Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A rose by any other name. . . .

You would think, living in the desert, that cactus have all the advantages. I used to worry about my rose bushes. But roses thrive with all our sunshine. They have a heavy dark leaf and a fairly heavy clustered petal. No. Roses do fine as long as they have water. What I did find is that some types of cactus need protection from direct sunlight at least for part of the day, and so I plant them under the rose bushes where they can get shade. They do well there.
Never fear, not everything prickly is as tough as it appears. A lot of us can put on a good show, all mean and thorny--but what we really want is the shade and moisture under a deep green, fabulous smelling rose.
And a few of us are roses.
Which is what makes life in the garden infinitely interesting!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I love springtime. I love pre-springtime. I love anticipating the garden I am going to grow and starting my little seedlings inside in the kitchen. Every year the same foolish notion. And the seedlings grow up in their tiny boxes in their oh, so protected environment, and then, because I have been waiting so long to see the lush garden begun, I take them outside in the sun, and the wind, and the cold evenings, and I kill them. Patience Karne, patience. That's what makes your garden grow. So, yes once again I have killed my tender little sprouts, and once again I am ready to plant seeds directly into the dirt, where they inevitably grow up and are strong and sturdy living plants. But the first method always seems like a good idea. Next year, no more babying the little guys, I'll just have to outwait myself and do the first real planting outside!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Post it note

Do you think facebook is just too easy?? I can write a sentence or two and that's that. But, fewer people are making fewer posts on their blogs. Where are you? Come back. One of you is me!