Spring craze

Here I am again… would you forgive me?  These days, it seems, are composed of pink candy essences and wispy clouds of vanilla puffs… These are the magical days of May, full of glories and castles in the air.  And thus, I must come to the garden every day. And thus, I must write every day… I must!  My soul requires it! I hope you’ll understand!

The peony garden—round puffy balls of pinks everywhere is beaming with glories… glories of buds that have started opening all around. Two shades of pinks, actually, and a starburst of colors that includes strawberry (aka dark pink), and baby smile (aka light pink), two rosy flavors: fruit punch and watermelon.  I tell you, my mind has gone off the deep end, for it cannot distinguish between colors, flavors and flowers.  I blame it all to this outpouring of beauty everywhere, and the way spring has of playing with my soul after the long, long, no-garden winters of the north.   

Lupines make me smile!

They sing out my name every time I go by them!

"Cieloooo oh Cielooo", I hear them sing!

And then, there are the irises....

They have started to open everywhere, and they have surprised me in the most authentic of ways, for I was expecting blue flowers and instead, I'm getting Coca-Cola and root beer flavors! ;)

Spring does that to me!

Spring forever appears… the soothing music part of lyrics unspoken. It thaws the frozen fears, mends the wounded heart that Winter has broken.  ~Aarno Davidson

Awake, thou wintry earth -

Fling off thy sadness!

Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth

Your ancient gladness!

~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

The back porch and more!

This is the entrance to my little paradise.  On the arbor, grows a New Dawn rose—pink, always faithful, and gloriously beautiful.  It is covered in a million buds ready to open any day soon!

The Virginia creeper woke up one day in all its beautiful glory all of a sudden, and now that entire part of the fence is covered in its special beauty.  Pots of violas embellish the little tile table, and on the other side of that same pathway, the succulents, the ostrich ferns, the hostas, and a handsome Don Juan climbing rose.

I have worked very hard for months trying to bring this dear little garden of mine back to its previous glory... or to even a better 'now'! And I haven't been disappointed. Nature it truly is marvelously responding to all my cares!

A garden always makes people better, happier, and a more compassionate human being... they are sunshine and medicine for the soul.

The old one-winged angel that I almost put in the trash back at the little white cottage when we were moving is looking marvelous after a recent facelift.  I love to see him here, half hiding among lilac flowers and vines, and I’m so glad I saved him and brought him back home to his original place… Here, where we all belong!    

Because his broken wing is hidden among the glorious blooms of the Korean lilacs, he almost looks brand new…  so handsome he stands among blooms!  And I’m so happy I kept him!

I discovered that staining your little garden friends and fountains is the way to go when you want to give them a facelift.  In the past I have used spray paint, and even acrylic paint for that task, but this year I decided to tried some of the leftover stain we used on our fence and see what happened, and oh boy was I marvelously surprise!  The fountains look brand new, and some of my garden friends are happy to see new colors on their faded-old skin.  The old one-winged angel looks totally different now, and I just love it!  Try staining your statuary and fountains instead of using paint!  You’re going to love it! 

On the last Friday of April, we finally re-stained the floors on the back porch. And what a marvelous, marvelous transformation that made on the entire area! 

And who doesn’t love freshly painted anything?  And who doesn’t love the beauty of a refreshed, newly painted porch floors?  I love it!  I love how splendidly beautiful and clean the porch looks now... and how different from what it had looked before, all scratched up and unkept as it was.  I also love the color of paint we had selected this time, and how lovely the contrast against the black furniture.

The rattan chairs with their fresh coat of black paint and new cushions look marvelous too. Some of my houseplants have been moved to the porch for the sunny season and even our mysterious Jannelle is now part of the porch; embellishing the walls with her ever-enigmatic face.  

I rather have her out here than inside the house… after that little incident a few months ago I almost got rid of her, but decided to keep her any way.  Oh “stay, my dear stay... forever, as my quiet song, in my lilac dawn.” (Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingo).

The scruffy old baker’s rack I almost gave away too when we were returning home, now looks like brand new... after a few coats of shiny black paint and a new flowery top.  

First, I got rid of the broken old drawer, spray painted the entire thing and then embellished the top wood shelf using Mod Podge and some wrapping paper I had.  It looks so pretty now, and I’m so happy I decided to keep it!  It’s holding some pretty things now!

I wrapped some fairy-lights around some branches and made a fairy tree!  Then I glued some old fabric remnants onto the old plastic pot where branches and lights rest, and I think I’m liking what I see!

Plants plants... and lots of flowerpots!

I painted all the flowerpots too!

And filled them with lots of perennials instead of annuals this time!

It's been raining a lot around here, as it usually is the custom in spring time...  can you see the raindrops!

I've been pretty busy living my little life in the garden these days. I have made a ridiculously charming little mock of a pond all by myself, planted a few things, transplanted, divided and replanted many more.  I am constantly in the making and remaking of my own little Paradise, always weeding, pruning, planting, painting and moving things around.  My life is full and rich in many blessings, big and small.  I don’t doubt my worth, I don’t worry about pretty hands or manicured nails, I don’t care about wrinkles or smooth soles.  I work the soil with bare hands and naked feet, my knees are green my fingers stained black, my heart is free, unmasked and revealed to the world as it is; ablaze with the Spirit and sanctified in divine grace.  I am pleased with where I am and where I’m standing at this point in my life.  I live with aches and pains and experience discomforts more than I can bear sometimes, often talk and walk with depression, loneliness and fear.  I am human.  I am me I am you.  I have a Heavenly Father that knows me and loves me just as I am. For He created my inmost being; He knit me together in my mother's womb.  What else can I ask from life?  That I may live to please you, oh Lord.

Eve in her garden...

Hostas are opening to their full dark green beauty... 

And the ones growing in pots are gracing paths and trails beautifully... 

The peony bushes are heavy with blossoms ready to amaze the soul of the gardener.  They can be seen everywhere around the garden, and I was surprised, upon discovering them earlier this spring, by how many of them are coming back—all healthy and full as they can be.  These are all the peony plants I planted everywhere around the garden from that original single bush.  And then left.  The ones I pulled out earlier this winter and relocated to some better places, are also doing splendidly.  All from that same cutting, and all in that same marvelous pink.  

The two grapevines I let be are not disappointing me either.  They are growing stronger each day, and I’m making sure only a few shoots remain; pruning the bottom parts of the healthy trunk almost daily, to maintain neatness and a more abundant crop of grapes this autumn.

Long ago, I planted a small cutting of some type of a fern I got from a friend’s garden; feeble enough to had me believe back then it would never make it.  But then I left, and didn’t get to see what had transpired out of it.  And what a pleasant surprise this was—to find these fleecy beauties growing strong and beautiful everywhere. Another proof that nothing is really dead; at least not forever anyway.

Sprinklers!  How I adore watching the sprinklers go off every morning.  The garden loves it too, and grasses are super green and lush.  Another blessing, compared to all the watering shores and toils I was faced with in my gardens at the little white cottage.

 Cares melt away when I kneel in my garden...

It is hard work, no doubt, but oh all so worth it!

"The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command." -   J.R.R. Tolkien,  The Lord of the Rings.