Gardens For Goldens

The Garden as teacher

After a year of working in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden, I have – to my amazement – become a more patient gardener. I walk right past the impulse buy tables in the garden store.

Tempting as they are, I now favor these young divides –

trusting that they will grow into stronger, healthier plants that will shoot forth year after year.

This season, I will even experiment with seeds – something I never had the patience for before.

The gardeners and I have watched and learned what works and what doesn’t. Plant in mounds to avoid drowning in the winter rains…

Don’t cut back until after all frosts; it is colder in the country and our little friends need their cover…

And tulips belong in pots, well out of bunny reach!

Last year was all about planning and planting; this season is about waiting.

Including sitting out this Killdeer’s brood; 3-4 weeks incubation time after the last egg is laid. Her nest is so well-known to us that we leave it marked with a little statue for her return each year. No digging here for at least three more weeks, yet she allows us to walk within a couple of feet of her without too much fuss.

“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.”~ Gertrude Jekyll

A return visit

The fertile soils (former wetlands) and Mediterranean climate of the Sacramento Valley provide an ideal environment for growing. The winters are temperate, the summers warm – cooled by Delta breezes. Old trees in established neighborhoods provide frost protection and shade from the blazing late July and August sun. Buildings create closed spaces blocking cold winds that can otherwise quickly freeze fragile plants. As a result, microclimates can be a full zone apart from an area just a few minutes away.

The Memorial Garden is in the country not far from Sacramento – surrounded by flat rice fields. It soaks up sun, but cools off quickly with nothing to block the wind. That’s a wonderful air conditioning system in the summer when breezes come off the wet fields, but it delays our spring, keeping nights and early morning temperatures ~~cool~~ cold.

So, while we wait for our full spring to burst forth at the garden (and while some of you still wait out winter) I made a return trip to the Sacramento City Cemetery, which sits not far from the river, but in the middle of town. Sheltered, and blanketed with old trees, it boasts a much milder growing environment. You might remember my last, late summer visit captured in the post From Whence They Came. I was anxious to see what it looked like in spring. It did not disappoint. Enjoy.

Secrets of the heart

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched…but are felt in the heart.” ~ Helen Keller

There is one feeling that I will never get used to – is the joy of watching new connections made and new two+four-legged families formed. Last weekend Jeff and Erwin came through the garden with Duke – 90 pounds of golden love.

Previous adopters, they had lost their beloved pup and were finally ready to share their hearts with another. The connection was real and instantaneous. They spent hours together. Arrangements were made to return a week later to pick him up; unable to stay away, they were back the next afternoon with a friend to share another day.

Who knows what clicks to create these instant bonds. Who cares?

Secrets of the heart – dog to human; human to dog.

Wordless Wednesday

Signs of Spring

“The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.” ~ Gertrude S. Wister

The signs of spring are everywhere in the Memorial Garden. For those of you still suffering winter, a few vignettes are shared here with a hope that your spring is on the way.

Yes, no spring is complete without puppies. And last, but not least, a beautiful specimen of the treasured “sugar corculum”.

Wordless Wednesday: Unforgettable Agatha

Building trust

Building trust with the new arrivals at Homeward Bound…

one touch…

one kindness at a time.

“Properly trained, a man can be dog’s best friend.” ~ Corey Ford

A promise made; a promise kept

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” ~ Will Rogers

The most important installation in the progress of the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden was finally completed this week. It shamed me a little that this one took so long, but it’s timing is perhaps fitting – as this year, the garden will burst forth in spring celebrating all the hard work of our first season’s plantings.

Our Memorial Path is where families remember their beloved pups with a commemorative brick. The bricks are laid in a sand base, so we can easily replace blank ones with new dedications,

until someday, every brick relays a special message to our pups over the rainbow bridge.

Thanks to Joe Porto and his crew of Top Line Masonry for their beautiful work.

It brings both tears and joy to walk, read, and remember. This one in particular – as it is dedicated to Chelsea, the Golden Retriever who inspired all that Homeward Bound has become.

A lasting tribute, soon surrounded by all the blessings of spring.

It was the perfect time after all.

happy new beginning

This is an update to my Worth Waiting For post – about a blind golden retriever named Bogey, who was adopted by two retired eye doctors on Valentine’s Day – after three years in Sanctuary at Homeward Bound.

The morning with spent with CBS13 local news reporter, Cambi Brown and crew, interviewing Bogey’s adoptive family, Homeward Bound’s president, Jody Jones – and Bogey, of course!

Word spread quickly of his brief return, resulting in an extra-large turnout of volunteers today. Now we know how to incentivize them!

While all the other dogs reaped the benefits of so many helpers on hand, Bogey was definitely the center of attention.

Special thanks to our friends at CBS13 for their interest in our Bogey boy and for helping to spread the word about the value of adopting adult and special needs dogs.

But our greatest thanks are reserved for David and Anita, who gave our golden boy a long-awaited loving home.

Happy ending? “Every end is a new beginning.” ~ Proverb.

Happy new beginning, Bogey boy!

Wordless Wednesday

Work is love made visible

Q: “What are you planting today?”
A: “Stone.”
Big weekend of work in the Memorial Garden; I am just recovering.

Jody and I began the stone walkway project on Saturday. I finished on Sunday, while she oversaw the completed clearing of the adjacent pen. Moving a half ton of stone certainly makes you sleep well at night. But the results are worth the effort, I think.

“It is better to wear out than to rust out.”
– Bishop Richard Cumberland

The curve creates obvious pockets for drifts of plants that echo the natives in Ina’s garden, coupled with some perennials to bridge the front and back of the garden. Next stop: nursery!

The garden is about to burst into spring. We’ve discovered that our flowering season is longer here; but winter leaves a little later. Things that have sprung in my home garden, are still hinting at spring in the Memorial Garden. The breeze that cools over the rice fields is welcome relief in summer, but keeps a chill on a while longer in spring.

We were joined once again today by a group of students from the University of San Francisco. They are studying Fundamentals of Organizational Management with a focus on nonprofits, and selected Homeward Bound to get some hands-on experience and information. They were attracted to us as an all-volunteer organization; and for our mission of rescue and sanctuary.

They had an opportunity to spend time with our President, and some of our newest recruits. Meet Lily…

Daisy…

And Lucy.

After spending time with the dogs, trainers and team leaders, Jody let them experience the manual labor side of rescue – clearing the adjacent pen. Not bad for city kids! It looks immaculate.

We return them to the metropolis a little tired, dirty, and wiser about the work of a nonprofit.

“Work is love made visible.”
– Khalil Gibran

Breaking up is hard to do

Love is in the air – at home and in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden. At home, Mourning Doves on a wire signal their return to the nest they use season after season.

In the Memorial Garden, the Killdeer have returned to the same spot we marked for them last year. Can you spot the egg?

These monogamous birds pair year after year; they share parenting duties, forming strong bonds. We often receive such bonded pairs of dogs at Homeward Bound; we go to extraordinary lengths to place them together. Sometimes, it simply becomes impossible – as was the case with our Brutus and his beloved Sierra.

She was sweetness and grace; all adopters were drawn to her. Her Brutus was of a different class. He was her big, rough and ready guardian; a lovable clod who, through no fault of his own, was never taught the simple basics of civilized behavior.

At some point, we were simply holding her back. Once the decision was made to allow them to separate, she quickly found a forever home. Heartbreaking as it was to break them up, it may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for our friend, Brutus.

With the opportunity to devote one-on-one time to him, he has made amazing progress. Simple things that we take for granted, are giant steps forward for Brutus – like returning a ball instead of eating it…

“look at me” –

and “leave it.”

But these are the things that will help people to see the magic in our boy who just needs a little attention and love.

Breaking up is hard to do. For Brutus, we hope it pays off soon in his very own forever home. One thing we are sure of: he has proven himself both loyal and true.