Somewhere Beyond the Garden Gate

   Gardens are one of few places where you can find yourself while losing yourself.  It is hard to understand that if you are only exposed to well manicured lawns and overly neat flower beds.  I have neither of those.  It is my habit of letting things grow where they may and letting them spill over to greet the other plants as they please.  Parsley visits the basil while mingling with the wild purslane.  Tomatoes have made friends with petunias and zinnias all the while shaking hands with the jasmine vines.  Squash shade the bell peppers who have a tendency to hug the garlic.  It is this way throughout the yard.  Pathways lead you everywhere...yet nowhere.  You get lost among the towering plants that are blooming with birds, bees, lizards and butterflies.  Then...you find yourself.  

 

   I meandered through the lemon trees and around the crape myrtle on my way to the vegetable plot.  The gate was almost hidden by the 6 foot tall lemon grass, the turmeric and four-o-clocks.  A slight haze had settled in over the grape vines and fig trees making the whole place look mystical.   I gathered a few tomatoes, squash and cucumbers along with a handful of herbs, I was enthralled by the way the first rays of sunlight were filtering through the branches of the old oak trees.  The entire garden was dappled with bits of glimmering hope.  Then a thought...perhaps my garden is the way the world is actually meant to be...a bit disheveled...a little bit wild and woolly...yet filled with a whole lot of love, hope and peace.  Magic grows here among the plants and critters...the magic of tranquility.

  

Losing the Garden Path but Finding Paradise

   Lately, with the yard cleanup taking place mainly in the back part of the property, the Small Gardens have run amok with new growth.  I have had neither the time nor the energy to do even minor maintenance there. The Small Gardens now greatly resemble some wild and woolly rainforest!  Not that I mind as the prior work put into this area has proven to be worth the effort.  It gives a sense of serenity to wander through the overgrown tropical plants even in their unkempt state.

  

This morning, I took the time to transplant twenty hibiscus shrubs from their tiny six-inch seed pots into the border gardens before heading to the back cleanup.  As I was digging holes for the seedlings, the sun was just peeping over the pines on the opposite side of the Bayou.  As the rays started shooting down one of the garden paths, I was fully in awe of how secluded the area seemed.  The lush, healthy overgrowth nearly made the path unpassable.  Each nook and cranny held a different bloom or fruit.  Taking a few minutes from the task at hand, I breathed the sweet aromas of flowers and early morning freshness.  I listened as the birds chirped happily as they feasted upon the remnant blueberries and a few remaining figs.  I felt the morning dew and the cool breeze coming from the Bay.  I thought (and relished the thought) of how this was paradise.  This was how life should be.  This is what takes me from the stress of dealing with people's greed and drama to being perfectly blissful.  This is the magic of the Small Gardens.  This is where I belong...where I find tranquility.

Which Way Is It?

  I often wonder about the logic of things.  Is there always a certain method...a precise order...a definite logic behind everything or are some things pure happenstance?  Yep, being left alone on the Bayou for too long can, indeed, mess with the brain and make one ponder far too many things.  The thoughts come flying out of the dusty corners of the brain and flop together in no certain order or in perfect synchronization.  I do ponder things while out doing chores or wandering the marsh line.  Today's ponderance?  Why do certain things happen when, where and how they do when there is nothing that set them in motion other than serendipity.  (And, on another note...serendipity...is not the best word ever?  Seems to me that we should all live serendipitously!  Love it!)

  What brought this mishmash of thoughts in action was the sight of a lovely jonquil.  This was the first jonquil of the season and brought such happiness.  The thought that spring is here (or, at least, near) is a happy thought for the gardens.  The jonquil bloom, itself, was not that thought provoking but rather where the happy, little blossom decided to bloom made me start pondering.  The yellow flower was in the midst of the cabbage patch.  (Yes, I have cabbage patches this year.  There are no organized rows...only plants here and there.)  Back to our jonquil...did the jonquil grow in the cabbage patch or was it the other way around?  Are the cabbages in the jonquil bed?  Apparently, they get along well and have no problems sharing the little patch of ground.  I did plant the cabbages there but do not recall ever having jonquil bulbs in this spot.  Just happenstance?  Pure serendipity?  Or forgetfulness?  Take your choice.  I shall enjoy my jonquil AND the cabbage!  Life is good when there is no one to tell you that your quirky thoughts are not acceptable. 

Plants Have A Lot To Say

   Currently, the Small Gardens are overgrown, weedy and seemingly happy.  Each morning brings a new surprise in the way of blooms, fruit or vegetables.  It just goes to show that once we stop dumping chemicals, do not overcut and simply let plants do their own thing, they provide.  Plants are resilient...too bad we are not the same.  

  This morning found some lovely phlox in bloom.  These plants came from two different people.  Pop gave me the first start and I have managed to keep them at least surviving for some 35 years.  Yep, the plants keep coming back year after year from the rootstock.  The newer phlox came from my sweet Grand Princess, Mary Ruth when she was just a tot.  Actually, she brought them to "Uncle Michael" (also known as Son on the blog).  She just "had" to bring him some purple flowers!  He loves them merely for that fact. 

  In a way, the phlox are the perfect gift.  Phlox are said to represent "united hearts and souls".  I was very close to Pop and miss him terribly.  He was the one who taught me the love of gardening and plants, in general.  I am also quite certain Son and Mary Ruth will always maintain a special relationship even though they are so very far apart.  The phlox are fitting and so lovely to find as one wanders through the yard.  That is part of the Magic of the Small Gardens!

Where are my blueberries?

   I often wonder what Pop must think of my gardening skills.  He is probably looking down from Heaven and shaking his head at my mishmash of gardens.  I have a grand tendency of plopping plants wherever there is space and letting them grow with wild abandon.  This is a far cry from his orderly gardens back on the farm.  The vegetable fields were for vegetables.  The flower gardens were for flowers.  Each was carefully separated even down to the different type plants.   There was no mixing.  Each had its own space.  There were no tomato plants in the petunia bed.  There were no jasmine vines covering a fence in the squash patch.  There were no gloriosa lilies mixed in with the wisteria which was covering the same fence as a few roses and some more jasmine.  I just figure they can all get along or move along.  If they do not do well, then that is their problem.  So far, this has worked and everything seems happy.  I know I am.

  There is one problem that will have to be remedied this next winter, however.  Near that fencerow that has the conglomeration of vines, there are some blueberry bushes.  Those bushes are now under the vines.  Yep, my blueberry bushes have become arbors for the mingling vines.  It seems as if they will have to be moved a bit further away if I am to ever find the ripe berries amid the blooms of the other plants.  It appears that my method may not be working at its best.  Oh, well.  That is a chore for this winter and there is no use in fretting over it at the moment.

The Butterflies and Moths are Slacking!

   It is not often that I am fully taken aback by the comings and goings of the garden.  The garden, itself, is almost an entity.  There is an ever evolving life taking place in amongst the plants and critters that dwell in the confines of the Small Gardens especially in the vegetable plots.  Nothing should ever be doubted.  Nothing should ever be taken as a given.  Either way.  What you think will never work, sometimes shouts "Hey! Look at me now!" and the very thing that you think should flourish from the get-go, comes to a dismal end.

  We have not had much winter as of yet and you would think that would be a happy event for the plants.  Not so.  Most winter crops need that cold for protection from critters.  A winter vegetable garden is usually comprised more of cold hardy plants such as cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli.  There is a reason for this. These are lovely greens that are the mainstay diet of caterpillars.  Butterflies and moths are supposed to be dormant in winter which allows the greens to grow undisturbed.  Without the frigid air, the butterflies are out and about which means the garden is taking a beating from caterpillars.  My plants greatly resemble green lace!  It is saddening since my standards of gardening do not allow for chemical laden leaves.  I refuse to spray toxins on the plants that I wish to eat. 

  Imagine my surprise this morning after finally getting to the garden after a few days break doing building projects.  There amid the lovely "lace plants" was a beautiful head of broccoli just waiting to be picked!  Somehow, the egg-laying butterflies and moths missed this one and in just three days time, the head grew to fully harvesting size!  Surprises of this sort are exciting to me.  Maybe I have been quarantined as "Queen of the Small Gardens" a little too long when the highlight of my day is a head of broccoli...but...whatever works.  We shall dine royally this evening!

A Post, A Skink And Magic

   Son has often made the statement that I am easily amused or entertained.  He claims that my mind can find joy where others refuse to look.  To my way of thinking, that is how things are supposed to work.  We should not have to constantly be bombarded with artificial stimuli to keep the brain moving.   There is far more than enough to stimulate any brain without smacking it with only others' ideas.  My brain wanders in a different route.  I can find joy and beauty in just about anything.

  This morning, I sat in the garden with my first mug of coffee pondering the chore plan for the day.  With storms threatening to enter the Gulf in the next few days, my time would be spent hauling the planks that were salvaged from Hurricane Zeta up the hill a bit further.  Over two thousand boards had been de-nailed and stacked but were now needing to be restacked where possible flood waters would not reach them.  What a job!  But this morning as I sat sipping the coffee, my brain slipped off into a wonderland of thoughts.  Sitting in the garden can do that to you!  Ideas of new features for the area swirled with wild abandon.  Don't get me wrong, my gardens are about as hodgepodge as they come but that is the way I love them.  Suddenly, my eyes focused on a single post in the midst of the purple basil and wild ageratums.  Ahh, that is lovely!  The post has no apparent reason for being in the flower bed other than I thought it needed to be there.  So, I stuck it there...randomly but on purpose! 

  As I was sitting there, the post suddenly came magically came alive.  A quite large skink slowly made its way to the top then turned to go back down about halfway.  There it stopped to bask in the morning sunlight.  What is so magical about a post and a skink, you may ask.  Well, I had just recently thought it would be nice to have one of those ceramic lizards somewhere just as a point of interest.  Nope!  I do not need one.  I have the real thing and it is far nicer.  The Magic of the Small Gardens came into play once again.  There is no limit to the wonders of nature.  (Or perhaps Son is correct and I am easily amused.)