• About Susan Palmer
  • Help for writers

Exquisite Now

~ Stuff gets done here

Exquisite Now

Monthly Archives: May 2012

The Ethan zone

13 Sunday May 2012

Posted by supalmer in Dirt, Random

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

family, gardening, Mothers Day

In 2009, my nephew Ethan helped me plant a Mexican orange. It was small and now it’s tripled in size and as you can see is blooming like crazy, the blossoms gently fragrant. There’s heather (which bloomed in the winter) in front and rock rose (which start to bloom in the next month) to one side. I doubt Ethan remembers this event or the visit to our house, because he was just four years old at the time, but I suspect that his grandma Irene remembers. She watched us dig the hole in the rocky soil, knock the plant out of its container, put it in the ground and gently fill in around the roots.

We did it on a lovely Mother’s Day weekend with family from Canada to California gathered. Now I rarely look at this part of the garden without thinking fondly of my nephew and that visit.

On Mother’s Day, I want to thank my mother for helping to orchestrate this memory. She is a woman with good instincts who understands the human need for connection.

The forgiving garden

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by supalmer in Dirt, Random

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

perennials, spiral garden

Winter was hard on the rue, which looks begraddled. The deer have munched away on the rugosa rose, which nevertheless is spreading on suckers and looks a little crazy. The artemesia was a knobbly mess till I cut it back. Sow bugs and slugs munched the rising shoots of the calla lilies. The weeds, of course, thrived.

Still, my little spiral garden of mostly herbs and deer resistant perennials doesn’t look half bad on a sunny morning, despite my winter and early spring neglect.

It’s a good reminder that a little bit of work (in this case, a couple hours of weeding and sweeping) can make a big difference.

Here’s what’s blooming on the shady side: sweet woodruff (the plant in the banner picture at the top of my page) the corydalis in pots on the front step, the bleeding heart, the Mexican organge. Soon the rose campion will be blooming electric pink, and iris buds burst open.

Part of gardening is knowing what can survive my sporadic ministrations.

Recent Posts

  • Living in art
  • Bright music in January
  • Renaissance woman
  • In the presence of the original
  • Elements of design

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • March 2013
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012

Categories

  • creativity
  • Dirt
  • embroidery
  • Exercise
  • family
  • journalism
  • learning
  • Making it home
  • My Aquarium Obsession
  • outdoors
  • Random
  • reading
  • Retro reads
  • Story
  • travel
  • What they said
  • writing

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Exquisite Now
    • Join 39 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Exquisite Now
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...