Monday, February 20, 2012

Garden Dreams


I woke up this morning and threw back the drapes, and OHhhh!, there was this glorious bougainvillea!   It had a couple blossoms last week, but now it's going crazy!  I stuck it in the bay window, last fall  before frost, so it could winter indoors.  It looks like a jungle in my bedroom!  There's also a banana tree,  a mandevilla, some other large tropical plants and assorted houseplants.  I have no where else to put them in my small mobile home,  and I want them alive and well, for the porch and patio come summer.


 I also convalesce the African Violets that are not blooming, in this area.   It's my "plant hospital".
The blooming ones are displayed more prominently throughout the house, but the sick plants go hide in my bedroom.  Do you do that too?



 There is a beautiful deep purple hydrangea out front of my home, and I dried a couple blossoms. They dry such a pretty blue shade!   Next year I will save more!



Top of my bedroom  dresser.





 A kalanchoe  atop of my microwave, from my little Valentines



Here are my garden books.
Now is the time to read about gardening, before everything is growing
 and there are so many gardening tasks to be done.



Amy's dried roses

"What is so special about a rose that it seems far more than a flower?  Perhaps it is the mystery it has gathered through the ages. Perhaps it is the joy that it continues to give, humans have constantly  used it to transmit sentiments that they lack words to express, for the rose is different......." Princess Grace of Monaco writes in My Book Of Flowers.  This wonderful book, published in 1980, by Doubleday &Co. tells the history of many flowers and flowers in art, stories and poems, and the meaning and myths of flowers and herbs, "and the enchantment they bring into your life".




My toys, a collection of  Marjolein Bastin's miniatures, and a cute sign
  I dream of a garden where Tommy and I will sit on my little cement bench, have a picnic and watch butterflies.  We'll pick fresh herbs to use in our dinner dishes when we cook, and a handful of posies for his mommy when she gets home from work.  I will help him plant seeds and watch them grow.
I will grow some Jersey tomatoes, and  peppers.
  "Parsley, sage, rosemary  and thyme......." (Pardon me, while I sing!)
   I have to replace my beloved herb garden, I miss it so!
I wish I had a pond. I left that behind too, last summer.  Perhaps I can have a patio pond, a container pond with a little fountain, and a few fishes, at my new home.  Yes!  I shall!

My mother's favorite hymn is "In the Garden".  I  just read that C. Austin Miles, the writer of one of the most popular gospel hymns ever written,  wrote this in a "dreary, dark New Jersey basement that didn't even have a window. let alone a garden view".  I felt sad for him, so I researched it further, and learned what his great-granddaughter,  or Wikipedia  failed to mention, that he was a faithful  man, who had a vision while reading John 20 in his Bible, about Mary visiting Jesus' grave.   He was once a pharmacist, but he said  he  wanted to be remembered  most for writing these songs, because that how he was of the most use to his Master.
The song was published in 1912, and became popular when the Billy Graham Staff regularly used it.  Two of my childhood  favorites, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans recorded it in 1950, and then Perry Como recorded it in 1958.  I often sing it to myself in the garden. (sigh)

"One is closer to God in a garden,
than anywhere else on earth."    

Sweet dreams of gardens to you!
Love, Linda

10 comments:

La Vie Quotidienne said...

What a glorious post...with all of these lovely flowers ~ so pretty. This is the begining of the most wonderful season for gardeners...do you have any bulbs blooming yet? My daffodils are making quite a show. Have a happy day!

Debbi said...

Beautiful pics! How wonderful to open the curtains in the morning to see those beautiful blooms!

Char said...

Hi Linda,
it's so nice to meet you. I want to thank you so much for your kind comment and your follow. I now am also following you. Your blog is lovely and I am enjoying your blooms.
A jungle, how nice is that my friend.
Enjoy it all for me too. I live in the desert! I look forward to seeing more of your life and am off to check out your new shop, good luck with your adventures,
Char

Unknown said...

Hi Linda Thanks for your visit! Love your post:) have a wonderful week, now I'm going to enjoy all your eye candy! Hugs Marilou

Anonymous said...

I so love bougainvillea and miss seeing so much of it in San Diego. I plan on taking pictures around town for next week of what appears to be Yucaipa's favorite flower.

Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving such a sweet comment.

blessings, jilly
now a follower

Danice G said...

Thanks for following my Abigail's Frocks blog. I am now following your blog. I love your flowers :)

Shirley@Housepitality Designs said...

I miss the bougainvillea..Had many of them in Florida...they do not do well in N.C....Such a lovely thing to see first thing in the morning...Enjoy the view!

Unknown said...

Hi Linda! I'm so glad you stopped by and we got to meet. Your garden post was just beautiful. You know you can take a little kiddie pool from Wal-mart or other discount..put boards for a box the width and height of the pool and some to cover the edges of the pool...place stones in the bottom of the pool....a little pump....clay pots to hold up plants with lots of stones in the plant pots so the dirt doesn't come out. you can use water plants or ivy....pothos....any plant'll work as long as it's not to submerged really..even fern. Fill'er up with water...let it sit overnight. Go back to Wal-M and get some inexpensive goldfish, then put the goldfish still in their store bag down in the water and leave em there for and hour or so so they don't go into shock. Then just pour em in. (goldfish are Oriental Carp..the same carp ya throw back when fishin in lakes and the river.,.tehe..anyway..Oriental Carp are also Koi only many, many,many many, years old thus the big $$$$$0 We had a big pond we dug in the ground, bought 2 Koi and a bunch of goldfish, In less than 5 years we had 100's and it was deep enough they froze and wintered over. If ya want to see one of the smaller water pools let me know I have a pic.

Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads said...

Hello Linda! Thanks for visiting our blog and becoming a follower. Now I'm following you. I enjoyed reading your post about your flowers. I'm thinking that you will have your new place looking very lovely in a short while. It will interesting to follow your progress. I'm going to check out your Etsy shop. I am hoping to open one in a few months. I have been collecting some small vintage items for several months. I'm wishing you all the success in the world.

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

Lovely post! It's hard to leave behind a garden. I wish I had a pond too. We used to have one and then it got a leak and then we were going to move so we removed it. Now I'm thinking of putting in another one but I have so much planned for this summer already that I don't think I'll have the time.