Gardening – Page 8 – Gardens For Goldens

Our Adventure

“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.” ~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Two years ago next month, the Homeward Bound Memorial Gardeners put on their “big boots” to rescue an acre of weeds and bring forth a garden. And what an adventure it has been!

Today, while Peggy and Steve began dividing the iris,

Ina, Sarah and I installed the entry beds.

We got to reminiscing about how far we have come in just the last year.

California Garden last September…

and now:

Herb and St. Francis Gardens last fall…

and now:

What a difference a year makes.

Returning a tool to the garage, I caught a glimpse of Lilly piling into a car and heading to her forever home.

She’s one of our special needs dogs who has been waiting a while for just the right family. My heart skipped a beat and I was reminded of what this labor of love is for. Happy new life, Lilly…off to new adventures! We will miss you, beautiful girl.

Grey Skies

Saturday, the skies turned dark, thunder clapped, and we were treated to a brief downpour – unseasonable for us this time of year. The garden is loving it.

With the cooler temperatures and extra drink, everything burst forth in bloom.

The light was different and the colors more subdued – but beautiful bathed in warm grey.

Love the sound of these wind chimes in the rustling trees. My idea of church.

I’m really pleased with how these drifts have developed.

Inspired by something I saw in Fine Gardening magazine, and purchased as 3″ plants from Digging Dog Nursery, they have grown to full size in one season and now provide a bridge from Ina’s Cottage and California gardens to Maria’s Herb and St. Francis beds.

I was very pleased to meet this gentleman as well.

His name is Renji and he is a total charmer. Wish he were mine! I suspect he’ll be scooped up quickly.

I heard a story on the radio today. Jerry Saltz, an art critic for New York magazine was talking about Jackson Pollock, the painter. When he made his first famous drip painting, he supposedly turned to his wife and asked: Is this a painting?

That’s how I feel about these. ‘Are these photographs?’ Or simply disasters?

I dunno. Something made me save them from the ‘delete’ folder. Maybe someday, my disasters will be as sought after as Pollocks’ drips. A girl can dream.

The sun will be back tomorrow…and you know where you’ll find me.

Wordless Wednesday: Unfolding

Klamath Flora and Fauna

“The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.” ~ Author Unknown

The best gardens are nature-made.

Today is a Gift

“The flower that you hold in your hands was born today and already it is as old as you are.” ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwi

I don’t know where the summer went; the time passed so quickly. We leave soon for our annual Labor Day camping trip – a week on the ocean and river where the salmon run. It seems like summer arrived just yesterday and it’s gone in the blink of an eye – or the life of a flower.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.”~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

We paid our dues early this year. Having survived two straight weeks of 110 degrees in June, we have been treated to much milder temps all through August. The garden is showing its gratitude now.

And so are the pups. This is Lukey.

Handsome Shane.

Sweet blind boy Brutus.

And hug-a-boo Mickey.

With a light breeze blowing, our golden oldies were treated to a group play date in the large park. So many beautiful sugar faces.

Little beasties, meanwhile, were having their own party in the Butterfly Garden.

Ocean camping is heaven, but its hard to compete with this bliss.

“For there you have been and there you will long to return.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Orange

Orange is a warm and happy color – more intense than Yellow and less aggressive than Red.

In color meanings, it is positively associated with gregarious, exuberant, youthful, adventurous, and creative.

A little Orange energizes. Too much orange can feel overly flamboyant, loud and crass.

Orange in nature is associated with heat, fire, sunsets and sunrises, and of course, autumn.

In crystals, Orange is a power and healing color. It stimulates appetite as well as enthusiasm and creativity.

To Native Americans, Orange represents learning or kinship. In Eastern philosophy, the Orange Chakra is in the abdomen and the creative center.

It was also the source of ridiculous jokes as in “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?”

Orange in the garden is sometimes criticized as too bright and garish – not tasteful. But I think orange brings life to a garden. I use it at home to create tropical heat or add brilliance to an otherwise dark space.

We use spots of it in the Memorial Garden to add warmth while accentuating other colors.

From deep, near-red burnt Oranges,

to the more fragile Salmons and Apricots…

you’ll find every shade of “Orange” in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden.

Orange you glad you stopped by?

First Hint of Fall

Every year I prepare for our annual ocean camping trip over Labor Day weekend. It’s how I know that Fall is near. The Memorial Garden seems to sense it too…earlier this year.

The Obedient Plant in Ina’s Cottage Garden is making an appearance.

Maria’s Sunflowers are showcasing shades of gold and red.

The grapes are sun-kissed ripe and wonderfully sweet,

and the Sedum has flowered.

The tiny drifts planted last spring have sprouted a new fountain…and its guest.

And the Amaranthus, started from seed, is spreading like deep red pearls throughout the Perennial bed.

Even Sequoia is dressed in fall colors. This sweet girl was surrendered by a family that loved her dearly, but happened to live in a grove of Eucalyptus trees that she is horribly allergic to. No amount of medication could help, so they entrusted her to us to help her recover and find her a home where she is pain (and itch) free.

I’m not sure that I am ready to say good-bye to summer – although I am very ready to leave the stifling hot valley for a week of ocean air, cold nights and campfires.

The garden – well it does what it will in its own time – ready of not.

Evening Light

“The evening light was like honey in the trees” ~ John Ashbery

My visit to the garden was late on Saturday. Instead of gardening, I joined the team running the dogs in late afternoon to give a couple of devoted volunteers a well-earned day off. By the time I made it to the garden, it was bathed in a golden wash and the shadows were long.

Monarchs danced, Dragonflies perched,

and bees were finishing their day collecting pollen from the Penstemon.

I see that Ina has been busy preparing to expand the Cottage Garden again,

and our new wall is complete; the surrounding beds waiting to be planted.

The plaque that now graces our Memorial Garden calls out our purpose and will be filled with names of sponsors whose contributions will support the dogs.

Speaking of dogs…Dee Dee, featured here last week doing her ballet has some new joyous photos to share. The going home kind. You can see them here. Happy life, Dee Dee girl!

“Now and then the light will fall on a particular point in time, illuminating it for a moment before the wind seals up the gap, and the world is in shadows again.” ~ Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists

Jody and I hung a new wind chime from the plum tree. It makes a deep and delightful sound as if it is calling the creatures to the garden as the day began to disappear.

“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

A beautiful August evening in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden.

Garden Ballet

Monarch Butterflies are doing dances all through the butterfly bed in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden. We have created a haven for them with Butterfly Bush, Milkweed, Lantana, Verbena and a host of others.

As long as they stay still, I can pretty much capture them.

In flight – not so much.

I was able to capture the dance of this rare specimen, however. Quite the ballet – don’t you think?

Take a bow, Dee Dee! Such a cutie.

Purple: Royalty in the Garden

The color purple is associated with royalty, nobility, luxury, and power.

Purple also represents meanings of wealth, extravagance, creativity, wisdom, dignity, grandeur, devotion, peace, pride, mystery, independence, and magic.

The color purple is a rare occurring color in nature and as a result is often seen as having sacred meaning.

Purple, unlike violet, is not one of the colors of the visible spectrum. It is called a non-spectral color. It exists in culture and art, but not, in the same way that violet does, in optics. It is a combination of two primary colors. Purple combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red.

Because the purple color is created by combining a strong warm with a strong cool color, the color retains both warm and cool properties.

On one hand, the color purple can boost imagination and creativity, on the other, too much purple can cause moodiness.

Purple is said to be associated with spirituality, the sacred, higher self, passion, third eye, fulfillment, and vitality.

It is said to uplift spirits, calm the mind and nerves, create feelings of spirituality, increase sensitivity, and encourage imagination and creativity.

The color purple and its lighter lavender shades introduce romance to nature; think lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers. Lavender suggests uniqueness, while purple invokes mystery.

Purple is considered a cool color in landscape design. Its appearance has a calming effect in a garden.

Purple plants visually recede in a garden, helping to make a small space feel larger.

Purple was one of the first colors used in prehistoric art. The artists of Pech Merle cave other Neolithic sites in France used sticks of manganese and hematite powder to draw and paint animals and the outlines of their own hands on the walls of their caves.

Its complimentary color is yellow.

Under Construction

New month; new project in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden. We can’t help ourselves.

It is time for the long-awaited entry way garden. These beds will hug Memorial Garden path; the one filled with bricks commemorating all the dogs we have loved.

Planting won’t happen until fall. Common sense, patience and Ina’s (frequent) warnings win out given our July and August temps. No worries; preparations will keep us busy until then.

We killed off the weedy grasses, and for good measure, covered the section in a layer of thick cardboard.

We used the technique in other sections of the garden to good effect. The cardboard starves the weeds of light and disintegrates over time. Until then, it is simple to dig holes through it for future plantings.

A truckload of 50/50 was delivered Monday which we will supplement with compost, manure and other goodies to enrich the soil which is starved for nutrients in this section.

Rob was gracious enough to do some earth moving for us. Kind man.

Maria (along with Jody and Mike) is my Mistress of Water. I tell her where I want to plant and she makes it happen. This site involves digging new trenches and laying new PVC to get water to the dry beds.

Doesn’t she look great?

Once the beds are prepped the mason will return to install a small wall for the beautiful new plaque that will grace the garden and feature the names of its sponsors.

In this way, this acre of donated plantings (and labor!) will raise funds in support of the dogs.

It requires a little imagination at this point. But that’s precisely what got us to this place in about 18 months.

The dogs have faith.

A study in yellow

In color psychology, yellow is supposed to be uplifting, illuminating – full of hope, happiness and cheer.

It is said to inspire original thought.

It is a color of the left or logical side of the brain; a practical thinker/creator, not a dreamer.
It does this by creating enthusiasm; awakening confidence and optimism.

“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso

Within the meaning of colors, yellow is the great communicator; it practically demands that you look at it. It is the most visible of colors in the spectrum.

It depends on itself, preferring to not get emotionally involved. It is a color of the head, not the heart.

Yellow can make people anxious and babies cry. A little goes a long way.

I was never much of a fan of yellow. My garden beds were always a study in pinks, blues, purples, greens and the occasional orange. But this garden has changed my mind. Yellow brings spots of energy and light to the garden; it adds warmth and depth at the same time.