Author: Flower Roberts

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: July 15, 2015

| Flower Roberts

Many garden bloggers send photos of their gardens to http://www.maydreamsgardens.com  MayDreamsGardens to be posted as a group.

I had to rush home yesterday and figure out how to do this.

I have my first widget with my face on it!

So, here are the photos that I took of our garden yesterday.

The first photo is one of many lizards around our stone parking area. I call him “The King” because he likes to climb on the stoneshrooms and sun himself while he stands watch over the garden.

He thinks he's all that!
He thinks he’s all that!

I am working on a future post about ferns, so I took photos of the spores on the underside of the frond.

Autumn Fern frond with sori.
Autumn Fern frond with sori.

My daughter has a lily and rose garden. This is her newest stargazer, Playtime.

Stargazer Lily/Playtime
Stargazer Lily/Playtime

This is my favorite plant. Eucomis/Pineapple lily.

Eucomis/Pineapple lily and bee
Eucomis/Pineapple lily and bee
Blackberry/Leopard lily hybrids
Blackberry/Leopard lily hybrids
Blackberry Lily
Blackberry Lily
Water lily
Water lily
Giant yellow
Giant yellow “No Name” daylily from DSBG
Bleeding Heart Vine Clerodendrum thomasoniae
Jack the Pumpkin showing his true colors.
Bloom day July 15 023
Bleeding Heart Vine Clerodendrum thomsoniae
Sunflower and friends
Sunflower and friends
Hot Chocolate Callas
Hot Chocolate Callas
Dahlias and Alstroemeria/Peruvian lily
Dahlias and Alstroemeria/Peruvian lily
Raphael Daylily
Raphael Daylily

GO visit some gardens around the country at http://www.maydreamsgardens.com Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Follow the Flower!

Wagon Tales

| Flower Roberts

The kids are grown now. No grandkids in sight. No use keeping this rusty, little Radio Flyer wagon.  It’s too small to haul things in.  It’s got that big dent in the side. The paint’s half off and it’s rusting away.

It’s one of the racing wagons. My boy and girl used to pull those up to the top of our hill and race down toward the lake, banging into each other as they went.  It made me nervous, to see them flying at top speeds toward open water.  Just in time, they would whip them aside for one final wreck.  I should have put a stop to it, but the screams of joy were worth risk of bumps and bruises.

Once Mermaid Barbie rode shotgun with the girl during a particularly fierce downhill battle.  When it was over, the girl realized that Barbie had lost her head. We looked high and low for it.  Finally, I bent down and looked under that little wagon.  There was Barbie’s head, dangling up under the axle by that long blonde mane.  Her head was removed with the help of scissors.  It  had to be screwed back on, literally.

Barbie, post surgery
Barbie, post surgery. A turtle neck can be a fashion must at times like this.

Barbie with her head back on Thank goodness for turtlenecks.

Babs back on the wagon.

Here are the steps I took in preserving and re-purposing the little Radio Flyer wagon. I did not want to repaint it.

Wagon refurbishing steps
Wagon refurbishing steps

1. Use a wire brush to remove rust.

2. Scrub off rust dust and debris with a scrub brush. Then wash and dry.

3. Drill 12-15 holes in the bottom using a drill bit for metals.(They are  black.)

4. Seal the entire wagon with an acrylic sealant appropriate for metals.

5. Place tiles in the bottom for better drainage of planters.

Holes drilled in the bottom. Notice the dent,
Holes drilled in the bottom. Notice the dent.
Terra-cotta tiles in the bottom for drainage.
Terra-cotta tiles in the bottom for drainage.

I just had to hold on to that little wagon, since it held so many memories for me.

Herb wagon
Herb wagon

Serendipitous Surprises

| Flower Roberts

I am working on a “Weeds” post, so I have been taking pictures of all my weeds.

You will love this when it’s done.  It has song lyrics.

While I was out lamenting the success of all the pesky weeds,

I also took pictures of lovely plants that I did not plant. At least not on purpose.

Here are some serendipitous surprises.

Sunflowers from birdseed.
Sunflowers from birdseed.
Butternut squash from buried compost.
Butternut squash from buried compost.
Pumpkin?
Pumpkin? Jack is that you?

I’m All Ears

| Flower Roberts

Is there an elephant in the garden room?

An elephant ear that is.

There are many reasons why I love these plants.

I love how their leaves catch the breeze.Little ones dancing

It looks like a party with each leaf doing its own dance.

I love how the midrib of the leaf channels water down below,

like a good tropical plant should.

Sharing the rain drops.

non-variegated leaf pattern

Each leaf has a different color pattern,

even the non-variegated kind.

mosaic mojito leaf
Mojito
differing pattern
Patterns like a mosaic or hieroglyphics.
Venation
Marvelous venation.

Their venation is an architectural marvel.

The huge leaf stands out from the stem

like an

umbrella on its handle.

Now that you love them, too.

Let me bend your ear and tell you their secrets.

Their Latin name is Colocasia esculenta.

They grow from Taro corms, not bulbs.

They like water and will even do well

in the shallow edge of a pond.

They must be dug in the fall after the stem freezes and bends over.

If you leave them out for the winter, the parent will turn to pink mush.

Pups may survive and grow from the dead parent corm.

These will come up in June or July.

Friends, Romans, countrymen…

Follow the Flower!

Safe Soil

| Flower Roberts

They have come from a land of shifting sand.

Where people flee across borders to live in tents,

Where battles are fought and drones are flown,

There is no safety or certainty.

The man came first to earn and learn on this safe soil.

He studied the language,

he worked long days,

he filled out forms.

Two years went by.  The boy grew older.

Newly Arrived Family
Newly Arrived Family

Now FINALLY his family is here.

We must celebrate their arrival.

We will have a cook-out,

with cookies and watermelon.

Dinner is served!
Dinner is served!

We will make some Jazar Halwa

with ingredients familiar to them, though strange to us

.

Jazar Halwa
Jazar Halwa = carrots, milk, condensed milk, ghee, pistachios and raisins

Will the flash and bang of our fireworks scare them?

Fireworks
Fireworks

Or will they delight in the sparkling colors

of red, white and blue

On this safe soil.

The family on American Soil
The family reunited on American Soil

Happy July 4th  

CELEBRATE YOUR FREEDOM.

rudy 128

Follow the Flower!

My Daddy’s Garden

| Flower Roberts

All little girls brag about their fathers, but mine really does have the best garden . Everybody says so.

He draws up a new plan every year on graph paper on the same old clipboard. He keeps all the plans in reverse order on it. There’s over 40 years of plans on that thing, with no two alike.

The garden plan clipboard.
The garden plan clipboard.
plans for past gardens
plans for past gardens

He gets the same neighbor to plow the garden plot with his tractor every spring. Daddy picks the date carefully.  He has all his plants ready to be put in as soon as the ground is broken.  He travels to the best sources to get his seedlings and seeds.  He buys extra plants to share with other gardeners.  I have too many of these, he says.  Do you need some?

From the moment those little plants are carefully placed in the ground, they are tended  numerous times each day. The tomatoes are suckered, the beans are tied up, the okra is thinned, the soaker-hose is turned on and off, on and off , like the timed feedings of  infants.

Tomatoes staked and tagged.
Tomatoes staked and tagged.
The best garden ever, again.
The best garden ever, again.
Daddy's amazing hands
Daddy’s amazing hands

People from all around come to help with the garden.  They know there will be baskets of produce delivered to their doors later in the season.  Daddy has to supervise the help.  Things must be done a certain way, you see.

Daddy supervising the help.
Daddy supervising the help.

Mama and daddy even take produce to church and pass it out after the service from their trunk.  Once when they were taking vegetables to their mountain friends, daddy shared some tomatoes with a person in the parking lot. A line formed behind the truck. They thought he was selling those perfect tomatoes. He gave some out to the hungry strangers.

Daddy complained this morning that the squirrels were chewing on the picnic table.  This was the “Lunch Bunch” table,  where all the neighborhood men gathered each Wednesday in July for tomato sandwiches.  Most of these men are in the ground now, but my daddy is still in his garden. That table sits empty , except for the squirrels.  I told him that they were just gnawing on the greasy, salty drippings from all those tomato sandwiches. Who can blame them?

Lunch Bunch Table
Lunch Bunch Table

Not just the squirrels are busy out back.  Mama and daddy buzz around that plot parenting those plants like they are newborn babies.  Those things don’t have any choice but to stand up, grow strong and produce.  With all that love, how can you not?   Right sister?

Sisters, two peas
Sisters, two peas

Follow the Flower!

In Lieu of Flowers

| Flower Roberts

Let the flowers come to the funeral.

We mourners need to see their up-turned, shining faces.

While our heads are bowed out of respect and sadness.

We need them to brighten this darkness.

We need their ribbons and tags.

So that we can read the names of the people moved by his passing.

We need roses and mums, lilies and glads

to add scent to the hushed air.

Let them line up at the altar and surround the tent.

In lieu of chicken and biscuits,

In lieu of casseroles and pound cakes,

In lieu of a check to the church,

SEND IN THE FLOWERS.

To stand like sentries over the plot after the mourners leave,

Making the grave look like a garden.

Mark with refugee children.
Mark with refugee children.
He took them for dance lessons.
He took them for dance lessons.

In memory of my precious cousin Mark Bayzik, who died yesterday.