Soul Satisfaction

                                                

 

I have to admit I have spent many a free moment gazing at a variety of catalogs or trolling the Internet looking for swag to buy.  I do love the idea of a well feathered nest so over the years I have wasted a great deal of money in the futile quest to transform my home into a page from the Pottery Barn catalog. Because I live with three kids, two dogs, two cats and two parakeets any simulation of a designer home is fleeting at best. However, the money I have spent beautifying my tiny city yard has been money well spent. Everyday that I get to spend in the company of my trees, plants and flowers is a blessing.

I see some strawberries in our future...

Some of the fondest memories I have of my childhood are the foods that my grandmothers made and grew. My grandma Smith, who lived an hour east of St Louis in Illinois, always had a strawberry patch growing behind the garage.  Every June, we picked fresh, sweet sun-kissed strawberries. I love California but by the time its strawberries have traveled 2,500 miles to my grocery store they are a little lacking in the taste department.  So when I decided  this year to add some raised beds to the middle of the yard in order to maximize my food growing space, the first raised bed I planned was a tiered square bed (I borrowed the idea from Gardener's Supply...wow, I forgot how pretty theirs was) dedicated to strawberries.

Milagro

Here is my handy-dandy cold frame. Made from recycled cedar, and two re-purposed glass doors from IKEA. I planted the bed in early November with arugula, lettuce, and spinach. They sprouted within a few weeks. I was all set to harvest through the winter, and then December turned frigid and my little sprouts shriveled up. In January, the whole cold frame was buried in snow.  I thought for sure my adventures in winter farming were over. Imagine my delight when I looked in the cold frame after the February thaw and so an abundance of fresh greens!

In Praise of Trees

I think that I shall never see anything more lovely than a tree... I apologize Joyce Kilmer for rearranging  the lines of your lovely poem but it is true I love trees in all of their amazing shapes and sizes. Two years ago Better Homes and Gardens or as I call it in my head (Better Homes Than Mine) featured a Seattle rooftop garden with a variety of trees planted in containers. It was a light bulb moment for me!

It turns out that many Japanese Maples love to grow in containers or at least they grow so slow that they don't mind being in a container.  Who knew that there are also a wide variety of mini fruit trees that can also grow happily in containers?

So here I am two years later and I might need a trees anonymous program. In containers, I now have 3 fruit trees, 4 Japanese maples, 1 compact hinoki falsecypress, 1 crepe myrtle, and in the ground I have 2 apple colonnade trees, 2 dogwoods, and 1 mystery tree. Yes, that's right 13 trees on 640 sq. ft.

A New Start

Three seasons have come and gone since I last posted on this blog. Last year's garden makeover was so successful that it was hard for me to actually leave the garden and write about it. I think I am going to have more to say this spring.

Variegation is the Spice of Life

Anyone who knows me will verify that I am a "flower ho".  I love flowers in all shapes and sizes. They lift my spirit and sing to my soul in a real and tangible way.  However, as I have grown older and gardened more, I have learned to look beyond the showy flower and appreciate the foliage on plants just as much.  The variations in foliage color, shape and pattern can be just as beautiful and often longer lasting.  At the Philadelphia Flower Show this year, I  discovered geraniums with big beautiful chocolaty leaves that I was determined to find for my container displays this year.  In my search, I found some gorgeous varieties of geraniums with leaves as pretty as the flowers. The first picture is of Pelagardini "Mrs. Pollack". She doesn't show any sign of flowering, but I can hear her saying, " Honey, with leaves as pretty as mine I don't need to flower!" Mrs. Pollack is sharing her container with  Dark Dancer White Clover.  The second picture is of the geranium Crystal Palace Gem with the most delicious spring green leaves that make me smile just thinking about them.

We Have Lift Off!

My patio makeover  is almost complete, and I have to say that my results exceeded expectations. I also exceeded my budget, but it is money well spent!  I hesitate to post the "before" picture...  I can't even remember why I took that picture last spring or saved it for the matter. However, it serves a purpose now in showing a dramatic improvement!