Grand Plans for the Big Rock Garden

 

It may not look like much in it's frozen state, but this garden spot is my pride and joy. I was peering down on it, this morning, from the upper deck, trying to remember everything I planted out there. 

Because I'm almost done drooling over my 2-foot-tall stack of gardening catalogs. Which, naturally, inspires all sorts of grand plans! Including three goodies I'd like to start from seed:

• Butterfly Flowers
• Joe Pye Weed
• Blue Cupidone

Plus, a few more I might be forced to pay for. I need at least a million Hot Papaya Coneflowers. And, the Belladonna Amaryllis is absolutely calling my name.

Here's my Big Rock Garden in summertime. 

I love this time of year because it's filled with sky's the limit possibilities. After all, I'm still 3 months out from actually plunking down a credit card so it's not like reality will be raining on this parade. Not for awhile anyway...

This garden spot is a 50-foot oval, bordered by a half moon driveway, with an unbelievably big rock, smack dab in the middle.

Before!

 

Three years ago, I decided to camouflage that gigantic boulder [about the size of my Jeep Wrangler] with all sorts of waterwise flowers:

Off in the distance, you can see my tiny town.

I fantasized about drilling a hole in that big boulder, adding a spout and turning it into some sort of extravagant water feature. No can do ~ the depressions on top of the rock provide a shallow water source for butterflies.

Oh! And, did I mention I'm the sprinkler system? Yup, it's all up to me, schlepping a hose around. Hence the reason for waterwise flowers.

That's also the reason for this post! I've a feeling we're all doing the same thing. Pouring over garden catalogs, schemin' and dreamin.'

That had me wondering... Have you discovered any brand new, brightly colored, not thirsty flowers?

Pink Evening Primrose and Centranthus Jupiter's Beard.

* Sticker Shock: Last, but not least, I desperately want to plant a whole bunch of Italian Forget-Me-Nots. However! That particular garden catalog wanted $13.99 for one 4-inch pot! Might anyone have some seeds to sell?

Common Grounds

“I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.”

- Jennifer Yane

At the risk of sounding like one of those annoying co-workers you wish would get fired, may I just say: TGIF?

I sit here in a stupor this morning, thrilled at the prospect of a weekend without an alarm clock. I hug my coffee cup with two grateful hands, tentatively embrace reality, and contemplate setting fire to my to-do list. It's Friday. The stuff on that list should have been done long before now.

I've heard tell there are people in this world who begin their day without coffee. Legend has it some folks require no caffeine of any kind to feel all perky first thing in the a.m. I know not of these strange fools. Could be an urban myth.

Coffee is my magical morning potion and that should never change. It not only makes me civil. It also makes me smile.

Coffee makes my flowering friends pretty happy, too.

Leftover coffee grounds slowly release nitrogen into the soil as they degrade. They’re acidic, a blessing for Azaleas and other acid-loving plants who have the misfortune of living in my alkaline soil.

Strawberries love 'em. Hydrangeas go nuts. Roses and Evergreens perk up quite nicely. (I've never met a non-native flower who has a problem with being caffeinated.) Coffee grounds are also great at combating ant problems. If you live in the Desert Southwest you are likely plagued with this pestilence, same as me.

Oh! And, then there's the phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper in those leftover grounds. I suppose I could get into the nitty, gritty details of why that's so wonderful, but could we just say 'trust me' and leave it at that? After all, my coffee's getting cold.

* Used coffee grounds green up plants, improve soil conditions, and encourage rapid growth. Starbucks gives away their coffee grounds for free. Or, just give me a call. I've got plenty!

** PS! They can be very acidic. Best way is to compost them. If you're a composter, then you're aware of how you need a balance of 'browns and greens.' Coffee grounds are considered 'green.'

Wordless Wednesday: The Grateful Daisy

* When I first started growing these hippy dippy Daisies, they reminded me of tie-dyed shirts and a cool, old band. Do you know which one?

For more Wordless Wednesday participants, click here!

HappyThankYouMorePlease

10 days out of every year I get to be a film critic. That's because I live in the tiny town where Robert Redford holds his Sundance Film Festival. Last night I saw the 2010 Audience Award Dramatic Winner: HappyThankYouMorePlease. It's a cute movie based on the premise that it's...

... Quite all right to ask for a little bit more of anything that makes you happy.

Azaleas are re-blooming for the umpteenth time. Plump, pink buds ready to open as soon as the big flower's time is up.

Early this morning I was anxiously awaiting the end of the coffee pot's drip, drip, drip. The signal I can begin my day. Busying myself, inspecting the flowers and thinking about that idea: HappyThankYouMorePlease and what, exactly, makes me happy.  

 

The face only a Mother could love. Plumeria stalks are preparing to set their first leaves.

Certainly flowers do. You can't get a job in my indoor garden if you won't flower. But what really makes me happy...

What really and truly gets me excited is not always the flower...

 

Delicate Cyclamen buds hiding in the shade of the big green leaves.

It's that spiffy green growth and new tiny buds ~ the promise of another flower. After the ones the store provided, the flowers that prompted me to buy her in the first place, are all gone.

Look close. Pink and yellow Rosebuds are hatching a plan.

Same deal outdoors. Half the time I look right past the gorgeous blossom to see who's waiting in the wings to do the same darn thing.

African Violets ~ Maybe, just maybe, will be showing off for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

The day I started behaving like that is the day I feel I officially became a gardener. When those little buds that nobody sees but me suddenly became my gratification.

Because they tell me the whole story.

Which always prompts me to exclaim:

Hey! You're not dead?? 

Perhaps I'm a good gardener, after all!

 

Bonus Photo: Even my leftover produce is in a happy growing mood these days.

Black Moon

If only this moonlight snowshoe trail...
 Had been in the same direction as our full Wolf Moon....

Then I would have scored a picture to be seriously pleased with!

* Did you know?  Just as the moon pulls the tides in the oceans, it also pulls the subtle bodies of water. Tests have proven that seeds will absorb the most water at the time of the full moon - and germinate faster during this time in the lunar cycle.

So, we told scary ghost stories and then we planted:

• Green Onions
• Sweet Peppers
• Fabulous Tomaters

Happy Full Wolf Moon to one and all!

And, Who Might You Be?

Kate to Florist: "Howsabout orange? What have you got for orange flowers?"

Florist response: "We don't have much. People don't like orange." 
Outraged Kate: "Whaddyamean people don't like orange? I love orange!"

[You don't fully appreciate me until you hear me fight with a florist.]

Been pondering the strangeness of the blogosphere for about a month, now. This began when I saw a blog post title from Bloomingwriter that gave me the impression she was quitting her blog. (Thankfully, that is not the case.)

Next came Fairegarden's thought-provoking post on what would happen to our blogs once we ran out of steam.

Impeccable timing. The following day I was hopping from blog to blog saying hello and catching up on people's lives when I hit a heartbreaking snag.

Seems a woman who's blog I've been following for several years had fallen ill and was in the hospital.

I 'met' this blogger through her daughter's blog. The daughter and I are about the same age. At least I think we're the same age. Hard to know, for sure, because this is the blogosphere, where identities are a bit obscure.

Even so, I feel I know a lot about these gals. I know how the daughter suffers when the sun doesn't shine. I see how her Mom, GJ, strives to preserve the eclectic craziness of her tiny retirement town.

And, yet we've never met. Half the time I don't even know what my blogging friends look like.

So, GJ is ill. She's in the hospital. Blogging daughter updates GJ's blog saying it's doubtful her Mom will continue blogging since mobility is now a problem.

I'm blinking back tears. AND madly scouring the internet for a local florist because no friend of mine is gonna get stuck in a hospital without some brightly blooming goodies to boost her spirits.

Got the hospital room and address from blogging daughter and proceeded to drive the local florist nuts with my demands... Eventually, we reached agreement.

And, then the florist made the simplest demand of me: 
"Now all we need is GJ's full name and we'll deliver it this afternoon."

My response? 
Um. 

I didn't know her name! 

Here I am anxiously trying to send a bouquet of flowers to GJ and it had never occurred to me that I don't know her real name! She's GJ the blogger. That's not enough?

It got me wondering about Buffalo. Site of this year's Garden Bloggers Annual Gathering ~ where everyone meets up in the real world, full names and faces included. I wonder if I should go. Are you planning to go?

* GJ is feeling better. She did get the flowers ~ though I have a strong hunch there wasn't nearly enough orange in that bouquet. And, while I'm thrilled to hear she's feeling better this is bittersweet since we no longer get to keep tabs on her via the blog.

Wordless Wednesday: Adventure Garden

* Utah Locals: Visiting the Red Butte Gardens is just as much fun (maybe more!) in winter. Be sure to break the rules in order to have some big fun.

* For more Wordless Wednesday participants, click here.