The Blame

Petals so brilliant they blew my camera's ability to record the color/detail!
Couldn't keep them alive in Portland.

It's all my husband's fault. Bougainvillea is the one flower he takes the time to notice and distinguish from "mother-in-law" flowers, his broad classification for all those things that grow in the yard--pay them no mind.

Tiny bits of tan--baby flowers

So for Father's Day, he received three gloriously vivid Bougainvillea plants. And shortly thereafter, they began to do what the several others purchased through the years had done, they began to drop their flowers, and their leaves.

Even my husband could see that a real
flower was forming.

Since they were a bit of an investment, I hustled to tend them more carefully. And surprise of surprises, they came back. We, that should read "I," watched with amazement as the tiny non-green sprouts started to form.

The second blooming for these brave plants in the high
desert--far, far, far from Hawaii where my husband first
saw them.

If there were a secret in keeping these fairy-winged plants alive, it was water and sunlight. The group took about two quarts a day during the summer. They also received one dose of fish fertilizer mid season. And, yes, the easiest one of all was the eight hours plus of sunshine.

But then, really, their beautiful gift to us came because of a husband with extremely specific awareness about flowers. Let's just call it good taste.

Backyard Buffet

Yup! Apple leaves are good! Stems, not so much so.

I'm learning what deer like to eat. Asters and sedum from the front yard and apples from across the street. Also, in a pinch and to keep their ribs from absolutely coming right out of their hide, they will eat sunflower leaves and anything that grows and will hold still long enough for them to nip it off.

But my back yard, where plants for people-food grow, they've left alone. Until last week.

So, for my information, it's bushes on the buffet--they love bushes: Apple bushes (the columnar trees are only five feet tall), Aronia bushes(berries as well), Currant bushes, Blueberry bushes, Eggplant bushes, bush green beans, Tomato bushes.

So that's what Life in a New Land is teaching me this week. The deer have returned to munch more apple leaves and grab the green tomatoes. That's what we all do when we find a place we like to eat--we go back!

You Have My Attention Already!

Pillar made five years ago to support
a concrete bird bath that no longer holds water.

It was a demanding call. No doubt about it. Most Scrub Jays have plenty to say, but usually a full sentence or so will do before moving on to a difference audience. This one, however, simply would not stop even after a full paragraph and was ramping up for the second. We roused ourselves from lunch on the deck to determine the what and wherefore of the jay's proclamation.

Well, of course! The bird's watering hole was all but dried up. Make a note: recipe for silence--shallow pan and plenty of water!

Fancied up with shards of broken flag stone. New birdbath in place. It was this one that had gone dry. 

When Life Gives You. . .

. . .sage, yarrow, basil, echinacea, make a bouquet!

A house glows when it holds a bouquet of flowers. Even a tiny arrangement brightens the energy of its space.

Our Bend garden has no beds of flowers for cutting. But it seems that anything the grows well can be arranged to sing its sweetness in the house.

My favorite in the kitchen is a fistful of ordinary herbs that will stay fresher if stuffed into a container with water. Every yard has unsung heroes and supporting actors. Find them out your own back door and give them a shot at center stage!

Mother's Moving in with Us!

Memorial Bouquet created from flowers nurtured in
Mother's yard.

It's been a little over a year since Mother finished the final chapter and closed her book of Physical Self. She's gone. But I really have to say, she's NOT gone.

There's the huge bush of Rhubarb in our front yard that came from a start in hers.

Coral bells from her farm rest in the shade of the back fence, their glow of rosy pink softening the weathered wood.

A small clump of her rosy red Peonies are taking hold in a space that was bleak before they came.

Campanula that crept in with another
gifted perennial--identical to the ones
in the bouquet. Oh, Mother!

And then snuggled in a pot of Shasta Daisies that a friend shared was foliage unlike the sunny white and yellow flower. Separation was done gently and with great care. It's new location was the back yard where the deer can not casually nip it off for breakfast. The blooms came, opening with great glory. And there Mother was again. Love it. Love her.

Yard Staff on Retainer

They've pruned the Chokecherry tree, the Ninebark, the Stonecrop, the Rudebeckia, the Chrysanthemum, the Salvia, the Sunflowers, the Asters, the Rhubarb, the Yarrow and the Daylily. They left the Russian Sage, the Hyssop, the Goldenrod, the Lavender, the Rosemary, the Juniper and the Rhododendrons. 

These and two others are our resident gardeners this fall, pruning, nipping, leveling anything green.  But then they've
saved me all that work on my hands and knees trimming back the perennials for winter.  And maybe it will help
cover their visible ribs.  Win-win.

Aging Gracefully

It's a common phrase for the Boomers. Not sure how it's done, exactly. Maybe not to slow, not too fast, without cursing at everyday, but more focused on finding the blessings that lie concealed in each moment.

Personally, I think it means a balanced, peaceful acceptance of how the body changes over time. Is it also a finding of bliss in the now when it's not easy to see through dimming eyes?  Maybe being strong of spirit as the body finds it's way in years? However it is defined, growing old with class is pretty well nailed by these pine cones.

Silver heads of the elderly mixed with the newly-fallen.
I'm guessing ten years worth of pine cones collected
here--all at different stages and aging gracefully.