Any day now...
This Stapelia bud is going to open up and I'll find out what it really smells like.
It is supposed to smell and look like rotting flesh. I can hardly wait.
Seriously, I can hardly wait. I've never seen this flower in person. It will be fun!
Maybe it will wait and bloom on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, coming up this Friday?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They don't make tools like they used to.
I bought this spade years ago, at a Sam's Club. It was shiny stainless steel. It is still shiny stainless steel.
I thought it would last forever.
The other day, I noticed a tiny tear in the metal, up by the handle. I realized then that this spade's days were numbered, that any day now the tiny tears in the metal would grow in size. "Any day now" turned out to be yesterday when I was digging up some peonies.
Fortunately, this wasn't my only spade. You really didn't think that someone with as many hoes as I have would have just one spade did you? When this spade finally gave way, I grabbed another spade and kept on digging.
Of course, now I need a new spade.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you are squeamish about plant diseases, look away.
I've never seen such powdery mildew in all my gardening days. It is thick on the stems of the peonies I cut back and moved. I noticed my neighbor's peonies look just as bad.
The peonies were planted on the side of my house and it took a special trip in the spring to go see them in bloom. I moved them to the back garden, where the garden designer suggested they should be planted.
Now I'll be able to sit on the patio, gaze off to the right and see the peonies in bloom in the spring.
Here's a picture of the blooms from a few years ago.
I am posting this picture so you can look at it for awhile and get the images of the broken spade and the plant disease out of your mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watch for tweets on the progress of the Stapelia.
Pray for rain.
Garden well and often.
Carpe hortus.
It is supposed to smell and look like rotting flesh. I can hardly wait.
Seriously, I can hardly wait. I've never seen this flower in person. It will be fun!
Maybe it will wait and bloom on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, coming up this Friday?
They don't make tools like they used to.
I thought it would last forever.
The other day, I noticed a tiny tear in the metal, up by the handle. I realized then that this spade's days were numbered, that any day now the tiny tears in the metal would grow in size. "Any day now" turned out to be yesterday when I was digging up some peonies.
Fortunately, this wasn't my only spade. You really didn't think that someone with as many hoes as I have would have just one spade did you? When this spade finally gave way, I grabbed another spade and kept on digging.
Of course, now I need a new spade.
If you are squeamish about plant diseases, look away.
The peonies were planted on the side of my house and it took a special trip in the spring to go see them in bloom. I moved them to the back garden, where the garden designer suggested they should be planted.
Now I'll be able to sit on the patio, gaze off to the right and see the peonies in bloom in the spring.
Here's a picture of the blooms from a few years ago.
Watch for tweets on the progress of the Stapelia.
Pray for rain.
Garden well and often.
Carpe hortus.
Comments
Also, It is the first time i see a spade break, I usually only see the handles go bad, you must really put a lot of effort into your garden.
good luck with your powdery mildew, i had that problem last winter, its not nice.
Frances
the stinky plant was a little gross, the mildew a lot gross...
...but then (I am NOT kidding), started (literally) drooling when I saw your peonies...
I haven't seen a peony (of mine) bloom in 2 years...I cannot WAIT until spring!!! Spring! Spring! Spring!
I hope the powdery mildew doesn't affect your peonies next year--they're too beautiful to lose!
Broken spades. . . you are right. They don't make them like they used to. The one you buy to replace that one will be lighter, flimsier, and more expensive. It won't last as long either. I have an old, solid shank spade that has lasted through three other spades. When it finally wears out I will miss it terribly -- I'm not sure they even make them with a solid shank any more. God forbid that they should devote that extra cubic inch of metal to making something that will last more than a couple of years. After all, things are supposed to break so we will buy more of them.
Have fun spade shopping!