Category Archives: Nature

Like Paradise or Eden!

20 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in Attitude, Beauty, Escape, Happiness, Joy, Life, Nature, Peace, Seasons

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Yesterday was another idyllic day in my garden, like paradise or Eden! In the morning, I awoke and opened the window coverings as I usually do to reveal all sorts of creatures doing what they were created specifically to do! There were bunnies, including two fairly brand new baby bunnies so tiny and cute! There were bright, lime green lovebirds, donned in their accent colors of red and turquoise, with their peach faces. Other birds, including quail and regular desert nesters such as wrens, robins, doves, and the small yellow finches were too numerous to count! Then there were the flitting hummingbirds, buzzing about with seeming effortless ability from bloom to bloom! All these residents and more were seen amidst the backdrop of flowers and blooming plants galore! It is truly a prolonged Spring of beauty, wonder, and abundance in a desert garden.  

In watching all this life unfold, I couldn’t help but be drawn into a silent, secret observer’s role! That role requires quiet acquiescence to the living creatures just doing what comes naturally to them. My direct interference would have silenced them all, they would have scurried off to hide had I been out there among them! But in quietly watching from the windows of various rooms, especially during the active cooler morning and evening hours when the sun isn’t so intense, I am able to witness all the wonders of their lives play out before my own eyes. And it’s magical! I’m often out there with the various creatures doing my outside chores and watering my plants, but to truly witness their antics, I must watch them from the other side of the glass, within my house.   

I wonder how many others would notice the fledgling dove’s efforts, uncertain in its own abilities, trying to take a drink while perched on the side of a water feature near my front porch? Would others also feel such joy for the young dove having conquered the physical limits of the container’s rim, finding an ease in drinking from the rocks sitting lower into the water? Maybe such joy is my natural reaction because I placed that water feature in my yard, as well as several others, specifically to draw such creatures and to accommodate their water needs during our intense dry, hot Summer. I keep the water levels high, the containers clean and filled just so the birds and other animals needing a drink will find water easily and readily within my yard as they need it. Their presence in my garden brings me such joy, that it surely is worth any bother or effort!   

Nature is wondrous and magical! The many bunnies in my yard are often pests, but the first time I lay eyes on the new season’s crop of baby bunnies, I forget the ravenous desires they will have for all my specialty plants as they grow and develop! It’s a delight to give all the players in this life’s performance their freedom and access to my garden as part of my care and responsibility for it. I plant knowing that things will be nibbled away. I rake around the freshly dug out burrows. I water with the awareness that I’m nurturing not only plants but the animals which nest and feed upon them. I feel a responsibility towards keeping up with the needs of all those creatures, even though they don’t belong to me, they aren’t mine nor are the wild creatures my pets. I’m merely assisting in their care and feeding while enjoying infinite, idyllic moments with them each new day! And it’s a welcome gift from God each new day I pull back the window coverings, which I perceive as a reward for helping to create such an Eden in my own yard!  

The Early Bird . .

30 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by in Attitude, Joy, Nature, Opportunity

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This week, I’m in the middle of my Spring-time yard clean up! And I’m exhausted. Now I must preface this whole tale by confessing to having a slew of plants, a pretty decent size yard and a great fondness for doing it all myself. Spring has sprung, it’s time to trim off the dead plant material and to rake up the debris left on the ground after Winter’s rages or seasonal changes. Each Spring, I have a list of prioritized items, beginning with the most crucial and ending with the least necessary. Crossing each item off the list would be wonderful, but I always end up adding to the list as I go! I have yet to begin a simple project without first having to do two or three minor things in preparation. For instance, I want to prune some tree branches, but first I must clean up under the tree or rake up after pruning the tree branches. There is often a bit of obscurity with seemingly simple list items, as projects are linked. Raking, pruning, bagging, hauling, planting, weeding, and the list goes on with the interconnected tasks! I’m an early bird, though, so I’ll get going early whenever I can to get it all done!  

Spring’s to-do list for the garden is never something I resent, no matter its length, as I so enjoy Spring! It’s probably my favorite season, as everything comes to life; and after Winter cold and rains, the warmth of Spring brings incredible beauty! There are shiny bright greens, all shades and types of flowers bursting from restless buds, and nature seems to awaken to all sorts of possibility. Animals are breeding, the baby bunnies, birds, and even lizards are all scurrying about! I have waited so patiently through colder months of inclement weather and plant dormancy to be this active in my garden again! I look forward to weeding, pruning, cleaning up, refreshing, and most of all, planting. There are holes to be filled wherever a plant didn’t make it, for whatever reason. During Winter, plants can succumb to frost or to animals snacking for survival. When they don’t green up after the warmth of Spring begins, it’s time to remove them and replace with something new. And after all the cleaning up, it’s as if the entire property got a haircut, a new style, a reshaping and a fresh look which gives it a lift for the new season and the rest of the year ahead!  

Even though my list makes for a lot of hard work physically, checking each item off produces significant joy within! I am pleased as punch to finish an item, even if it means I’ve had to add five more items as a result! I choose the best days to work based on the weather projected, the most opportune moments of those days, and work as long as I’m able before the aches and pains beset me! Each thing I finish on my list is the source of great satisfaction. One day, I plant. Another day, I rake up dead leaves in the front yard or under the fruit trees in the rear yard. And still another day, I take a pruning saw to a few tree branches which are not growing in the right direction or giving the tree the best form. My garbage can is always full in Spring with plant material raked up from the ground or pruned from my numerous plants.  

I even set my alarm to wake up extra early on those mornings I plan to be outdoors working just to get going on my Spring chores. The lengthening, warmer days offer an advantage for those of us who love the early-bird worms of Spring mornings! Tomorrow is another work day, as it’s slated to be warm enough but not too hot. It’s a day I’ve set aside to again tackle the burgeoning list I’ve created this Spring. And tonight when I retire, I’ll set my alarm for early in the morning just to ensure that I won’t miss an opportunity to get as much done as I can while I can! Beware worms, this early bird is coming for you tomorrow!   

Oh, the Joy! My Soul Is Restored . .

29 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Happiness, Joy, Love, Nature, Passion

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Oh, the joy! For a gardener who is also a plant specimen collector like me, there is nothing like the joy of a plant sale at a botanical garden. And just coincidentally, there was one at a favorite botanical garden on a visit I recently made to Los Angeles, California. To my delight, I approached the ticket window to find parking signs for plant sale purchase loading. I could scarcely wait to enter not only the garden, as it is truly one of my favorite destinations while visiting my sister in Los Angeles, but now I was so eager to first shop the plants! And shop the plants first I did!  

Now those who accompany me to any public or private garden collection like this one or the Huntington in San Marino, which we had just done two days prior this visit, are themselves eager to stroll garden pathways and to experience the ever-changing seasonal nature of the various planting collections. There is always something in bloom, always something exotic or unique to see in the way of plant specimens. At the Huntington Library and Botanical Garden, there is even a Carrion Flower,(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrion_flower), the plant which smells like a rotting carcass upon blooming. I believe it bloomed a few years ago, a rare experience which draws numerous visitors just for the sake of seeing it. Although I missed that, I have visited the Huntington and other botanical gardens I favor in Los Angeles and elsewhere as often as I can each year! Usually, those family and friends who accompany me to botanical gardens know my passion for plants, so they accept any foray to such places, as well as the coincidentally timed plant sales we precipitously discover!   

At this particular garden and plant sale, I decided to browse the sale prior to walking through the garden. The plants are limited in quantity which encourages me to shop early to have a better selection. And conveniently, the staff at the sale were able to accommodate browsers by holding plants in a secure room for a later time that same day. So we walked around the room with all the plants, large and small, and I found four plants in rather quick fashion which I believed would do well here in the desert! I study plants, having read a lot of books on them, and know botanical names. I am well-prepared because of my passion for plants, reading and learning about plants, as well as collecting unique specimens which I cannot find at my local nurseries or garden centers. I shopped rather quickly, and then we walked the garden pathways for several hours in the lovely Spring weather that particular day!

Because I live in a desert, most plants I am able to purchase locally are drought-tolerant and specifically known to grow here with our extreme conditions. That makes sense! But I want to discover plants from other origins which I might be able to grow here too! And so I collect plants specimens, I take chances and I push the parameters of what will grow in my desert garden. I do so without a built-in watering system, and with the limitations of weather and sun exposure found in a desert location. But I have gotten many plants I purchased in other states to work here where they aren’t found naturally in our desert or readily available for purchase! Botanical garden plant sales are a fabulous opportunity to discover yet unknown or hard to find plants. They often have plants which haven’t made it to the commercial nurseries because they aren’t yet as requested by customers. And for a visitor from another state, they offer a chance to try something completely new!  

Shopping for plants at the Southcoast Botanical Garden just a few miles from the Pacific is in itself a risk because it is in such a mild climate compared to mine, but I found four lovely one-gallon specimens to buy. I am taking a chance, but the unique nature of the plants, some familiar, some not, are the biggest thrill for someone who collects! Two of the four are known to me, I have their plant relatives in my garden. They are cultivars with distinction and unique features, though. Of the remaining two, one is an unknown entity, and I will plant it in a protected location for now. I bought it based on its description and appearance, only to discover it will have beautiful scented blue flowers one day! The other is a member of the bulb family, so I know from experience that it can be divided and regrown year after year. It will make a great potted plant because it flowers intensely for a brief period. 

For a plant nerd, aka collector, like me, a botanical garden is a place of great beauty and wonderful discovery! It can also be a place of wondrous reward when offering up a bounty of beauty to members and guests through annual or bi-annual plant sales. If you enjoy plants as much as I do, I encourage you to frequent your local botanical gardens and to visit those in other areas to which you travel. Because I am often in Los Angeles to see family and friends, I frequently visit several lovely gardens there. The experiences for me have been rich and rewarding, varying by the season and the nature of plant growth during seasonal influences. I get lost in those gardens, I am inspired by those gardens and my soul is restored in those gardens! And I love a good sale, especially when it comes to plants!   

 

Gardening Redemption . .

21 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Attitude, Celebration, Nature, Surprise

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Such great delight the day last Spring when I realized that a quail family had decided to take over one of my hanging pots on the rear porch for its nesting purposes! I couldn’t believe it! At first, I presumed that the birds I had caught a quick glimpse of were doves, but then I saw the head of the bird and knew instantly that it was one of the Gambel’s quail which are prominent here where I live. My only issue was in imagining why they had chosen to roost so high off the ground, as I often have trouble reaching the pot and need a step ladder to access it when moving it from the hook on which it hangs. But choose it they did! And then I realized my second conundrum in the quail family’s selection, the life and well-being of the vine which was growing in the hanging pot!  

Now, normally I wouldn’t worry about a hanging pot or the contents when it comes to the excitement of impending baby anything, much less baby quail! Have you seen the little souls? They are incredibly cute and so tiny at first. Who wouldn’t root for them or want their parents to have the best place to roost?! But this particular pot contained a vine which I had gladly added to my collection of unusual plants, one I don’t see very often at the few remaining nurseries here in my city. It originally came from a plant sale at a private garden located about an hour outside of town, so it was already deemed “rare” to me! Of course, the pot which contained this particular vine was the only one suitable for the quail family! Now I had a real dilemma. Should I accept the impending birth by ignoring the health and well-being of my vine, or should I discourage the nesters by watering and fussing over my vine?  

The baby quail won! I decided to let the pot go un-watered as the quail parents rooted around, repeatedly kicking out the potting soil and eventually killing off the vine over the weeks they nested in the pot. I never got to see the quail babies when the time came for them to leave, but I did find broken shells nearby and even some still remaining in the pot. I was a bit heartbroken by the lack of fanfare over the birth, the parents hadn’t even bothered to keep the little family nearby for my benefit! But I also had a pot which once had a thriving and beautifully blooming vine which now sat empty. My heart also felt the loss of such a beautiful and easy-to-care-for plant, as most plant nerds, aka plant enthusiasts/collectors would!  

I tried to console myself with thoughts of the quail prospering somewhere as a family. It worked in part. But I always hoped to locate another sample of that vine and plant it anew! Well, I got my gardening redemption in part when I noticed a few months later several weeds sprouting in odd places nearby the patio on which the empty pot was still hanging. Some of the sprouts were just weeds, plants I didn’t want. But a couple of sprouts actually had the leaf shape and the form of my vine! It was back by the grace of either some other bird or the wind. It doesn’t even matter who or what brought it, it just matters that the vine is living still in my yard. It’s in a place I wouldn’t have probably chosen, but it’s there! The vine which was sacrificed for the comfort of the brooding quail is now living and developing again under the protection of another plant, itself a benevolent consequence of seeds gifted to me by birds carrying them or by the wind blowing them right there!  

 

And so goes the cycle of life in a garden! Nothing is forever, everything is constantly changing, and there is never perfection in the “plots” and plans of the garden or the gardener!