Six on Saturday: With Patience and Flexibility….

Turneric in bloom with elephant ears

It’s finally raining. Cool, soft rain has been falling for several hours now with more on the way. It is such a relief, because I’ve been pulling hoses and carrying full buckets of water nearly every day for the past several weeks to keep the pots and certain parts of the gardens watered. It has been hot and muggy, which has encouraged all of the flowers and elephant ears to push out new flowers and growth and stay beautiful longer than usual; so long as they can stay hydrated. Otherwise, we have drooping stems and crispy leaves.

I’ve been doing July chores in October.  And even as we admire the lushness, my thoughts have already turned to changing out plants for the winter, planting bulbs and cutting back. 

I dug out the first Caladiums and Callas this week, laying the bulbs in a cardboard flat to dry.  I replaced the Caladiums with soft pink snapdragons to bloom on into the winter and again in earliest spring.  Trays of ferns and herbs are marshalled, ready to begin new lives in pots as soon as I lift out the summer tenants.

And here into the second week of October I’m still waiting to find that particular variety of Panola that blends pink and burgundy and softest yellow in each ruffled blossom.   My planting visions are filled with this warm palette of color to brighten winter pots. 

Climate confusion affects us all.  Butterflies linger a bit longer.  Trees remain green well into ‘autumn.’ It is still too warm to plant most of the winter ornamentals that usually fill nurseries and garden centers in October.  Gardening trains us in patience and flexibility.  And appreciation for even the smallest bit of beauty.

Read more and see four more photos on my newer website, Our Forest Garden

Visitors

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Our Salvia leucantha draws many beautiful visitors to its sweet nectar.  Standing near it and just quietly watching the comings and goings of these beautiful insect visitors is both delight and meditation.  The great yogis, like Pantanjali and Naropa, lived high in the Himalayas; far from such delights as this.  How would their teachings have been different , had they lived in a garden instead?

I appreciate this meditation on life in all of its forms, its fragility and strength, and its conscious efforts to survive.

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And I wonder at the invitation inherent in a single plant we consciously include in our garden.  What a great communion of species coming together, to partake of the life-giving powers of  this Salvia.

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2015

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In A Vase on Thursday

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Cutting flowers from the garden is still a very hard thing for me to do.  The bees didn’t help the matter at all as they buzzed around the Mexican Sage I was dropping in a glass of water, as soon as I had cut it.  They were bewildered, and a bit annoyed, that I was taking their favorite flowers.

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I walked right past the gorgeous Camellias, not wanting to cut their woody stems, which will keep on growing once the flowers drop.

Some will observe that cutting encourages new growth; a moot point in late October.  Others will chime in that frost can take them down at any time, anyway.

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Whatever the merits of the arguments, I wanted to fill this silver coffee pot with flowers before my guests arrive in a few short hours.  It had grown a bit dusty and tarnished over the summer.

I enjoy the firm deadline an invitation imposes for one to seek out those pesky cobwebs normally ignored; clean out the stacks of catalogs by my chair, and perhaps shine a piece or two of silver.

And to cut flowers….

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As usual, I’ve cut things I hope will root in the vase.  There are my two favorite Salvias in bloom this month:  Salvia leucantha and Salvia elegans.  And though only the Pineapple Sage is called elegant in its proper name, I find both to be very elegant in the fall garden.

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The Salvia leucantha grow through an Artemisia in the front garden, and so I used a bit as filler.  I like its pale foliage against the silver coffee pot.  There are also a few branches of our African Rose Mallow, Hibiscus acetosella.

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Cathy, continues to post her vase each Monday, and I think of her fondly as each Monday comes and goes.  I expect these flowers to still look lovely after the weekend, and perhaps I’ll consider myself a few days early instead of four days late!  Positive thinking is a habit, after all, isn’t it?

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Our weather has turned nice again and I’ve been putting a few potted things back outside to enjoy our late October Indian Summer.  We certainly are enjoying these comfortable, sunny days.  And the small creatures in the garden, particularly the bees, celebrate all of the flowers still blooming so beautifully.

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Woodland Gnome 2015

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