What's in a flower?



The sunflowers that were peeking in my window!



Pat loves surprises in his garden.  So one day when I was tempted to pull a "weed" to contribute to the beauty of the landscape I heard, "Don't!"  He grinned after that.  Needless to say, several days elapsed and in the place of a "weed" I laid eyes on a lovely sunflower.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love sunflowers.  They are wonderful and beautiful standing out in a field.  But not in the rock garden where I envision pockets of colorful, carefully placed flowers and herbs. 

My next plan of action, when I realized what was invading my beautiful garden, was to yank it up.  But I couldn't.  Sunflowers have a mighty strong stalk and deep roots.  It would be bad enough if Pat had planted them on purpose.  But these invaders were strategically planted by birds!  The worst thing was when one morning as I enjoyed a cup of coffee, they were peeking in my kitchen window!  Not only did I have to see them in the garden, I enjoyed them all day long! 

For the next three or four years, the culprits came back.  Then they finally moved by the burn pile and have finally thinned out.  Something tells me, though, I haven't seen the last of these yellow bursts of sunshine!

When Life Happens...Regroup

Life definitely happened for Pat and me. With wonderful aspirations of starting a new blog the timing was all wrong. Starting grad school took up most of my time. The rest of the time was taken up with work, helping my husband care for his mother and scrapbooking. This is not to say gardening stopped. Gardening is not my hobby, it is my husband's hobby. Taking pictures of the garden is my hobby!! Nonetheless, with the activities mentioned before, gardening did slow down some. Yet Pat has made some additions and changes to the landscape.

Why try again? In the wee hours following Thanksgiving it hit me. I do have a lot of photos that I have taken which documents the slow changes to our landscape. I also think, now that Mom has passed away, grad school is over, and our boys are getting closer to launching, it is time to return to this blog. It is interesting to see how our landscape has transformed from the first day we owned the property to now.

Just a reminder. I am not the gardener, my husband is. And I do not know botanical names of our plants, so pertinent information will be sketchy. However, what I hope to do is to provide a record of my husband's hobby and to inspire others to take risks with their gardens. The worst mistake can always be uprooted! So, if you will bear with me, 2011 promises to be the year that this blog will launch. If anything, I hope you enjoy the journey and maybe you will be inspired just a little by our garden in the Southwest.

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Photo: Daylily given to us by Pat's Mom