It Was Crowded in My Garden Today

You were all there, I swear you were.

As I was out and about in my garden today, trying to focus on one particular task, but actually following several paths at the same time, you were there.

You know what we call following several paths in the garden all at once, don’t you? Together now… GADS! As in… “Gads, I could get a lot more done if I would just focus a bit on one task at a time.”

You are asking how could this be, that you were in my garden, because you swear you were in your own garden, or at work, or anywhere but here.

Here’s how… you’ve joined in the garden blogging community, you’ve left comments with advice and encouragement, you’ve even shared actual plants with me, welcomed me to visit your garden, to eat at your table. You’ve shared your own garden with me on your own blog. That’s how you were in my garden today!

Now that there is an online community of gardeners, connected through a common bond of being plant obsessed, garden obsessed, and just plain gardening geeks, can we ever garden alone again, any of us?

I see my Stapelia or I can’t think of a plant name and I think of Annie in Austin who has an amazing grasp of botanical plant names and gave me a start of her Stapelia to bring back to May Dreams Gardens.

Out in the vegetable garden, the cilantro, of all things, reminds me of Zanthan Gardens, and MSS’s meadow, which was in its glory for the spring fling, filled with blooming cilantro. I see her long-standing blog and think “that’s how it’s done, that’s real garden blogging”. I never miss one of her posts.

Passing by the Swiss chard, which was fun to grow but I never did try to eat it, I feel a bit guilty because Robin(Bumblebee) sent me an email with an ‘easy’ recipe for cooking it in a pasta dish. Easy, I suppose, if you cook!

And those raised beds out there in my garden? I can only dream that they will look as nice as the ones that Lancashire Rose has in her Austin, Texas garden!

Did I mention that I grew some red impatiens in a metal tub, which isn’t exactly a stock tank, but I remember Pam/Digging’s stock tanks when I see it? One day, I might get a real one for my garden.

Who else was in my garden today? The Colchicums are still blooming nicely and they bring thoughts of Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening, the Colchicum Evangelist. If she had her way, we’d all have these beautiful and delightful fall flowers in our gardens.

This spring I planted more flowers that I thought would attract hummingbirds because I want to be like Mary at Mary’s View, who has given me some good advice on attracting birds, and Robin of Robin’s Nesting Place who both take amazing pictures of these fast moving birds. But I’m only half like them. I attracted the hummingbirds, which was great, but I can’t for the life of me take pictures like they do! Every time I see some hummingbirds, I think of them.

When I see squirrels, which isn’t too often, thankfully, I tell them to go home to Squirrelhaven were Mr. McGregor’s Daughter gardens. She must like them to give her garden that name.

When I see a “dirty little secret in my garden”, something I decide I won’t blog about, I think of Mary Ann in Idaho, and can just imagine her telling me to go for it. “Show ‘em what’s real” is her motto! And Dee from Red Dirt Ramblings would be right there, too, thinking that perhaps my dirty little secret is that there is only one small rose plant in my garden. “How could that be!”, she’d say.

And when I put away all my garden furniture and decorations for the winter, and then bring it all back out in the spring, I’ll remember Cindy at My Corner of Katy who had to put away all that and more before Hurricane Ike came through her garden last week. The few leaves that I had to clean up when the remnants of Ike blew through my garden are nothing compared to the mess she has to clean up.

See what I mean? Right now, I’m cleaning up my houseplants, trying to get rid of the mealybugs ONCE AND FOR ALL, and I think of Elizabeth at Gardening While Intoxicated, (and Garden Rant) one of the few other garden bloggers who also admits to having houseplants, (like there is something wrong with us for having houseplants. THERE is not. Real gardeners have houseplants, you know that, don’t you?) and her response of sympathy in response to my posting about composting all my African Violets because I've decided that’s the only way to get rid of those little nasty beasties! Yes, I did that today. I had to. I’m desperate and those mealybugs hide in the African Violets. (Okay, I did keep one small variegated African Violet to take some leaf cuttings from, but the rest are compost.)


Then once I’ve dealt with this mealybug problem, I’ve got to get back outside and prepare some new places to plant. I ordered a new shrub clematis because I have one with white flowers, but Kim, Blackswamp Girl, at Study in Contrast, has one with blue flowers that she posted about one bloom day, and I loved it, so I ordered one like it. I'll think of her when it blooms.

See what I mean? Leslie, Layanee, Frances, Lisa, Gail, Margaret, you were all there, too. (My garden fairies would like to have a word with your frogboys, Margaret!)

I could go on and on (and on and on) down through everyone else whose blog feed I subscribe to on my Google Reader. You were there, too, all of you!

Yes, welcome to the garden blogging community… you’ll never garden alone again! I promise!