It seems fitting that on the last day of my gardening holiday, the lilacs should bloom. As I worked around the yard, carrying newly purchased plants from the front porch to the back patio, I made it a point to walk on the side of the house where the lilacs bloom so I could smell them over and over again.This has been an outstanding year for lilac blooms, one of the best that I can remember.
I think lilacs are one of the great experiences of gardening where the winters get cold enough for them to live. In a way, it is a reason for living where there are cold winters.
So what are great experiences of gardening? They are those events that make even a busy gardener, one who moves about the garden purposely and quickly trying to get everything done, stop for a moment to enjoy the experience.
Here's what makes me stop and enjoy the experience. I wish all gardeners (and other people, too) could experience these things:
1.The taste of a home-grown tomato, still warm from the sun, eaten while standing in the garden.
2. The sweetness of an ear of sweet corn, grown in your own garden and cooked within minutes of being picked.
3, Fresh peas from the garden.
4. Fresh anything from you own garden.
5. The smell of lilacs in the spring.
6. Living and staying someplace long enough to sit in the shade of a tree you planted yourself.
7. Watching a night-blooming cereus bloom on a hot summer night.
8. The silence of a garden completely blanketed in snow.
9. Seeing a flower bloom in the snow.
10. Getting a special passalong plant from a friend or family member, a plant that has a history of being passed along and isn’t one of those invasive, ‘take all you want’ kind of plants.
What experiences would you add to this list?
Comments
AND
Watching the butterflies dance about the garden ;)
Seeing a hummingbird flit around a garden filled with flowers you've lovingly tended.
Smelling any freshly blooming flowers growing in the garden. Especially roses and peonies.
In my garden, there are three things I live for each year: the Tulipa clusiana, the oxblood lilies, and the rose 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'.
I hope, however, to expand that list with more experience.
Gail
Gardening is full of surprises.
My greatest experience / thrill when it comes to gardening is getting a free pass on creativity. It's not work when you get to do something you love. Even if it's shoveling yards of soil or hauling tons of rock. And it's getting even better - I get other's asking me to do my own thing in their yards now :)
Excellent garden.
have a nice week
I would add the pleasure of sitting in the middle of my garden underneath the oak trees (that I planted) with the gentle breezes cooling the evening (or morning) air. AND enjoying a meal with family on the back patio overlooking all the pretty flowers, shrubs, butterflies and bird activity.
Meems @Hoe&Shovel
Carol, I hope that link to the Stapelia post means the rooted cutting made it?
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Another thing I'd like to add would be: being in my greenhouse potting up plants while a soft May drizzle falls on the roof.
And the most important thing of all: just being in the garden, enjoying it all!
Fun post Carol!
Carol, May Dreams Gardens