The Unhappy Gardener and the Two Dead Trees

White Iceberg Rose Tree in happier times

Well, this morning the Happy Gardener is not so happy. I am in Mobile for the month and have
been able to spend some time weeding the happy garden. It's been great to see how the garden I planted four years ago has changed and flourished. It reminds me of a line from one of my favorite garden songs, Raffi's The Changing Garden of Mister Bell: "Everything is new, there is much to do, Every color every smell in the changing garden of Mr. Bell." I may have the lines mixed up a bit, but you get the idea.

Anyway, two of the best and loveliest features in the Happy Garden are or were trees, or rather plants trained into trees. One was a lovely bright flame colored hybiscus tree, which you can see posted elsewhere on this blog. The other is a white iceberg rose tree. Both of these trees have been with me since the beginning of this garden. Actually the hybiscus tree has been around much longer than that, as it was a gift I gave to Jim many years ago. Every Spring Jim has said we should throw the tree away, as it surely has not survived the winter. And every Spring I have patiently reasoned with him that I just need to prune it a bit and it will come back as lovely as before. I have always been correct in that assumption. The same has held true for the rose tree, except that the rose tree always seemed to flourish with no help from anyone, other than an occasional pruning. The white roses bloomed year round, even during the wet and cold winter months when all else appeared dead. Always there would be white roses on the tree.

So yesterday I took the time to examine both of the very loved plant/trees, and although I don't want to admit it, they both seem to be very dead. All the branches break off brittley (if there is such a word) and upon scraping a bit of bark from the trunks, there is no green to be found. I cannot figure out how this could have happened, particularly with the rose tree. It never received an ounce of attention over those winter months, and still it bloomed on. What has been different this year? Only that no one lives there anymore. I don't see how that could possibly make a difference, as it was never our practice to visit the garden during those ill-weathered months. Do plants have souls? Have they been aware that they were indeed all alone? Did they die of loneliness? It sounds preposterous, even as I write it. Do you have a better explanation?

The thing that makes me feel the worst about the whole situation is that I had promised both of the trees to Mutti. At the last minutes we decided to leave them at the house, to help with its beauty. If I had moved them to Mutti's house, I am sure that they would have received lots of love and been alive to this day. But we will never know, will we?

A Garden Pass-Along

My Mother forwarded this little story to me in an email recently. It's also one of those thought-provoking items that is worth sharing. I hope it does not offend any, but entertains many........

God And The Suburbanites

GOD: Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are th ese green rectangles.
ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD: Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these suburbanites really want all that grass growing there? ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it -- sometimes twice a week. GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags. GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS: No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS: Yes, Sir.
GOD: These suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to ke ep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.
ST. FRANCIS: You better sit down, Lord. The suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.
GOD: No! What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose? ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
GOD: And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
ST. CATHERINE: "Dumb and Dumber," Lord. It's a story about....
GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from ST. FRANCIS!

Long Ago In a Kingdom Far Far Away.......

...... there was a happy garden, with flowers and bees and butterflies, and birds and squirrels and a devoted gardener whose name was Mimi. Mimi tended her garden faithfully and with love. Thus the garden flourished. Grandchildren loved to help Mimi and loved to pick strawberries and blackberries and eat them, warm with sunshine on them, children and berries both! It was a place of pleasure.

Then came the day that some of the grandchildren moved far way. Mimi and Opa missed the granchildren, as did the other grandchildren left in the town with the happy garden.

So Mimi and Opa and the parents of the other grandchildren put their houses up for sale and the happy garden was not so happy anymore, knowing that someday Mimi and all the grandchildren would be gone far away. There would be other gardens for Mimi and the grandchildren to tend, but none would be as sweet to behold as that first happy garden, grown with love and devotion by children and a grandmother called Mimi.

The Rain Came Down and the Flowers Came Out!

After an abundance of dry weather, the rains have come and stayed. You will not hear a complaint from me, though, because after all, this is Mobile Alabama, and for as long as I can remember, back to my childhood even, the rains are daily summer occurance. My happy garden loves the rain as well. Little bare roots that were only a promise of future beauty are now real live plants, thanks to the daily deluge. Roses bloom, all things grow, and the sun manages to be here daily in abundance as well! I finally took the opportunity to get some pictures of my garden. I haven't yet figured out exactly how to post them individually here in my blog, but for now just go to Garden Pictures 1 or Garden Pictures 2 or Garden Pictures 3 or Garden Pictures 4.

Jim has referred to me as the Eclectic Gardener. My brand new Yahoo website explains why!

Down Came the Rain

We live in an area of the country that is blessed with sunshine, plentiful rain, and oppressive humidity in the summer. Ever since we began our garden, we have had days and days, weeks and weeks, even months without significant rainfall. The grass is dying, daily watering has been a necessity, but endless days of good planting weather followed us into our venture. Jim recently purchased some hose dedicated for the garden which has helped tremendously. Trekking through brush and stickers both from above and below made this part of our garden a bit of a challange, but so worth the effort in the end. I lopped and pulled and sweated and even bled a little from encounters with unfriendly vines, but they didn't stop me as I made my way through the jungle we call "the bushes behide the pool. You know, by PeeWee's fence?" We have been in our house here in Mobile for fourteen years in October, and only once have I cleared that area. It's a big job, one which is next on our list of yard improvements when the garden is established. In the mean time, we continue to lop a little here and there, enough to accomplish whatever the immediate task may be. This time it was the laying of a hose, and the results were just what I hoped they would be. I now have water whenever I need it, to attend personally to the needs of each tender plant as it becomes acclimated to what is becoming our Happy Garden.

Yesterday brought rain. I thought at first that it would be an insignificant amount, but we were blessed with a plentiful rainfall, replete with thunderings and lightnings - enough to end the party going on in our pool when Jim and I returned from lunch out with our friends Mike and Gayle at the Original Oyster House out on the causeway. (The wind preceding the rain was something to experience as we sat in that restaurant wondering if the roof would be blown off at any moment!) When we arrived home we found the pool full of grandchildren and sons-in-law, both official and honorary, as daughters were visiting, somewhat protected from the rain in our glider, the top of which they had hastily covered with a tarp. It was a pleasant scene, but increasing rain and the beginnings of the electrical storm brought it to a close. The sun did return in abundance later in the afternoon.

So today, as I make my ritual early morning computer visit, I check the weather on my Yahoo page and discover that today will be storming. Better get out to visit my baby plants while I have a chance!

Some of my Favorite Garden Links

Better Homes and Gardens Gardening Pages

Garden Watchdog is a very useful site for anyone wanting to purchase from a company online. Check out a company website and see what others have to say.

Garden Web is a great place to find information. I find the plant database and the forums especially helpful.

Papa Geno's Herb Farm is a family-owned company I have purchased from successfully in the past.

Park Seeds is one of my two main sources of internet plant purchases.

Rebloom Mobile is an ongoing effort to make our city even more beautiful, if that's possible.

Southern Gardening is a specific gardening website for those of us who live in the Sunny South.

Wayside Gardens is my other main source of internet plant purchases. Actually Wayside Gardens and Park Seeds are sister companies.

Greetings from the Happy Garden

There may be a lot of chronological jumping around in this garden journal, as I try to remember exactly what happened first, etc. I will say that in order for the Happy Garden to even be a possibility, I had to make some changes in my life. The biggest change was my going from a full-time children's librarian at Mobile Public Library to just working two days a week. I absolutely love my job working with the children of Mobile but still I had pondered about making this change in my life. First of all, I didn't think it would be possible, because my position (Youth Associate) is full-time, so I began by turning in my letter of resignation. That caught everyone off guard and I felt loads of guilt for leaving, but weighing that against the possibility of more family time and a chance to put in a garden, there was no doubt in my mind about which was the better road for me. Things turned out perfectly and I am now employed as a Supernumerary for the library, working just two days a week in the Main branch children's room.