gardening – Page 3 – Gardens For Goldens

Resolutions for Gardeners and Rescuers

A list of New Year resolutions gardeners and rescuers.

In the new year I vow to:
Nurture more. Feed the earth with organic nutrients; plant smaller to grow stronger; and mulch…mulch…mulch.

Protect more. Save precious resources with earth-friendly products, preventative pest measures, and judicious use of water – something that will be in short supply again this year.

Re-use more. One man’s garbage is gardener’s compost; cuttings and divides extend the garden and can be shared with others to create their own.

Welcome wildlife. The garden is for sharing with all.

Even those mischievous bunnies.

And appreciate the beauty of all seasons – including the dry, dead stalks of winter.

Resolution thoughts for my rescuer friends:
“Accept the pain, cherish the joys,

resolve the regrets; then can come the best of benedictions – ‘If I had my life to live over again, I’d do it all the same’” ~ Joan McIntosh

Welcome the New Year with joy.

Bow to Winter

Just a week ago, the garden still managed a display of fading, but beautiful color. Then came the cold.

From west to east across the nation, the freeze is on. The garden has bowed to winter.

“Autumn to winter, winter into spring, Spring into summer, summer into fall, – so rolls the changing year, and so we change; motion so swift, we know not that we move” ~ Dinah Maria Mulock

Record-breaking overnight lows have burst pipes and snapped the flowers from their stems.

The frost lays like a blanket of crystal ice across the landscape.

The sun shines for a bit…until the icy cold blows in again.

Fur coats, shorter outings and warm hugs keep the dogs safe and cozy.

At home, white lights and frost covers protect sensitive plants.

But the Memorial Garden is in the country and on its own while this cold snap drags on…and on…and on.

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

The Coming Cold

The squirrels know. It’s time to store away and prepare for cold.

The Sacramento Valley has true seasons; it’s one of the reasons why things grow so well here.

But the overnight temperatures we are expecting this week can wreak havoc on sensitive plants and fruit trees.

True cold does not usually arrive until January, but this week we’ll see night-time temperatures in the mid 20’s..and that is way too cold for our newest orange tree. Planted in honor of the beloved Shelby, it should be well protected from the hard frost thanks to a special tent which lets the sun in during the day and keeps cold out at night.

Because the garden is on its own during the week, we just have to do the best we can to prepare it. This means we don’t cut our perennials way back until spring, with the withered leaves and stems providing some protection for the plant crown. We also ignore the blanket of leaves which serve as insulation until the danger of frost has passed sometime in mid-February. They also help to keep some moisture in with the water turned off.

Where do butterflies go in such cold?

The Dahlia bulbs have been tucked into a dark box and covered with vermiculite for cold storage in the garage. My favorites are labeled with gardener tape.

But we can pretty much say goodbye to these last hold-outs from the season. They have served us well.

Hello to winter grasses, pruning chores and dreaming of spring.

Good thing we have pups to keep us warm.

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.

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.

“There is no blue without yellow and without orange.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

Maybe it is the range of yellows here…from the slightest hint of color…

to the deepest gold.

Or maybe it the fact that it is worn so beautifully by the wonderful creatures here.

Uplifting. Illuminating. Full of hope.

A study in yellow from the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden.

Discipulus invitus

Ina is our resident master gardener which means she actually got schooled in the art of cultivation, while the rest of us either learned through experience – or we fake it.

She creates beautiful gardens, but always refers to a plant by its latin or botanical name. I have no idea what she is saying.

Centaurea cineraria

I think she believes that if she repeats the name often enough, I will eventually catch on.

Physostegia virginiana

I just nod. Politely.

Asclepias tuberose

I have discovered that I am much more inspired to learn the latin names of dogs than flowers. Don’t ask me why. For example:

Lipidus smoochus

Minus dontouchus

Toobigus forlapus

Feelgoodus dontstopus

See what I mean? Much more memorable.

Meus happius

Dahlias returned

Before I began this journey to rebuild the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden, I had no experience at all with Dahlias. They were the gift of a volunteer gardener and fell into my charge. I watched them blossom through the summer into magnificent plates of color and fell in love.

I dutifully dug them up in the fall; placed them in a box of vermiculite following instructions I had read, sprinkled lightly with water and a little prayer, and then left them covered in the dark, cold garage. Every six weeks or so I would open the box and add a few more sprinkles to ensure they didn’t dry out until this weekend, when I pulled them out of darkness. To my delight and amazement, each “eye” had a tiny shoot springing forth. Today, they were returned to their spot in the garden. With any luck, the Dahlias will spring forth within a couple of weeks.

“Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower.” ~ Shigenori Kameoka

All sorts of little joys were sprouting forth in the garden this weekend; the arrival of blueberries where thorny blackberries once ruled,

Blooming Honeysuckle and Clematis

Jerusalem Artichoke and Rose Campion…

and multiplying gardeners! Randy and Vonnie were back to check in on their recently planted Butterfly Garden, to continue the attack on the driveway brush, and to take their latest adopted pup, Chelsea to training class.

One of our dog walkers recruited her mother, a seasoned gardener to join our effort. It is a great way for them to have some time together around shared passions, and we could not be more delighted. Welcome Diane!

And our newest recruit, is but a sprout herself. This is Alexandria.

Her dog goes to class on Saturdays, and while she waits, she loves to wander the garden. This week she helped me with weeding and watering while she explained photosynthesis to me at a million words a minute. A gardener is born.

“The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies.” ~ Gertrude Jekyll

Finally, this sweet girl, Roxy, and her foster mom, Michele, were a surprise find and a story all their own. More on them to come soon!

Until then…happy week…from the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden!

Down the rabbit hole

If you think plant names are challenging – try coming up with unique and memorable names for thousands of rescued dogs. Lately, we have resorted to “months” – artist month, musician month, etc. This is writer month. Which is how this sweet little girl acquired the name Beatrix Potter.

She is a breeder surrender with only one functioning kidney. That makes her imperfect in a breeder’s eyes – but certainly not in ours, or in the adoring eyes of the family that adopted her today.

It is fitting that Beatrix Potter’s namesake should be represented in the garden today. The author of the Tale of Peter Rabbit must have inspired the return of our bunnies who have tunneled two burrows under our prized blueberry bushes. You might remember that this was the former site of the dreaded blackberry bramble. As fate would have it – the bramble served as the bunnies’ previous home. They have apparently returned to take their revenge!

Beatrix Potter wrote, “There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.”

The Memorial Garden is like that. Begun with a desire to contribute to the rescue’s mission, it has taken us down the most wonderful rabbit hole of friendship and extended Homeward Bound family.

Today we met to re-work Randy and Vonnie’s butterfly bed. All but the roses were lost in last December’s deluge.

So we regrouped; raised the bed; and planted a host of perennials for attracting butterflies: Bee Balm, Milkweed, Sage, Yarrow, Coreopsis, Penstemon, Lantana, and more. The bed will be quite a showpiece in a month or so – befitting its position in the center of the garden.

Then, it was time for a doggie parade.

Dressed to impress with colorful collars and leashes donated by the generous folks at Lupine, we took photos to create an appropriate “thank you”.

Some of us were more into hamming it up and cuddles than modeling, but everyone knows that looking good is important to a dog’s self-esteem!

When you look good, you feel good…and you never know where that will lead a rescue dog. Maybe even to a forever home!

Remaking our corner

“It is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.” ~ Amelia Earhart

I asked my painter friend recently: “how do you know when it is done?” She had many answers, but the bottom line was that it rarely was. She confessed to reworking a canvas as much as a year after she put it down. The Homeward Bound Memorial Garden is like that for me – much to my fellow gardener’s chagrin. They laugh at my long list of projects and inability to leave things alone.

Sunday, we re-worked the Butterfly garden which has been conspicuously absent of Butterflies. We pulled up the large, heavy bark –

and started loading in piles of soil to raise the new transplants so they won’t sit in the winter water that floods the garden in December and January. Butterfly Bush, Monarda, Yarrow, Milkweed, Coneflower, Sage, Verbena, Lantana, and more will provide a welcome home.

While they mock me, I see them making plans of their own. With the ground work begun in the Butterfly bed, Maria had us turn attention to the herb garden. We love our pups; but not the way they relieve themselves on the herbs. So we have devised a scheme to put flowers in front and raised herbs in the rear.

Ina, meanwhile sneaks off to “contemplate” – which is almost always followed by a burst of fresh ~~perspiration~~ inspiration. This time, she has designs on the leftover stone. We’ll see what masterpiece she cooks up next.

The dogs? They just laugh. Unsure why anyone would want to work so hard when there are walks to be had –

apples to be retrieved…

and little boys to be played with.

“Gardeners are – let’s face it – control freaks. Who else would willingly spend his leisure hours wresting weeds out of the ground, blithely making life or death decisions about living beings, moving earth from here to there, changing the course of waterways? The more one thinks about it, the odder it seems; this compulsion to remake a little corner of the planet according to some plan or vision.” ~ Abby Adams, What is a Garden Anyway

Compulsion or not, this little corner of the planet seems a little better for the effort.

A flower for every smile

For the first time since I began volunteering at Homeward Bound, the kennels are only half full (a temporary situation, I’m sure.) Despite the reduced workload, the volunteers were out in abundance. I overheard one of them explaining to someone about what draws her here: the joy she feels when she pulls through the gates; the serenity of the country surroundings; the garden; the people – like Michele and Chip who visited with their failed foster, Murphy, to pick out a new foster pup (they have fostered more than 20);

and of course, the dogs.

These are the loved dogs of Homeward Bound…

the ones that have been with us a long while because their special needs make them hardest to place.

We have faith that someday their perfect match will come along. But until that time, we are very happy to love on them.

“If I had a flower for every time you made me smile,
I’d be walking in an endless garden.” ~ Author Unknown

The garden is smiling back at us;

every visit this time of year brings new spring delights in the waking of perennials, trees and grasses from their winter slumber. I was thrilled to find the Mexican Sage finally popping out from its wood sticks, and Campanula making its way skyward.

I am under orders not to make any significant changes until Ina and Maria return. Does editing the Hummingbird bed count as a significant change?

I don’t think so. Wanting some greater structure during the winter, I added a smoke tree bush, dwarf blue spruce, blue fescue, some boxwood and others.

What do they expect, leaving me alone in our endless garden?

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