I'm typically like the proverbial kid in the candy store this time of year. Normally by June, I'm crawling virtually every nursery within fifty miles looking for new and exciting plants for my garden. But this year is a little different, for several reasons. For one, my husband has an especially heavy work load that will require him to be gone from dawn to dusk this summer, so my days are very full keeping up with our three boys. We're also on a bit of a tight budget right now, between an ongoing update (as in from the Dust Bowl days to now) on our old house. With our boys being three very different ages, it seems that I'm almost constantly buying and replacing clothes, shoes, and the ever-disappearing supply of groceries. And did I mention the payments to the orthodontist? But you know what...I'm up to it. As a botanist by training and schooling, and a gardener and horticulturist by passion, I believe I'm perfectly equipped to pull myself up by the gardening clogs and make the most of these so-called 'limitations'. So rather than whine, I'm devoting myself to a summer of dividing, transplanting, mooching/swapping with friends, and burying my nose in my nearly obsessive collection of gardening books for inspiration. When we're caught up on some things this fall, I'll be armed with next year's wish list, and can get a jump on bulbs, rhizomes and seeds for next summer. It'll see me through the long Colorado winter that generally makes October through April a significant challenge to this gardener's endorphins.
But there's definitely things I can do now, too. I planted a large vegetable garden, thanks to my husband's generous gift of some gardening money for seeds this mother's day. We took a tour recently of an elderly gentleman's vast Japanese-style iris gardens. Inspiring doesn't do it justice, that garden was a piece of Heaven! There isn't a perfume company out there that can hold a candle (scented or otherwise) to two acres of bearded iris! That wonderful gentleman is on my visiting list this fall, when many 'professional' gardeners open their doors and hands to the public in order to share their goodies with the horticulturally less fortunate. I say that tongue-in-cheek...there've been many times that I was the one able to share an unusual bounty with other gardeners, and I loved being able to do it. This year it's just my turn to wait, and that's okay, too. It's just another way that gardening has taught me patience, and how to enjoy dreaming during those times when I can't necessarily indulge my gardening whims.
I'm also having fun taking some new photos of the beautiful flowers and plants in my yard, and catching up on the gardening photo albums and journals I've kept the last few years. It's great to see just how far we've come since purchasing our home six years ago. This place was a rat's nest...and now it's just what I dreamed it would become: a piece of Eden, right here. With the world in the horrendous shape it's truly in, my heart rejoices in being able to bring some beauty into the lives of my family and friends. I think it brings hope to others, and I KNOW it does to me.
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