Category Archives: Garden Grace

Rosemary for Remembrance

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Yesterday I planted Pineapple Sage,  Bee Balm, Stevia, and  Lime Balm as well as Genovese Basil. Most years we have close to a dozen varieties of basil alone, and we have mounds of oregano and mint. Cilantro and dill are beginning to bolt to flower since we have had such warm weather.  Of all the herbs, I love rosemary best for its symbolism of faithfulness and remembrance. Whether I brush against it in the garden or bruise it before sprinkling over something roasting on the grill, the pungent fragrance calls me to remember God’s faithfulness.

Growing Season

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We fan the seed packets out like playing cards. My granddaughter chooses Red Leaf lettuce, Sweet Basil and Bouquet Dill. I pick Tarragon and Jewel Nasturtiums. We take them outside and find the rusty trowel and a small hoe. She loosens the soil and draws a line with her finger before carefully placing the tiny lettuce seeds, patting a veil of earth over them with the other hand. She fills the watering can she once called “flower shower”. My seed picks unopened, I stand watching her with a fullness in my heart that makes my eyes sprinkle.

seeds will sprout green and grow deep

loved by a sun warmed hand and heart

little girl also growing

Surviving

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Gardens are such good storytellers!  The climbing rose in this picture is on an arbor by our backyard fish pond.  It is a Peggy Martin rose.  For those who may have never heard this story, I will tell you it is named for the woman who grew it in her garden near New Orleans, along with hundreds of other roses before Hurricane Katrina.  All the roses were under about 20′ of salt water for two weeks following the hurricane. When she was finally able to return to visit their property she found new growth on this one rose, all that remained. In the devastation she also lost her elderly parents, her home, and commercial fishing boat that her husband used to supplement their income.  She didn’t even know the name of the rose since a cutting had been given to her by mother in law who had also been given a cutting.

Dr. Bill Welch from Texas A&M along with other antique rose experts and growers helped to get the newly named “Peggy Martin” rose into the marketplace where proceeds help restore gardens throughout the South devastated by Katrina and other forces of nature.

The story always makes me wonder what made this rose any different from the rest to give it the resilience and fortitude to say “I’m still here and growing better.”   One thing has to be that its roots were stronger and deeper.  I am still thinking about the fact that its cuttings root very easily…it is flexible and can handle change.  The telling of all this has to include a theme of restoration, too.  Out of the Martins’ great loss has come a way to help others.

What a good gardening story!  Soul gardening, too.

Connections

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John Muir said, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”  This year the early blooming trees are particularly beautiful. Redbuds, Huisache, Plums, Bradford pears are a riot of purples and yellows and lacy whites along with still bare branches. When I go for a walk, I often find myself at a standstill, stopped in my tracks at the sight of one tree bursting with color.  A turn of my head brings more flowering.  The trees lead me to each other, all singing songs of fresh starts.

March 1 on a South Texas Country Road

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March 1 on a South Texas Country Road

Winter palette fades.

Painted over by Springing.

Weary gray tinges green.

 

Bare branch silhouette

 Softens, hazed in chartreuse fog.

Baby leaves split tight coats.

 

Shiny buds unfold

Clover, dandelion, moss

Each green different

 

 Why call it Red Bud?

It’s lilac, pink, violet.

Purple vetch vines, twines.

 

 Blue wood violet,

Saffron puffs of sweet Huisache

Fill air with fragrance.

 

Indian Paintbrush

                                             Tiny torches start to blaze,

scatter scarlet flames.

 

Not yet showing bloom,

  Bluebonnets, Crimson Clover

soon add to Spring’s song.

 

 Bleak chill of winter

Gives way to resurrection,

melody of Life.

Greening in the Rain

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Right now we have a large dove population in our back yard. I know this because when I walk outside, I often startle a pair or two on the walkways or fence. I love finding their nests. This one is on the top of arches where a climbing antique rose grows. I can stand underneath it, which is where this photo was taken.

Greening in the Rain

Peaceful garden, greening in the rain
Roses blooming, shattering, scattering confetti on the flagstone
Hyacinth thrusting up a sweet purple bouquet
Doves building twig nests in twining vines.

Roses blooming, shattering, scattering confetti?
Shaken by startled darting wings –
Doves, building twig nests in twining vines
Petaled path inviting passage.

Shaken by startled darting wings,
I am stilled as I see their nest,
Petaled path inviting passage
Peaceful garden, greening in the rain.

Thriving

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Two weeks ago today we were preparing for a return to the hospital for Joe so that he could have the surgery I posted about last week. There have been many surgeries, four of them in the last five months. We are grateful to report the surgeon successfully put new knee replacement parts back in (the third set!) and although Joe has pain and a huge amount of work as his muscles regain strength and healing begins, he is walking, bearing weight on that leg for the first time in a long long time! He is smiling, holding his head higher, talking about going back to work and a trip this Spring. He is thriving.

You may be asking what my seedling photo can possibly have to do with this journey for us. Just this – two weeks ago today, I sowed a package of my favorite heirloom tomato seeds in pots which I set inside my kitchen. When we left on the morning of surgery (3 days), there was not a tiny speck of green anywhere that indicated anything was happening with my seeds. Each morning before I left for the hospital, I misted them, keeping the soil moist but not soggy. On the 5th day, I smiled as I told Joe we had "babies" when I got to his hospital room. Joe came home at the end of the week, and agreed with me that the seedlings were "looking for light" as they stretched their spindly stalks toward the window. The bit of sunlight they got in their spot just wasn't enough. I hooked up a couple of grow lights and this is the result! Now the stems are getting stronger, and if you look closely, you are able to see the secondary leaves just beginning to appear. My Cherokee Purple tomatoes are thriving!

Two weeks can make such a difference. I am thinking I just might have some help harvesting tomatoes this summer.

Growing

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“When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow, but the gardeners themselves”. ~ Ken Druse

Texas Gulf Coast Winters are frequently mild, but so far this year has been strangely so. After the summer’s dreadful prolonged heat and drought, we welcomed Fall and cooler temperatures.  After earlier than usual temperature dips into slightly below freezing, we have had only a couple of freeze warnings and unusually warm days which are tricking the garden into thinking Spring.  The Peggy Martin roses on our arbor are throwing out new growth and bursting into a riot of color. Undoubtedly we will have some nips when temperatures drop again.

How can I learn and grow from tending this garden? 

I will remember that my circumstance is not always what it seems.

I will avoid jumping to conclusions based on unfinished results.

I will practice patience even when I want to demand “now.”

I will remember my Gardener knows the forecast.

 

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The Rain Chain

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This string of bronze bell shaped objects is hanging right now from one of the arches in our rose arbor by the fish pond.  It is pretty, and if breezes get brisk, it sounds like a clattery windchime.  It is OK as this ornament.  But it is not functioning in the way it was designed.  These “bells” are supposed to be cups.  The cluster is intended to hang in one long string to replace a traditional gutter downspout.  It is called a rain chain and is supposed to be a beautiful and functional alternative to a plain downspout.  This was my gift to my husband one year when I read that the cups would visibly guide rainwater from the roof to the ground and transform our gutter into a pleasing water feature. 

I did not realize that because our gutters are tied via the downspouts into a French drain system, we would not be able to hang the rain chain instead.  So we do not hear the soft tinkle of individual rain drops or a soothing rush of water.  The upside down cups clink and will never collect raindrops. 

Is there a purpose for which I am intended that is blocked by any upside down choices I make?   

Thanksgiving for Seasons

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 This display at our local garden center is created to be a “living wall”.  As I enjoyed all the color and texture growing on this one spot, framed by the thoughts of a living wall, I was thankful for the lessons seasonal loss and gain teach me.  True, there are no daffodils or spring green tree buds here, but oh, the richness and variation of autumn color.  In the autumn of my life I am thankful for colorful change. Just as surely, winter will come.  Then, too, I can draw strength from the one in whom we are rooted,

“There is a winter in all of our lives,
a chill and darkness that makes us yearn
for days that have gone
or put our hope in days yet to be.

Father God, you created seasons for a purpose.
Spring is full of expectation
buds breaking
frosts abating and an awakening
of creation before the first days of summer.

Now the sun gives warmth
and comfort to our lives
reviving aching joints
bringing colour, new life
and crops to fruiting.

Autumn gives nature space
to lean back, relax and enjoy the fruits of its labour
mellow colours in sky and landscape
as the earth prepares to rest.

Then winter, cold and bare as nature takes stock
rests, unwinds, sleeps until the time is right.

An endless cycle
and yet a perfect model.
We need a winter in our lives.
A time of rest, a time to stand still.
A time to reacquaint ourselves
with the faith in which we live and breathe.
It is only then that we can draw strength
from the one in whom we are rooted,
take time to grow and rise through the darkness
into the warm glow of your springtime,
to blossom and flourish,
bring colour and vitality into this world,
your garden.

Thank you Father
for the seasons of our lives”

written by John Birch, Methodist Lay Minister in Wales