Soul Gardening

Last Friday was our work Christmas party and we were able to go home a few hours early after the festivities. Chris was out of town in southern Louisiana for work, a four day trip that turned into 12 days. The weather was unseasonably warm, low 80s, and so I opted to take advantage of a few hours of solo time in the garden while Forest was still in daycare. It was glorious to get some uninterrupted gardening time in but I still felt pressed for time, not accomplishing the amount of tasks I would have normally been able to handle pre-kid. It was ok, though, I weeded half of a flower bed and took some time to walk around and take a few photos. There’s still a lot to do but garden chores aren’t ever really completed. As everyone knows, once you weed a flower bed it is time to weed it again!

It felt really good to just sift through the dirt and really get it caked onto my fingers and under my nails. I went into the session with gloves on but I wasn’t able to get a good grip down into the roots of some of the more stubborn weeds, so off the gloves went.

This is the bed I spent the time working on that day. I took down the faded stalks for the Physostegia correllii, Correll’s false dragonhead, pulled out some grass and sedge weeds, and trimmed up a few other items. It looks so much better, definitely a little more tamed.

I’m not sure which salvia this it but it has thrived in this location. I’m sure the tag is tucked away somewhere down beneath the plant.

Leaves have covered the pathway heavily the last few months. I’ve cleaned up one section a few times and need to tackle the rest of them soon.

The ‘Wendy’s Wish’ salvia will freeze to the ground, if we get a good freeze, but has always come back every year. The Passiflora ‘incense’ has sent runners all over the flower bed and has attempted to swallow the salvia a few times. Behind there, in the background, is the beehive. Chris throws an old packing blanket over it when it gets in the 30s overnight.

Thriving in the back of one of the beds is the chiltepin, Capsicum annuum. We have a variegated one that is also thriving despite neglect.

I was excited to see one of the toad lilies blooming over in the side-yard garden.

Also in the side-yard garden is the planter that Chris carved out of one of the pine tree stumps. It is in need of more dirt since a lot has washed out. I guess we will tackle that in the New Year.

I love the flowering maple now that we cut it back a bit. I’m not sure what will happen to it long term, but it has been a long-term bloomer in our garden.

I tried a little reverse lens macro on one of the flowers without my lens mount. I need to dig the mount out and get back in the habit of taking some more artistic photos.

Double purple Datura seeds.

Our butterfly orchid, Encyclia tampensis on the bottom left and on the top is a mount that Chris has been working on for his dad who recently moved into a retirement complex with a greenhouse. I’m not sure what orchid he’s got on top but the bromeliad is the Neoregalia ‘fireball’.

Chris and I recorded a podcast for The Garden Path Podcast the other night and it will be up for the Monday after Christmas!