The Dream & The Reality

Every year around this time (almost Spring!) I get a little antsy. While throwing the ball around the yard for our German Shepherd, I started making a list of projects and cleanup that need to be done soon. I’m just waiting for the ground to dry out a little. (All right, those of you who live here in the Northwest with me, stop laughing!)

I guess my point is that I love a garden full of flowers—lush, colorful and gorgeous flowers and bushes:

• Spring bulbs—tulips, daffodils, crocus—a sure sign we are almost through winter.
• Followed by spring bushes like forsythia and lilacs (ohhhh, the smell of lilacs…).
• Then the delight of those flowers that start at summer’s beginning and continue their show all summer: petunias, lavender, roses and my very favorite—snapdragons! You can never have too many snaps, never. I have a whole garden bed just for them. ?
• In the heat of the summer, of course, we get the daisies, the butterfly bush, the gladiolas and the dahlias.
• Heralding autumn, my favorite time of year—mums in all their glory and gorgeous colors.

So, here’s my dream and how it starts—beautiful beds of tulips to lead the way.

But here is the reality so far, this year—a couple of hardy and errant tulip bulbs doing their best to shine in my garden cart! Because here is my reality:

• I am notorious for not following through with bulb planting and garden cleanup in the fall.
• My garden beds are so abundant that it takes me 2-3 weeks each spring just to weed and rake them all. I do get it done, though—grumbling all the way.
• As usual, I have not pruned my roses nor my butterfly bush this winter. However, I know from experience that they will bloom just fine with a little pruning right now. And even though I have been told that butterfly bushes are a weed, I love the huge branches and purple flowers all summer, so there!
• My lilacs and forsythia are going wild—but that’s ok with me. I like an abundant, lush look. An English garden, mine is not!
• I won’t even go into how often over the next few months I will “rearrange” my garden beds. Drives Rory crazy when I ask him to dig out a patch of daisies and move them across the yard. (I rearrange my living room furniture a lot, also)

The bottom line is that while I love the look of a beautiful garden full of beds of flowers of every kind, I am not one of those gardeners who live to be out in the garden working. Not at all. But I do love the way my garden looks in the middle of summer—so beautiful!

That’s the word about Spring/Summer gardening here in my amazing grace filled life……