Tag Archives: gardening

Think Pink

Posted on by
1

I don’t know why Angel Girl 2.0 and I love the color pink as much as we do, but we DO.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“PINK PINK PINK!”‘

A little research reveals that the color pink represents compassion, nurturing, tenderness, and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing.

A combination of red and white, pink contains the need for action of red, helping it to achieve the potential for success and insight offered by white. It is the passion and power of red softened with the purity, openness and completeness of white. The deeper the pink, the more passion and energy it exhibits.

Pink is feminine and romantic, affectionate and intimate, thoughtful and caring. It tones down the physical passion of red replacing it with a gentle loving energy. https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-pink.html

All I know for sure is that all shades of PINK make me happy, from the pink of my ballet shoes to any and all flowers in the garden. After all, I was named for a flower so in my case, it was sort of predestined.

It’s a little early for my rosebushes, but here’s a very pink freesia:

View post on imgur.com
View post on imgur.com

And deeply pink peach flowers, Since this is the tree’s first year, I know I’m supposed to pinch off all the flowers so the tree will grow stronger but I can’t bear to do that.

View post on imgur.com
View post on imgur.com
View post on imgur.com

Beauty in Death | Decay and Decompose

Posted on by
4

My little angels know how to make Grandma happy. Look what came in the mail, whole and undamaged.

It’s a gigantic, perfectly formed, preserved, and decayed leaf they found in their front yard. It brings me so much joy that the first thing they thought of was that it’s something I would appreciate.

I immediately framed it to admire every day.

March is here, winter shifts to spring, trees are budding and leafing, and it’s important to remember that autumn’s falling leaves were the catalyst to everything new. This leaf died so that more will grow; the inevitable circle of life.

It completely fills out an 8.5 x 11 frame. Isn’t this amazing?

View post on imgur.com
View post on imgur.com
I don’t know why the wall looks yellow cos it’s not.

Fragrant Freesias

Posted on by
9

These are the first fragrant freesias of spring. (I like alliteration.)

View post on imgur.com

#WordlessWednesday

Forsooth! Frivolous Forsythia

Posted on by
1

All of our crazy weather including half the rain we usually get made for an early spring. The fruit trees are flowering, the ash tree did its thing and is leafed out already, as well as the grapes.

Not at all native to this weird deserty, sometimes Mediterranean climate, I saw a forsythia bush and couldn’t walk away without bringing her home. I paid full price too, which should tell you how much I wanted it. Teehee.

When I was growing up back east, I knew spring had arrived when my mom took me violet hunting and the lillies of the valley popped up, An even more glorious sign were the budding forsythia and lilac bushes up against the French doors in the living room.

When the weather warmed up enough to open all the doors and windows, their fragrance was literally breathtaking.

I’ve tried to grow lilacs here and failed, so I don’t have the highest of hopes for this forsythia, but I will try my best.

Fingers crossed, everyone!

P.S. There’s a chance we’ll have rain this week and that’ll make all my plants (and me) happy.

Photo by LExie Blessing on Pexels.com

Happiness is a Blooming Hedgehog Aloe and Stunning Ceanothus

Posted on by
Reply

The temps dropped nearly forty degrees and we were lucky enough to get some unexpected rain.

In the morning I was greeted by this flowering orange Hedgehog Aloe against a background of a very healthy ceanothus covered in lilac blooms.

View post on imgur.com

Violet Memories

Posted on by
4

A little violet plant surprised me today in the garden. I don’t know how it came to grow here, especially since Southern California is not the most suitable habitat. Violets prefer damp, well-drained ground and the sun-dappled protection of woodlands, none of which I have.

I was reminded of a special time with my mom. Every spring we’d bring willow baskets with handles and go to the stone bridge at Palmer Park in Detroit and fill them with purple and white violets.

When we returned home, my mom and I would fill every vase and glass we could find with the fragrance of these beauties. Sometimes I’d press a few in a book to find at a later date when it was dried and papery but still evoked the faintest perfume.

Since there’s no rational explanation, I’ll just thank my mom for her visit to guide my happy memories of those lovely times we shared.

Violets

Sugar Snappy Ambedo

Posted on by
5

Ambedo – n. a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details-raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees leaning in the wind, clouds of cream swirling in your coffee.

Or while you pick weeds under the loquat tree and look up to see sugar peas in a pod backlit by the sun.

The pea plants decided to have a life of their own and the tendrils became entwined in the branches of the tree because I didn’t stake them good enough.

I became lost in time, entranced by the simple green perfection. I l subsequently discovered there’s a word for that: ambedo.

Sugar Pea
(Click on the image to access full size)

#wordlesswednesday

Fly, Dragon, Fly

Posted on by
Reply

Isn’t this the most vibrant orange? I’m in love with this little guy.

Flame Skimmer, Libellula saturata. 

Dragonfly species that are orange include a variety of skimmers, such as the flame skimmer, firecracker skimmer, golden-winged skimmer, or Needham’s Skimmer.

Orange dragonflies can symbolize joy, creativity, wellness, and sensuality. This relates to the second/sacral chakra, which is orange.

There is magic all around, if you stop and look.

As Robert Bly said, “To be wild is not to be crazy or psychotic. True wildness is a love of nature, a delight in silence, a voice free to say spontaneous things, and an exuberant curiosity in the face of the unknown.”

Me and My Shadow

Posted on by
2

I thought about this: I’m lucky enough to experience a great deal of butterfly interactions; a continual source of joy and delight.

No photographic evidence exists to prove I’m telling the truth, but yesterday, as I was planting a bunch of California natives, a mourning cloak butterfly was fluttering all around me and then sat on my arm for about two minutes.

I tried to get to my phone to document this magic, but I couldn’t, so you’ll have to believe me. I guess she really really approved the locations where I planted the coffee berry and manzanitas!

This planting experience was a team effort: my son was on the phone with me when I was at the nursery having done the research about which specific plants to buy, and he also determined where each one should be planted. It’s not as much fun as having him here in real life. but we had a good time.

She came back today, blocking my way on the steps, so I was able to finally snap a photo.

Me and my shadow and her own shadow!

Mourning Cloak

Release | Set Free

Posted on by
9

In keeping with positive intentions and more of that anticipatory vorfreude for this new year, something so strange and wonderful happened!

I had been working in the garden — in my zone of bliss — raking leaves from the ash tree as it finished abscission during last week’s rainy and windy weather. It’s a mystery to me how and when the leaves fall; last year it was before Thanksgiving and this year was much later.

Read about abscission here: https://enchantedseashells.com/2020/11/20/the-process-of-abscission/

When I came inside to freshen my lemony water, I saw what I thought was a piece of paper stuck to the kitchen window, but upon further examination, it was a yellow butterfly!

A yellow butterfly!

I have absolutely no idea how it came to be in the house. I never leave the screen door open ‘cos the rats and squirrels are my constant arch nemeses.

Isn’t this magical? I think so…

My grout isn’t dirty or dingy; I enhanced the photo so the butterfly would be more visible!

I was able to gently coax her into a small plastic container and set her free on the deck. With a joyful heart, I carefully watched her flutter away back to from wherever she came. There was no harm done to her delicate wings.

I wonder if it’s the same butterfly I saw a while ago…that would be SUPER cool.

According to “World of Feng Shui,” a butterfly in the home is always a good omen but…

Maryland lore believes that a butterfly that enters the home and flies around someone foretells one’s death or the death of someone one knows, yet the same sign in Louisiana means that the person will have good luck.

In Japan, they treat a butterfly that enters the home kindly, as the soul of a loved relative or friend might reside in the butterfly and has come to visit them. 

I’m going with the good luck and visit from my mom theories. In either case, I am grateful for the visit.