My first purchase of the spring season....Nearly Wild Floribunda Roses, May Night Salvia, and Stella d'ora daylillies.
This is one of my favorite combinations.... bright pink roses tower above the dark blue, while the yellow lillies nods just under the salvia. Sharp and crisp, but not too formal. Two weeks from now, it'll be time to plant. I'm trying out some new web sites...www.directgardening.com (I've read and heard from other gardeners that this is one of the best ways to find plants...much less expensive and you get hardier plants. We'll see!)
Now, I'm headed to get dirt and some border materials for firming up the borders and getting everything ready for these new babies.
Floribundas are usually showstoppers which product a lot of blooms. I have a "ballerina" floribunda in back garden and it is beautiful. Watch for pics sure to come!
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
In search of Nikko Blue
On a mad dash to the garden store, I picked up a copy of a new gardening magazine, called "Dream Gardens". Did I say "picked up"? What I should say is, "I snatched". Like a mad shoplifter on a tanget, I saw the cover and my heart said, "ooooooh, I want THAT!"
My friend Terry Hershey (www.terryhershey.com) says in "Soul Gardening" that these kind of magazines are like rose porn to those of us passionate about gardening. And its true. After getting dinner, making calls, doing the day to day, I will sit down with my favorite things: Tall glass of iced tea, "Law and Order" reruns and gardening books.
Not all passions make sense, you know.
The gardens in the book were heartrenderingly beautiful and I began to fantasize about new garden structures, new depths of ponds, new colors splayed out to devour. I was in over my head, past the point of return, dangerously close to the intoxicating effects of what all gardeners know: there is some serious money about to be spent.
I remember drifting off to sleep thinking about the small fence I'll build this spring to enclose the patio. I thought about the 50 or so boxwood shrubs that need to be put around my borders. I considered the stella o dora's that look so beautiful up against the ballerina rose. I began to dream of a garden paradise and I the great gardener, bringing all things beautiful to life around me.
So it makes perfect sense that I would awaken this morning with one thing on my mind: Nikko Blue Hydrangeas. Big balls of blue tuft that grace emerald green leaves. Cool, refreshing, the mere appearance of them says, "summer time".
Still in my stupor, I tour the garden as I do each morning. Stumbling over the rake I left out yesterday. Picking up the damp seat of a patio chair caught in last nights rain, I take stock of my little project.
Another trouble with fantasies? They make your current lover look a bit lacking. I see the pond that is still not finished. The garden beds that aren't yet full, still reeling from my hackneyed cleaning up job of the previous days. I see the still unpainted parts of the pergola, not to mention the still gaping hole where a beautiful pond will someday exist.
This is where the reality-TV show crew is suppose to come in and make my dreams come true. But no truck or crew will be arriving. It's just me, my now lukewarm coffee, my faithful dog looking into a sad, dreary plot of land.
The hard part of dreams is that they take a lot of work. Much easier to admire others years of work than to pick up my own shovel and start in on it. Lots easier to throw money desperately away on books whose gardens may have taken 25 years to create. The bigger the dream, the bigger the fall from reality.
Where'd I put that book?
My friend Terry Hershey (www.terryhershey.com) says in "Soul Gardening" that these kind of magazines are like rose porn to those of us passionate about gardening. And its true. After getting dinner, making calls, doing the day to day, I will sit down with my favorite things: Tall glass of iced tea, "Law and Order" reruns and gardening books.
Not all passions make sense, you know.
The gardens in the book were heartrenderingly beautiful and I began to fantasize about new garden structures, new depths of ponds, new colors splayed out to devour. I was in over my head, past the point of return, dangerously close to the intoxicating effects of what all gardeners know: there is some serious money about to be spent.
I remember drifting off to sleep thinking about the small fence I'll build this spring to enclose the patio. I thought about the 50 or so boxwood shrubs that need to be put around my borders. I considered the stella o dora's that look so beautiful up against the ballerina rose. I began to dream of a garden paradise and I the great gardener, bringing all things beautiful to life around me.
So it makes perfect sense that I would awaken this morning with one thing on my mind: Nikko Blue Hydrangeas. Big balls of blue tuft that grace emerald green leaves. Cool, refreshing, the mere appearance of them says, "summer time".
Still in my stupor, I tour the garden as I do each morning. Stumbling over the rake I left out yesterday. Picking up the damp seat of a patio chair caught in last nights rain, I take stock of my little project.
Another trouble with fantasies? They make your current lover look a bit lacking. I see the pond that is still not finished. The garden beds that aren't yet full, still reeling from my hackneyed cleaning up job of the previous days. I see the still unpainted parts of the pergola, not to mention the still gaping hole where a beautiful pond will someday exist.
This is where the reality-TV show crew is suppose to come in and make my dreams come true. But no truck or crew will be arriving. It's just me, my now lukewarm coffee, my faithful dog looking into a sad, dreary plot of land.
The hard part of dreams is that they take a lot of work. Much easier to admire others years of work than to pick up my own shovel and start in on it. Lots easier to throw money desperately away on books whose gardens may have taken 25 years to create. The bigger the dream, the bigger the fall from reality.
Where'd I put that book?
Monday, March 14, 2005
The healing power of green. One of the most wonderful concepts that Hidelgard von Bingen gifts us with is a term not used by any other theologian: viriditas, or "greening power." She speaks eloquently about the "exquisite greening of tees and grasses," of "earth's lush greening." She writes that all of creation and especially humanity is "showered with green refreshment, the vitality to bear fruit."
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Why Church Doesn't Work
I've been thinking about this topic for quite some time.
Maybe all my life.
I knew when I was younger, living in a rural OK town, that the church that I went to wasn't really "working". About 250 people went, we listened to a sermon, we left, that was about it.
The poorest people in the church -- my family -- were not in any way ministered to. In fact, they weren't even really welcome. Tolerated is a good word...maybe we were tolerated.
The people that "ran" the church -- the doctors, lawyers and elders of the congegation seemed to think that as long as we had running water in the bathrooms, carpet on the floors, then church was OK.
Today, after a lifetime of seeing all kinds of programs and ideas and thoughts and plans presented..I still have the same sense -- church doesn't work.
It doesn't work because it is based primarily on a faulty premise -- that humans can come together and be a surrogate kind of family.
But that imagery is loaded with all kinds of negative things for most of us. Family? Visions of horrible thanksgivings and wierd relatives are what most people think of when they think of "family".
Even those with good families know that things are better when distance is kept.
So why then would the founder of christian faith use the idea of "family" as a way to connect his legacy?
Families 2000 years ago were different, of course. But I see infighting within families -- lies, bickering, all the works...much like today.
So, why then this fascination with the idea of "family"?
Trouble is, church is just like family for most of us...riddled with strange people, funny behaviours, people that you'd just as soon not be around.
Still, that illusion that we're all happy and content seems to be what we are searching for. As the character in Garden State (movie) stated, "Maybe the definition of family is just a lot people home sick for the same imaginary place."
Yep. I'll go with that.
Church doesn't work and won't work until we get real clear on the idea of family being a messy thing...something that I'd just as soon avoid. Go, check my box, be on my way to the more meaningful parts of life.
Unless...unless a new dimension is allowed into the equation.
Compassion, forgiveness, patience.
The kind of qualities that most of us are in too-short supply and guess what? We can't manufacture these qualities on our own. These are just not "human" qualities.
We're in need of some kind of high power frontal labotomy..some kind of mind blowing madness that let's us look at family -- and at church -- and say, "my response to this will be a thougthful response of mercy, compassion, love."
I dare not hope for this...it is not something that can be preached to make happen. It has to be something far greater than that...something far more impactful than what a few broken people joining together in song can do.
Church doesn't work because we don't...and we won't...or we can't...or something.
Maybe all my life.
I knew when I was younger, living in a rural OK town, that the church that I went to wasn't really "working". About 250 people went, we listened to a sermon, we left, that was about it.
The poorest people in the church -- my family -- were not in any way ministered to. In fact, they weren't even really welcome. Tolerated is a good word...maybe we were tolerated.
The people that "ran" the church -- the doctors, lawyers and elders of the congegation seemed to think that as long as we had running water in the bathrooms, carpet on the floors, then church was OK.
Today, after a lifetime of seeing all kinds of programs and ideas and thoughts and plans presented..I still have the same sense -- church doesn't work.
It doesn't work because it is based primarily on a faulty premise -- that humans can come together and be a surrogate kind of family.
But that imagery is loaded with all kinds of negative things for most of us. Family? Visions of horrible thanksgivings and wierd relatives are what most people think of when they think of "family".
Even those with good families know that things are better when distance is kept.
So why then would the founder of christian faith use the idea of "family" as a way to connect his legacy?
Families 2000 years ago were different, of course. But I see infighting within families -- lies, bickering, all the works...much like today.
So, why then this fascination with the idea of "family"?
Trouble is, church is just like family for most of us...riddled with strange people, funny behaviours, people that you'd just as soon not be around.
Still, that illusion that we're all happy and content seems to be what we are searching for. As the character in Garden State (movie) stated, "Maybe the definition of family is just a lot people home sick for the same imaginary place."
Yep. I'll go with that.
Church doesn't work and won't work until we get real clear on the idea of family being a messy thing...something that I'd just as soon avoid. Go, check my box, be on my way to the more meaningful parts of life.
Unless...unless a new dimension is allowed into the equation.
Compassion, forgiveness, patience.
The kind of qualities that most of us are in too-short supply and guess what? We can't manufacture these qualities on our own. These are just not "human" qualities.
We're in need of some kind of high power frontal labotomy..some kind of mind blowing madness that let's us look at family -- and at church -- and say, "my response to this will be a thougthful response of mercy, compassion, love."
I dare not hope for this...it is not something that can be preached to make happen. It has to be something far greater than that...something far more impactful than what a few broken people joining together in song can do.
Church doesn't work because we don't...and we won't...or we can't...or something.
Village Idiot Reports
AP Photos:
T-Town announced today that the vote for the new administrative king has been completed and unanimously passed.
"It's been a lot easier to pass ordinances since disclaimers were taken to another village" said one election spokesman.
Many officials lined up to welcome the new HRH as he makes his way into the kingdom. The reigning prince, HRH LP, led the drive for this new official.
"When anybody disagrees with the king, they simply aren't listened to or they are transported out to a neighboring village" said one official who asked to not be named.
Therefore, ordinances that pass the election board are simply just for show. "Everyone understands that plebians are just there for giving their money...their opinions aren't really important to this process" an official from HRH said recently.
Though many have complained about this new somewhat less than democratic way of handling kingdom business, officials seem optimistic about kingdom direction at this time.
HRH could not be located for comment.
T-Town announced today that the vote for the new administrative king has been completed and unanimously passed.
"It's been a lot easier to pass ordinances since disclaimers were taken to another village" said one election spokesman.
Many officials lined up to welcome the new HRH as he makes his way into the kingdom. The reigning prince, HRH LP, led the drive for this new official.
"When anybody disagrees with the king, they simply aren't listened to or they are transported out to a neighboring village" said one official who asked to not be named.
Therefore, ordinances that pass the election board are simply just for show. "Everyone understands that plebians are just there for giving their money...their opinions aren't really important to this process" an official from HRH said recently.
Though many have complained about this new somewhat less than democratic way of handling kingdom business, officials seem optimistic about kingdom direction at this time.
HRH could not be located for comment.
Gardener's Journal
This week, I'll begin the task of getting new organic soil into the beds and finishing clean up of old plants.
I've been scoping out several new web sites that have great selections for mail/on-line ordering. I think this is one of the best things to happen to gardening...you get much higher quality of plants and usually better prices from individual growers. And you generally get a better selection, too.
Today I found www.heirloomroses.com which features roses that are easy to grow and have long stability. I am not a big "hybrid" rose fan..they are like Arkansas cousins...too in bred to be much good.
Heirloom roses (sometimes called "heritage roses") are roses that one might find along deserted farm houses that ramble up and down fences. They have profuse blooms but generally not much scent. They are not what you find in the florist on Valentine's Day. They are wonderfully different, with magical scents and extraordinary habits. These kinds of roses are best used (in my opinion) in beds filled with lots of perennials. Again, I'm more of the "higgly piggly" type gardener so more formal gardeners probably would not enjoy these as much.
I've been scoping out several new web sites that have great selections for mail/on-line ordering. I think this is one of the best things to happen to gardening...you get much higher quality of plants and usually better prices from individual growers. And you generally get a better selection, too.
Today I found www.heirloomroses.com which features roses that are easy to grow and have long stability. I am not a big "hybrid" rose fan..they are like Arkansas cousins...too in bred to be much good.
Heirloom roses (sometimes called "heritage roses") are roses that one might find along deserted farm houses that ramble up and down fences. They have profuse blooms but generally not much scent. They are not what you find in the florist on Valentine's Day. They are wonderfully different, with magical scents and extraordinary habits. These kinds of roses are best used (in my opinion) in beds filled with lots of perennials. Again, I'm more of the "higgly piggly" type gardener so more formal gardeners probably would not enjoy these as much.
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