Inspired by a Firecracker

   Being "out of commission" due to a torn muscle has really brought gardening to a halt.  The Small Gardens have taken on a "rain forest" look as they are truly overgrown.  The plants have had to fend for themselves so they have grown with wild abandon.  Fine by me but I am not accustomed to having things intermingled to the point of confusion.  

  This morning between the rains, I strolled through the Small Gardens on my way to the fig trees.  (I am allowed to pick the lower figs as long as I do no stretching.)  At one turn on the path, there was a hodgepodge of plants with one bright sprig of blooms.  A single "Firecracker Lily" was blooming in the midst of a bunch of greenery.  In this one conglomeration, there was the bright red lily, a hibiscus (no blooms yet), some ivy, a trumpet vine and a fern.  How that poor lily squeezed its way through that mess is beyond me.  Still, the lily did.  It overcame the trouble set around it and flourished.  Perhaps, that is a hint for me to keep fighting all problems and flourish on my own.  The Small Gardens are full of inspiration.

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.