more clean-up of the garden but it was ripe for inspecting the ground for "almost spring" surprises. Frankly, this time of year is as exciting as Christmas for me! There is no more thrilling sight than to see a plant reawakening after winter's freeze! Okay, I can think of one but this is a close second . . . :)

Back to my gardening :) My efforts were concentrated on the front gardens, the brick patio and the "small triangle" bed.

The front gardens had liriope to be cut back before the new growth begins and as full as it is becoming, the hands quickly became sore from the shears. Roses and the woody parts of the nandina were pruned. Winter-damaged stems of the hydrangeas were cut. Dead foliage from last year was picked up. Woodland poppy seedlings were transplanted along with two clematis (a burgundy and a white) which will now grow up a new cedar and copper trellis. Pulmonaria seedlings were popping up and needed to be relocated. While tending to these chores, lo and behold! What did I see? A hosta shoot! This is the earliest ever for one to appear in my garden! Who DOESN'T believe in global warming?!

My "small triangle" bed is an area at the front door of my parent's home (a guest house in my backyard). This garden contains a variety of plants, one of which is my favorite: Black and Blue salvia. It is the best hummingbird magnet I've ever had in any of my gardens! Bees love it also. One small plant has become quite a mass and was a mess of dead, dry, sticks. This is also the earliest I've seen growth on it. But the lovliest surprise of the day came when I saw the surprise peony.

Year before last, I purchased a gorgeous orange daylily that apparently had a stowaway in it's nursery pot, for last spring Inoticed a plant that I'd certainly not installed. It was too soon to flower but was easily identified as a peony! It is pushing it's way up again this year. The anticipation builds until it does bloom to see what wonder I have! Will it be white? Pink? Red? Whatever, it is exciting! Plus, I got TWO plants for the price of ONE! What gardener does not like a deal?!

Here, I might mention, is where I explain my brick patio. Over time, it seems to have turned into a small nursery of sorts. I have a 9 x 12 greenhouse but that is where I store my tropicals over the winter season and start seeds for the spring. The patio outside my laundry door is where I store the perennials, shrubs and trees I find at close-out sales. I purchase them at fantastic prices and then use them in my community for beautification projects, mainly at the public school campus. This "nursery" is the bane of my 83 year old father's existence! You see, he is my chief waterboy :) "Are you ever going to plant these?!" What he does not realize is that I DO plant them but then buy more, constantly turning them over :) To him, if you have seen one sedum, you have seen them all. I would like to come up with another viable solution for "nurserying" them. We have a new commercial greenhouse at the school but then I would have to traipse over there all summer to take care of them.

All of the "nursery" plants need to be spruced up, pots cleaned of their debris, repotted if they are outgrowing their current containers, and moved (for the brick patio itself to be cleaned). What is fun about this job? I come across thrilling plants that I forgot I had! And of course, I see the baby plants emerging from their winter sleep. Again, the proverbial Christmas!

The above took two days of work. Why does it seem that although I spent two days working in the gardens, there is more to do than there was before I even began? I do believe the chores are splitting and multiplying before my very eyes . . . like some type of alien life from outer space!

Regardless, I had a blast! The sun was on my face, the wind chapped my cheeks and the fresh air invigorated my very soul! My three dogs had interesting adventures helping me sniff out the new shoots and making themselves general nuisances :) My dog Mikki, spent most of the time Friday laying at my feet, wanting affection which I was glad to give. She is dying and loves to be with me in the garden. There is no more fitting place for her to be for her last days.

So, to this update I add the following that are now making themselves quietly known in my garden: Cape Cod tulips, daffodils, agapanthus, canna, pineapple sage, mexican marigold mint, stachys, peony, ajuga, creeping jenny, camellia, hydrangea, azalea, achillea, clematis, buddleia, solidago, weigela, pieris, beauty berry and akebia. Think that covers it!

A history note. Last year, the unthinkable happened: I couldn't have cared any less for gardening. I wondered if I'd feel the love for it ever again as I had in the past. I now happily know the answer: a resounding YES! My passion and excitement are back as strong as ever and it has returned to become the best therapy ever!

There are many more days needing to be spent on cleaning up and I welcome each and every one of them!

Plant on baby and let's get dirty!