Spring, Summer, Fall

It happened while I was away last week.  The gorgeous peony gifted to me by a dear friend revealed its deepest secret.  I was thrilled.  A charge of delight surged through all the Things I get to do today when I found I could take you with me on a "time-lapse" show of this gentle beauty.







The opening of the first bud in the fresh dampness of spring sends tingles through the yard.  Everything is eager for color and elegance.





























All summer the merry jester has been hanging out at the tip, waving in the wind, slowing transforming inside.

I'm collecting these seeds--just to play with, to give them a chance, to see if there is more mystery inside like a Russian nesting doll.

Anticipation

Glistening Delphinium ready to pop

They are ready to burst open!  And I'm watching.  It's like a slow-motion fireworks display with the intensity of color and vibrance and life building and building until it explodes in glory.  Oh, my!

Single Peony gifted from a friend

Loving this time of year is on my Things I get to do today--everyday--spending time in the yard and garden in a state of open gratitude, appreciation and observation while drinking in the glorious being of each plant's structure and flowers.  The variety is beyond comprehension, and the display is breath-taking.

Honeysuckle--a ruby challis

Find your own place to sit with something that grows outside under the Divine canopy and allow its elegance and magnificence to soothe and feed your soul.

Clary Sage.  I've never seen its flowers before.  So eager am I!

Blessings for your day.

Blissed on My Butt

It's been awhile since I've sung any hymns.  Yesterday this old one sprang out of nowhere, drawn by the glorious bright orb in the clearest of blue overhead.  "Heavenly sunshine, heavenly sunshine, filling my soul with Glory Divine."  That's as far as my memory would take me, and that was enough. It was straight from heaven, no matter what your religious views, and it filled my soul, my heart and my body.  It was bliss.  You can tell we have been seriously missing the sun in Portland.

Gloriously healthy peony in its protective support

I was sitting on the earth making the beds of collected flowers, shrubs and various plants look prettier.  Some of you would call it weeding, but the emphasis and the spirit of my task is entirely different from the drudgery that is associated with that term.  I was taking my time and taking my time all at once.  It was bliss.  It doesn't get any better than this in the Things I get to do today--play in the earth, rearrange for my pleasure the beauty of these that grow, and bless each with my heart and love as they are seen and touched.

OMG (in the very best sense)

Shock and awe!  What to my wondering eyes did appear?  I discovered that the lovely twig cages used to protect perennial shoots from spring-loaded chicken feet were still very much alive.  They are sprouting leaves.  Next puzzle for Handy Andy:  plan for keeping the twig cages but not have them grow into vigorous variegated Dog Wood bushes around my favorite flowers!

Win, Win, Win

Sorrel before the hens were let out

Chicken scratching is a mixed bag. Those strong legs and toenails till the soil.  They unearth bugs, worms, and grubs.  They remove weeds and keeps the tiniest of sprouts from growing.  They rip the top off of tender perennial shoots that are brave enough to press their faces toward the sky and push at this time of year.  Herein lies the rub.

Ten minutes after the hens were out:  I am not making this up.

 
Not the rhubarb, nor the delphiniums, nor the peonies, nor the hardy geraniums, nor the sorrel appreciate this treatment.  Animal training isn't my current strong point, so there's little hope for getting the girls to carefully tend just around the edges of my favorites leaving the plant itself alone. I'm certain that the scratch impulse does not come anywhere close to what might be called a chicken brain.*

Very vulnerable Delphinium shoots

But GardenGateNotes.com had a fabulous solution just waiting for me. Make a little cage from flexible branches/long twig prunings.  Of course, the materials are just hanging out in my yard waiting my awareness.  We have red-twig dogwood that does best with a severe pruning every year.  The "chop us to the ground" task has been begging me to be on the Things I get to do today show for several months.




Mean while, Katy, Nora, Lena, Latifah, and Nina were all very sweetly asking for a romp in the yard this afternoon.  I'm seeing all the fresh beginnings in shards about the yard if I comply.  That is until I recalled the tip from Garden Gate.

Delphinium wins.

Clippers in hand, a few minutes with the dogwood, more clipping to length and to remove side twigs and I'm ready to go.  The hens visited along side while I fiddled and wove the twigs together.  I win!

Chickens win.






*There is some one-sided debate in our house over whether or not such an organ does, in deed, exist.

Sorrel wins.