Tag Archives: nature

Oh, Cottage Garden!

A cottage garden is not for everyone, and definitely not for the faint of heart. When you hear true cottage gardeners speak about our gardens (who am I kidding, we gush) it is not unusual for us to say that every time we dig a hole to put in a new plant, we dig up a bulb. That, dear reader, is true. And when we dig up that bulb, most of the time we have no idea what it is until next blooming season when there’s a missing favorite. But. That gives us an excuse to go to the nursery!

My sister’s flower garden is organized by color. She buys flowers for the peach bed, the red bed, the purple bed, etc etc. And she knows all of the names, whereas I say, “You know, the purple spikey thing.” If a particular flower doesn’t match, she doesn’t buy it. I’m heartbroken for the little rejected plants. I want them all. And I do know plant names; I just can’t remember them all because I don’t want to. That’s okay because I love them and I …don’t tell…talk to them. And don’t tell her, but I feel her garden is a bit stifled…unlike my cacophony. Hahaha.

She calls my garden a clown garden. Hahaha. I love it. By the way, REAL gardeners stay out there among the plants and weeds and insects as long as we can, and if we are not digging, we are often in our garden gloves, holding our garden tools, just standing, looking at our garden. We can’t help ourselves, and if you look closely, you’ll see us smiling.

I complain because I don’t have a big yard, and right now, I have nearly all plantable space…planted. But I go out with the squinty eyes, plotting how to make less grass, more flower beds. My yard is fenced, and that’s good, because it’s a bit like the person who lives here has no self control. MAYBE she doesn’t. A while back after watching hours of gardening YouTube videos, I decided to raise up the beauty. Go vertical! I bought an arbor, some trellises and plant stands of varying heights. So now, envision:

There are 4 anchor bushes, a Loropetalum (now 8 feet tall, pruned as a tree), a Japanese style conifer which only gets 5 feet tall (can’t recall the name), one Jazz Hands Chinese Fringe Flower, one Florida Sunshine (smells like licorice if you stroke the leaves). Those are the anchors. And then two climbing roses (one pink, one coral), an arbor hosting Chinese Honeysuckle. This honeysuckle has to be minded, because it can get a bit enthusiastic. Those are the main vertical show-offs. I am the boss of my garden and I expect my plants to stay where they are, not try to jump the fence. Sis thinks I’m ruthless. I think I’m a boss. And my honeysuckle behaves. Once, the English Ivey did not. Enough said about that. Point is, I guess you can say I made the most of the space I have.

I have hydrangeas (two pink, one red, one white), one columnar gardenia, two peonies (one pink, one red), one Fatsia Japonica in a pot, one rose (peach), five hellebores, two heucheras, four gerbera daisies, pink calla lilies, Phaseon Canna in a pot, one Lamium (love that plant), two sedum plants (you can NOT harm those plants), many geraniums that I winter over each year, a collection of ferns in pots that live on the porch over winter, Daisy Mae daisies, Asiatic lilies, pink Deutzia, several pink cone flowers (I’ve decided I like them the best) a host of irises (some specialty), many geraniums of course, marigolds and marigolds, vinca of pink and red, purple petunia, one Mandivilla, miniature and regular Hosta plants, white and red Amaryllis, tall Phlox, and over a hundred bulbs and annuals.

My plant stands are various heights, so I have potted plants tucked in here and there at various heights for visual interest, and one chair pushed in among the ferns on my patio, so I can sit down while I drink in coffee and the beauty of my oasis. I’ve come to the point of not needing to buy many annuals, other than to put splashes of color while I wait for the ‘usuals’ to bloom. My tiny yard is my joyful place, an oasis of nature. I like for my garden to look like nature celebrating, even though it’s under my tight guidance.

I started gardening as a teen, mostly vegetables, but I’ve always had flower beds and in one home, people would stop by the roadside and ask how in the world I got grass to grow in THAT soil. The secret was trucking in good soil and water, water, water. Flower gardening has always been my happy place. In fact now, I have a sign post with a street sign, ordered from Amazon of course, that says, “Happy Pl.”

I’m watching a gardener on TV as I type this, and he said, “I just put these in wherever I can find a spot.” That made me love him, and inspired me to write this message to you. Ah, Cottage Gardeners.

I have a shirt that says, “Professional Pot Mover” because if my potted plants aren’t happy, I hear their complaints and move them to a better spot. Over the years I have learned what works where during what season. It happens organically. If you want to destress, I’ll tell you, gardening is the way. And you can’t make a bad one. You just can’t.

The Polar Vortex Does NOT Come to NC

Surprise. The Polar Vortex is basically a round circulation of air at the north and south poles. It stays pretty round until something disrupts it. Right now, some ACTUAL scientists believe electromagnetic anomalies, or rather souped up EM behaviors, are the reason the north polar vortex is currently misshapen. Stay with me now; I’m engaging my nerd science urge, which rules my life all the time. But I have to keep it in check because most people’s eyes glaze over if you mention science. If you’re still here: MY PEOPLE!!!

So what. Well, if the circulation of air, moving pretty fast, breaks format, all of the other weather around it is affected. If the circle breaks towards the south, sort of droops down, all of the surrounding weather, including Canadian cold as crap weather, gets pushed down. It’s like it was shoved. THAT’S what’s happening to us right now in NC. It’s what happened to TX a couple of years ago. It’s not a mere ‘Alberta Clipper’. It’s the effects of the disorganized polar vortex making all of us miserable. It is NOT global warming. Huge eye roll.

The polar vortex is STILL AT THE POLE, it’s just misshapen. Now don’t start talking about global warming, to be said with a loud whiney voice. It’s not that. If you believe the ACTUAL scientists, it’s happening because of a blast of electromagnetic radiation from the SUN. This could last right into Spring. Won’t this be fun. All I worry about is 1) electricity bill; 2) my cats getting too cold; and 3) roof collapsing. Not in that order; cats come first. If we get three feet of snow, the roof thing could actually become reality.

I’m writing this riveting blog about weather because I recently said, “We don’t have a polar vortex in the Southeast!” And well, that person just didn’t believe me. But no, the vortex is right where it’s supposed to be; it’s just been zapped. Good news: it will reform into that nice tight circle. When it’s good and ready.

Now about the sun. (Are you still here?) One day, the sun is going to explode and engulf Earth. You know that, right? Relax, it’s going to be millions of years from now. Meanwhile it’s a huge ball of gas, really HOT gas, and it is not perfectly round nor perfectly predictable. Occasionally it has a tantrum and when it does, we feel the effects of it, and isn’t it amazing that it’s not by feeling hot? LOL. No, it’s ice, snow, disrupted electronic devices, wonky internet…stuff like that. And that’s what’s happening now.

So stay warm, try to keep out the cold as much as possible, protect your pets, FEED THE BIRDS (and give them water in the form of water, which takes some work). If it does snow a lot, take a walk in it, because it’s good for the soul.

Yep, Cat on a Leash

Speaking of gardens…For the first time ever in this home, I had nesting birds in one Loropetalum and nesting birds in the bluebird house.  The Loropetalum is pruned into a tree shape and resides in the corner of my garden as an anchor plant.  The Bluebird house is on the other side of the yard and has never hosted Bluebirds, ever.

This year I had a Cardinal pair nesting and a Chickadee pair nesting.  They were a determined set of bird parents, building nests in earnest in order to lay eggs, which they did.  Then they took turns guarding the dwellings from Zach my cat, and from me.  Zach has an injury to his eye, which was there from the time I adopted him as a tiny little guy; the vet isn’t sure it didn’t happen in the litter, or during birth, but it doesn’t seem to slow Zach down or need any medicinal attention.  I think it gives him character…as if he needed any more.

Zach’s kingdom is my fenced yard, from which he has no desire to escape.  I planned to take him out for walks, so I leash trained him as a kitten, which turned out to be a good thing.  More to come on that.  But when it was time to venture out for a real walkabout?  Nope, he wasn’t having it.  So the vest and leash went on the shelf.  But it came in very handy while my bird parents were nesting.  Zach suited up in his ‘uniform’ twice a day, morning and evening, and we went into the little garden kingdom, with me holding him in check with the leash.  This kept the birds safe but gave Zach the excitement of watching the birds and smelling the fresh air.  It also gave me the joy of watching the bird journey.

I had a chance to learn the alarm call of Cardinal parents, and those of Chickadee parents.  Later on, after the chicks had flown, I got to hear the songs of happiness.  I loved this journey.

Both bird pairs fed their chicks when the eggs hatched.  The dad Cardinal didn’t do much other than guarding and alarming before the eggs hatched, but once they did, he got busy, alongside the mom Cardinal.  And both Chickadee parents worked equally hard throughout.  Chickadees lay a LOT more eggs, by the way, than Cardinals.  So I put out feed for the moms to keep their energy up.

The Chickadees were fun to watch because the food they brought to the chicks was nearly as big as their head and they were very wary of me and my cat.  They checked us out thoroughly before entering the house, and they peeked out, often with a worm dangling from the beak.  Very funny.  One of the Chickadee parents peeked out and looked ALL around before flying out for another meal for the kids.  I don’t know whether it was mom or dad, but it was adorable either way.

The first morning I went out and did not hear the Cardinal alarm cry, the silence seemed odd.  I said, “Where are the mom and dad Cardinals?”.  Zach didn’t answer.  It was very quiet.  I couldn’t get a look at the nest but I knew the babies were gone.  Next day, no Chickadee noise either.  Oddly, all of the other bird chatter was gone too.  So they must have had all of their friends watching us when we were outside.

It was sad.  I took a picture of the birdhouse Chickadee nest just to be sure, and yep, no baby birds.  But now that I know how the saga works out, I’ll be watching.  It was great getting to know the birds and Zach  even got used to sticking close to me, hearing “NO BIRDS, ZACH!”, so much so that the first day he was allowed out without his leash, he stuck by my side anyway.  

Animals.  Amazing.

Have a lovely day, everyone.