May 2009

As long as I am going through pictures I thought I'd share some of my garden.

This year I vowed to "use what I already have" to fulfill my garden dreams. I stuck to it pretty well, too

The house is freshly painted and, by the way, David finished my railing. Good job and thank you so VERY much! Thanks for the planters, Mom.

Welcome

Outside my kitchen door

This Poppy is bigger than my hand! These are just popped Poppies. They aren't as big as the first one was, but the color is amazing!


Ahh, Peonies! Enlarge the white one to see just a hint of a pink streak, about 4:00 from center.

First Peony blooms of my infant garden. Only 2 bloomed. Could need another season to bloom or I"ve planted them too deep. I guess time will tell. Gardening certainly lends itself to the lesson of learning patience!

"Lemon Merigue" is the name of this climbing rose and the fragrance is Delicious!!


Siberian (or Japanese) Iris. I want to get some white ones like this, too. The larger irises I planted into my "baby" garden have not bloomed, but sometimes it takes 2 seasons before they will.

I have big plans in my head for an English "Cottage Style" Garden. Of course, now I need to remove the stinky (like cat pee) Boxwoods from the front of the house. I don't want to kill them, that would be sacreligious here in Virginia. I will sincerely try to find a happy home for them. In addition I need muscle, and oh yeah, money! I do feel I am off to a good start though.

The Rosemary plant in tn the "Mother Garden" that I planted the first year I was here, as one of those Lowe's Chrsitmas tree-shaped plants, now looks like a hedge. It's in a good place for picking up fragrance, right beside the my brick walk. However, she is battling with the Lavendar Hedge (that I grew from seeds Pierrette gave me) that, too, is in a good place to pick up fragrance. Oh, what to do, what to do!

Pierrette also gave me Sweet William seeds. The small, deep pink flowers near the lavendar bush. They are blooming for the second year

Gardening is my joy and my pain.; even though I pay a price, sometimes, it is worth it. Keeps me out of trouble anyway!

Autumn Surprise

So, yesterday Ellen and I started to talk about this blog thing. She's had one for a while but stopped using it and has started again. Elise had sent me an invitation to view hers and Ellen B. told me about Jen's & Mary Catherine's. I told El that if I started one it would be too depressing. She said,"find one thing each day that is a happy thing." Sometimes I feel like she got all the wisdom, like it skipped a generation or something.

OK, here goes:

I was so surprised last week to see 3 blossoms on my Passion Flower Vine. In spite of the fact that it was growing I didn't expect to see any flowers from it as it got such a late start this summer growing back up from last year's cut back vine. Frankly, I thought I killed it. I really thought it was more a tropical plant then one one suited to this climate, even though it did get pretty hot this summer.

I took this pic last week and thought, "that's pretty good." So I submitted it online to the local newspaper, the News and Advance. Anyone can post pictures, I swear it's mostly dogs and cats or babies with dogs and cats, online but not all are chosen to be printed. I thought, Hey, what the heck? What a cheap thrill I got yesterday, on my birthday, to receive a phone call from the paper asking permission to use this photo in their feature, called Snap! I'll let you know when it's printed.

We've had a night freeze since I took this photo last week so I honestly don't expect to see any more flowers, but that doesn't mean I won't stop looking for one!


OK, now I am going to bore you with the story of the Passion Flower. There are many stories, symbols and beliefs about flowers, herbs, trees and such.


The Passion Flower symbolism, as originally perceived, and then augmented, includes:


The spiraled tendrils - the lash of Christ's scourging


The central flower column - the pillar of the Scourging


The 72 radial filaments - the Crown of Thorns ( I haven't taken the time to count them nor do I know how many thorns there were in the Crown of Thorns)


The top 3 stigma - the 3 Nails


The lower 5 anthers - the 5 wounds


The Style - the Sponge used to moisten Christ's Lips with Vinegar (give vinegar to a tortured dying man?)


The leaves (some species) - the head of the Centurion's Spear


The red stains - Christ's Blood Drops



The Round Fruit - The World Christ came to save


The Fragrance - The Spices prepared by the Holy Women ( the fragrance is stunning!)



Who thinks of these things? I mean, really? Who takes the time to sit and ponder, to find religious symbolism in a flower? I am no religious fanatic, by any means, but I do believe in Christ, not so much in favor of male-ego driven Catholicism. I "dabble" in it for the sake of tradition, as a means to touch base with the innocence of my childhood; when I believed in everything, I mean everything, I was told.



Trouble is, now I want to believe and I don't quite know who to trust.