Five On Friday: In The Garden

"Hydrangea"

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

" Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh,

how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade. "

RUDYARD KIPLING

The perennials are up and we're hovering, watching, waiting for the first blooms of the season. Most spring bulbs have come and gone—tulips are nearing their end. The peonies are setting buds and the Peace Rose has one bud about to burst open. Two shrubs did not make it. And, like anxious parents, we've been especially hovering around our newest tree, the lovely Linden, hoping its still barren branches are only a sign of deep delay, not demise. After all it's been a cold spring. Surely that tiny bud looks a wee bit bigger today, and isn't there the hintiest of hints of green on that branch? But I begin to think I'm imagining it. And we feel sad; we were so looking forward to the Linden giving us some lovely shade from the west sun as we sat on our deck this summer.

For a moment I rail against the harshness of life, of our harsh winters, and dream of a living in a warmer clime. I think of Sandra who is already cutting baskets of peonies from her garden in West Virginia; of Barbara in Cornwall, UK, whose roses are blooming, and of Lorrie on Vancouver Island, whose garden is already in full bloom. I yearn.   

Then I shake my head, put on my lipstick, and head for the garden centre. Because our gardening season is short in comparison, we always know we have to make the most of it. And we all do. So I popped out to get my flowers. Well, popped out isn't quite the phrase to use these days. With line-ups to get in and self-distancing still part of the current Covid-19 protocol, one never just pops in anywhere. I was on the hunt for vines to run alongside our garage wall. Having found well established pots of sweet peas and lophospermum vine (happy discovery of a plant new to me), I now dream of sweet peas on one trellis, becoming a daring tangle of tendrils and pastel sweetness, with the lophospermum, with its pink tubular blossoms, spiraling up the other trellises.

We came home happy. We found not only the sweet peas and lophospermum, but big pots of Spanish lavender, verbena, dahlias, hydrangeas, scented stocks, alyssums, geraniums, pansies, and zinnias. Herbs and baskets in riotous colours to set in my two indigo ceramic pots. Many more people seem to be gardening this year, and so there's been a rush at many garden centres. I learned quickly to leave favourite lists at home; because there was the good chance that we wouldn't find all we wanted, why not let a congenial profusion of spontaneity prevail? Which then made me think of what Robin Williams once said, 'Spring is nature's way of saying, let's party!' Yes, let's....

"Lophospermum Vine"

Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

ONE

" Each garden has its own surprise. "

SUSAN ALLEN TOTH

"Dahlias"
Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

TWO

" Everything that slows us down and forces patience,

everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature,

is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. "

MAY SARTON

"Scented Stocks"
Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

THREE

" The greatest gift of the garden is the

restoration of the five senses. "

HANNA RION

"Zinnias"
Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

FOUR

" I think this is what hooks one to gardening:

it is the closest one can come to being present at creation. "

PHYLLIS THEROUX

"Pansies"
Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life

FIVE

" My extravagance is my garden -- it's the first

thing I look at every morning when I wake up.

It gives me so much pleasure. "

INA GARTEN 

* * *

Wishing you a beautiful weekend.

Heart Hugs,

Brenda

xox