“The more we are separated from nature,
-Unknown
This week I have spent a few long hours in my garden. Up till three years ago, all I had in my yard was a huge sprawling plod of Bermuda grass, and although the grass was nice to look it, it bored me to no end. What happened next were the ideas, the Country Garden magazine subscriptions, and a good dash of hope.
Garden planning on a small level does not have to be costly. I hired a local landscaper to cut out the Bermuda, and to lay out the first level of topsoil. I actually managed to get a steal of a deal on the bed cut-outs. I guess the landscaper had never hired a sod cutter, or cut out sod before, because after it was all said and done, it cost me 200 dollars, and a regretful landscaper. But, although he learnt from under quoting, I managed to get four huge garden beds constructed in their early stages, and I had pre-ordered 100 bags of black mulch, and 50 bags of top soil to turn over the beds with a worx-gt rotary hoe I had bought in the prior year. This small and versatile rotary hoe is hard on the wrists, especially in a clay predominant zone, so be careful as not to overdo it.
Next, I purchased some shrubs that I knew would grow fast on the back of the beds, including gardenias, hollies, spirea, butterfly bushes, lilacs (small trees), honeysuckles, privets, dogwoods, azaleas, and virburnums. I have also added knockout rose shrubs to my beds, for the simple reason, they are profuse flowerers that do not need deadheading, and grow robust and hearty in any environment that can also somewhat be left uncared for.
The next step in the flower bed process was planting some perennials that I knew would be suitable for the hot southern summers in the South of the U.S, and what come back year after year, with division, and self seeding. A couple of my favorites are daylilies, Shasta daisies, chrysanthemums, purple coneflowers, irises, butterfly weed, hostas, lambs ear, lavender, parsley, tickseed coreopsis, pineapple sage, regular sage varietals, geraniums, bee balm, maximulus sunflower, and a whole lot more.
My gardening abilities only developed in the last few years or so. I often spent countless
afternoons as a child watching my grandpa tending to his roses, and his garden pots,
but could never understand why. Now, after all these years that gramps is long gone,
I can still feel him touching my shoulder telling me where to put certain flowers,
or not what to do in certain scenarios. On a lighter note, I once heard a saying
“The supernatural is the natural not yet understood. (Elbert Hubbard).
And given my innate ability to cue into such thinking, and feeling I am certain this is true.
In tomorrow’s posting, I will give a run down for those who may not garden,
or are afraid to step out and try, of how to clean up your garden in the early spring.
Until then, enjoy this wonderful afternoon, and remember to smile if only for a moment,
Sam
