Plant Whatever Brings You Joy

lightening

Very early Saturday morning I felt Ruby lick my hand as I slept. “What is it, Ru?” No response. I drifted back into sleep. Again I felt a light lick on my hand. “You’re going outside,” I said. “Come on, Conner. Go outside with Ruby.” They jumped off the bed and made their way to the door leading to the garden and out they went. I went back towards the kitchen and bam! I heard them both leaping against the back door. How strange. I opened it and they raced in. Framing their scurrying bodies was a blinding flash of light across the western sky. Half asleep I struggled to understand what I was witnessing. Full recognition dawned on me as the flash was followed immediately by a brilliant jagged lightening bolt making its way to the ground from high in the night sky. Oh dear God. “By the grace of God there will be no fires, ” I said aloud. And then I stood transfixed watching the stupendous beauty that repeated itself over and over again. I watched in utter fascinating and thrill even while I knew in my heart of hearts this spelled Trouble for the county. And trouble for the county arrived. Over 6,000 lightening bolts struck the Earth, our earth, our Northern California earth, that night. And more thunderstorms are predicted for Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night. There are currently 1,026 fires burning in my beloved Northern California, 10% of them right here in Mendocino. There were more. Nearly all are not being tended. Only those threatening life and human limb and home are being fought. The rest, quite naturally, and probably in the long run, healthily, are being left to find their way to extinction. The man power is stretched thin. The equipment is scarce. Resources are being used the best way they can think at the moment. Here’s what the northern half of our state looks like today:
N. CA fires

I, and my garden are down there in the midst of that, thriving. Really.

Being a thoughtful girl, I am challenged to watch my thoughts, ascertain where they are coming from. Distinguish which ones are worthy thoughts and should be honored and acted upon. Buy hepafilters. Two. Buy a hepafilter mask. One. Buy extra water. Make note of the dog crate and extra bag of dogfood in the car. Take out the cat carriers and have them ready. What do I cherish that would need to accompany me should it come to that? What, indeed?

The jays are on their own. No clean air for them, poor things. No clean air for my pet lizard who has kept me company in the front garden all spring. But this afternoon out he came, from under the lavender where he continues to choose to live, to sunbathe, there in the haze. Life goes on. And he’s bigger! Life and growth go on. The tomatoes are bearing seven tomatoes. Large orange flowers bloom from the zucchini and pumpkins and spaghetti squash. Nothing stops or hesitates in the face of danger. Only I cogitate.

I settle for making a mental list of all I am grateful for. I’m not out in the boonies. We are safe now. The gas tank is full and ready. There are friends nearby making it clear I would be welcome there should it come to that. Would it come to that?

The only moment is this one. This precious one when I’m writing to all of you, grateful for your readership, for your showing up again and again. For your kind words and encouragement. For your laughing at my humor. For visiting with me on the journeys I take close and closer. Far and farther.

Thank you.

Love and gardening blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Posted on June 25th, 2008 by Kathryn
Filed under: People at Life | 26 Comments »

The Joy of New Tools!

I don’t care what those oil pigs charge us for gasoline (oink, oink) I will not go back to a motorless lawn mower, especially now that I’m forever hooked on my new Lawnboy. Yes, Lawnboy. No, not that kind of lawnboy. My Lawnboy! Here he is, standing in the bright, hot California sunshine:

Lawnboy

Here’s how he came to be part of the gardening family. You might recall that Bunny Guiness’s book inspired me. I went into Home Depot knowing I really needed a new lawn mower. Frankly they all look about the same to me. Either you are standing up or sitting down. Fortunately I have a small enough lawn and I wanted a standup version. And I liked the green one, particularly as it was originally quite pricey, but for some reason had been returned, and substantially marked down. It looked fine to me. I took the chance and brought it home. Uh-oh. Not working. Went back and talked to a young man who actually had the following converation with me:

Young man: I’m off this weekend. I could come over to your house and see what’s wrong with it.

Moi: You would do that? That’s awfully nice of you!

Young man, dead serious: Yes, m’am. That’s all right. I like helping the elderly.

(GASP!)

Now I ask you…

Photo of Kathryn taken one week ago at Nickel Creek Nursery

See? What was he thinking? Maybe they all die really young in his family. I don’t know. But anyway, after I gave him a teeny piece of my mind, laughing the whole time, I gave him my address, and God bless his heart, he did show up and he not only fixed the Lawnboy, he noticed I was not given a bag, and ordered the bag for me from the company and it came along by UPS. How’s about that for a deal?

Still one problem. One morning I could once again not get it to start. Took it next door to Dave, my neighbor, whom you might recall, and Dave pulled the cord and pulled up a second handle I had not noticed before. And that’s how Dave and I learned about Self Propelled Lawnmowers! Because at that moment the lawnmower seemed to have a mind of its own and dug up a big line of grass in Dave’s perfect lawn and took off with poor Dave across the lawn, oh, dear. I yelled, “Let go of that handle, Dave!” And he did, thank heavens!

So now I have a self propelled lawnmower and, boy, does that make a difference! I obviously didn’t even know there was such a thing!

What else didn’t I know? I noticed Bunny used a very wide rake, so I bought this big blue one:

rake

That makes a huge difference in impact with a single stroke. What a gift.

Then I ordered a hula hoe, which Dave had introduced me to last year, but I never saw any in any stores, ever. Got it from Seeds of Change. Oh, it makes weeding so much easier, I can barely believe it. That blade is very sharp. The hula hoe will make my gardening much more efficient. Hallelujah!

(I have a Dutch hoe on back order, as Bunny said it was the best.)

Then I got this tree pruner that has its cords inside, so I don’t find it intimidating. I can finally prune the old lilac trees that must be sixty years old, but way too tall to deadhead. Yippee.

tree pruner

And, oh, my goodness! Have you ever seen an edging iron like this? It’s amazing! You press that sharp blade down along the grassy edge, and place your boot on that little ledge and push down. Whack! I can now edge the front lawn so much more effectively. I love it!

edging iron

And to round things out, Ruby and Conner got a new purple pool today! My lovely garden is totally transformed with new tools and playthings! Ruby, who loves to “swim” ran circles in that pool for a good fifteen minutes she was so delighted! Every photo I took of her was just a doggie blur. Fortunately, good boy Conner just stands in it when he gets hot.

Conner in pool

What could be better?

Love and gardening blessings,
Kathryn xox

Posted on June 20th, 2008 by Kathryn
Filed under: People at Work | 24 Comments »

Field Trip: Nickel Creek Nursery

Open book statuary at Nickel Creek Nursery (I LOVED it!)

“Gossip in the Garden”

“Good Morning Glory, what’s the
Four O’clock news?”
Johnny Jump-Up lost his shoes.
Black-eyed Susan has her eye on
you.
And the Tulips want a kiss or two.
Iris just wants Rose to know,
Sweet William is her favorite beau.
Busy Lizzie took her Butcher’s
broom
and chased the Cattails round the
room.
Poor Weeping Willow isn’t feeling well,
and Hollyhocked her Chiming Bell.
Yesterday Daisy cut off Aaron’s
Beard
Then whispered “Forget-me-not”
in
Elephant’s Ear.
Today a Texas Ranger knocked
at my door,
Creeping Jenny found a
Naked Lady lying on the floor.
Tomorrow who knows what gossip
there’ll be
The Flowers are from such a large
family.

Wanderlust tugged again and I obediently drove out to Nickel Creek Nursery which I find a serene and lovely place to be from time to time. Owner Dawn Lorenzi will not mind if you wander about, or sit and take advantage of the myriad vignettes that abound at Nickel Creek. In short it is A Destination Nursery, should there be such a thing. (And I think there is.) Part of the luxury of Nickel Creek is that it is flanked by 70 plus acres of open vineyards.

vineyard

That’s a whole lotta quiet, my friends.

I had advised Dawn that I wanted to come by with my camera, so I actually arrived early this morning, before the nursery had opened, but enjoyed the company of some Hispanic workers who had arrived, I’m guessing, at dawn. I had been assured the gate of the two-acre nursery would be open, but, in fact, it had not yet been pulled back by the time I arrived. Fortunately, just to the right of the tall gate is this collection of lovely plants, where I found a hole in that fencing.

entrance

(I suspect this might have happened before.) I scrambled through and continued with my early morning adventure!

One of my favorite features of this particular nursery is the statuary, of which I am very fond. So I was greeted upon entry by this lady basking in the early light of day. Noting the intensity of the light even at this early hour you might imagine the heat we have been experiencing lately! (No complaints here!)

lady

And she…
goddess

Just beyond is one of the vignette’s Dawn has created. As a landscaper she has created water features such as these all over this valley for the last twenty years, leaving her mark of skilled beauty on this community.

waterfeature

Another view reveals more detail.

waterfeature2

Continuing with my treat of basically having the nursery All to Myself, I ventured along and discovered this little inviting spot, filled with a variegated rosy rose and an unusual purple geranium.

boywflute

I found this corner very charming.

A short distance from the boy with the panpipes stood another child, highlighting a second water feature sporting such classic water plantings as cattails, papyrus and canna lilies. (Secret: he has a frog in his back pocket!)

boy