It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!
So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?
What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?
Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)
Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?
Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?
What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?
Where do you want to move to?? I Want to move to Idaho.
When I researched it as a possibilty, it was interesting in that they have an airport. There was something fishy about the airport, I forget what it was.
The area I looked into was Coeur' d' Alene (sp.).?
There is snow, which I would love, however maybe too harsh an environment for me.
Santa Barbara was nice-if I had enuff money. They also have a high population of transients who live there due to the climate is tolerable year round. When then president Clinton visited, the authorities had to round up the homeless and remove them (just for the visit-not help them!). The people there are nice and friendly-all of them. They have beautiful gardens too-and a Museum of natural history-a great place of employment-also with gardens.
Tomorrow-watering is relaxing! I will take a look at the dead bouganvilla to see if there is any hope at all. Could not find a receipt to return them-guaranteed for one year!
Is this the bougainvillea that if I remember correctly you thought didn't survive the winter? If it is, you could try 2 things: (a) repot it in a container where it doesn't have to compete with grass or other plants, or (b) take cuttings and root them so if the mother plant fails, you at least have some new offshoots that might survive.
I apply this to everyday life as well.
Poverty is everywhere, in Idaho, probably in the northern part of the state where they get heavy snow. Boise area is nice.
When we drive into the driveway, I am becoming amazed at how with just a very little time out there the yard is looking very good.
We were both out there, and a few grasshoppers were on the bushes. They eat the plants-there may be a dispute brewing about whether they are beneficial, but yucky. They don't really spit out tobacco, do they? Where did I ever get an idea like that-a cartoon or something?
The bouganvillias are not dead! Little tiny green sprouts after applying miracle grow last week, and watering more, loosening the potting mix (cultivation), shows some exciting changes! That was rewarding, and very therapeutic too! The best part was having my friends talk me through the process. Now, I will be cutting off the dead tops, about 4 inches. Thanks everyone!
I will prune them taller so there will be more!
As far as daffodils go, the bulbs for them might have been cultivated and blown away. They are no where to be seen.
As to daffodils, those little critters with the long fluffy tails that jump from tree to tree like to come down into the garden and rearrange bulbs. I've seen squirrels actually digging up the bulbs and found them growing next year where I never planted any.
Sharyn, maybe if daffodils are so good to eat, we should be putting the blooms in salads, yum!
What is Macy doing today?
My grandmother was great at starting rose slips, I can't be bothered with roses, most require too much fuss for too short a bloom time. I have started a shoot of my grandmother's red climber though, I won't know if it survived the winter for a couple of months.
PS, nap time soon Sendme??
Garden and Cwillie, the cuttings and rose slips are way beyond my skill-set. It is only $5 to buy a tiny gift rose in a tiny pot, then be amazed when it grows up.
When I am reading about the cuttings, my mind freezes over. What in the world are they talking about, I wonder.???
I think I'm going to try rose cuttings this year from a couple really old plants, for sentimental reasons.
Oh, how I wish I had taken cuttings from my roses years ago! I lost a few David Austins that I just loved.
From now on, whatever I buy is going to be the mother plant and source for cuttings in case the mother plant doesn't make it.
Have you ever taken and rooted cuttings from evergreens? I have some arborvitae and junipers that I want to use as mother plants. Perhaps I should take cuttings when new growth appears in the spring?
Or should I plant the seeds that the evergreens produce? I like to use them for wreath decorations as well.
and since it is before breakfast, no danger of him digging a hole to China and not being able to stop because he gets hungry and comes inside. The yard looks great, I told him so.
This morning I saw small prints, very close together, which I think might have been one of the cats cautiously walking from next door across my yard to better hunting grounds on the other side of my house.
There were also larger prints with the first two of each set being perhaps a few inches long, then one double print in back. The tracks were sometimes 3 - 4 feet apart. I'm guessing a rabbit in a hurry.
Then there are other mystery tracks which have already softened in the very welcome sun, so perhaps I'll never guess what other little critter came to visit this morning or last night.