Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)
Monday, March 19, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Bonsais, Roadtrips, and Bleeding Hearts.
That's what I've been doing the past 3 weeks ~ an accidental vacation it'd seem to on-lookers, but actually it was plenty of work and non-stop errands for me to do. Not all of it was fun, but it's nice to breathe a sigh of relief even if they come few and far between sometimes. Some days, you have to choose the positive and make your fun while the sun shines.
The way I see it, winding your way through a garden shop is one of the best things you can do to re-adjust your attitude on just about any day. I especially love when the cool spring days give way to warmer ones ~ wandering around through the cool air in the shade and the warmer air in the sunlight. Buying plants is like buying hope and beauty one pot at a time. So far, we've picked over rows and rows of new seasonal arrivals, and carted home reliable favorites like sturdy, fuzzy red geraniums and delicate, frilly petunias, resisting a Meyer's lemon tree along the way, but unable to walk away without the bleeding heart plant.
"How ironically appropriate for me," yes, I know.
We've cleaned and re-cleaned the fish pond, arranged and re-arranged potted plants and statuaries, filled and re-filled and re-filled and re-filled bird feeders. Yum-Yum the Raccoon has been introduced to sliced roast beef, Dole raisins, and peanuts in the shell. I made a flying trip to Memphis to check on things and bring my cat Googie here for a few more weeks, however long it takes me to figure out where I am going to stay-put for awhile. Sometimes I feel like I am crawling, and I'm past being tired of being a recovering patient of this aplastic anemia. But I'll take it over the alternative and appreciate the new growth, still figuring things out along the way as I hopefully and steadily make platelets ~ and as I help replant the entire backyard with new, sturdy, healthy plants and do any other yardwork that pops up never-ending.
As for the bonsai project, it's a really simple ~ just a trip to the nursery (or in my case, the simpler and closer option, Lowe's) for one dwarf juniper, a pretty pot with proper drainage, and a sharp pair of scissors.
Start by trimming away the bigger chunks down to the trunk, making sure to leave key pieces. Just remember it's a subtractive process, so don't over-prune it. But don't let that stress you, or else you can't get zen with it. I should've said, "Start by listening to your favorite CD so you can enjoy the process." (That's standard advice from me everyday for everything anyway ~"listen to good music.")
Keep trimming away tinier branches and bits of green growth to expose even more of the curly trunk underneath, cleanly pulling away the tiniest bits of green along the trunk,
slowly pruning it down to a windswept skeleton,
exposing some of the roots if you find some thicker ones,
then topping it off with a miniature garden gnome named Morty McSmallbottoms given to you by your incredibly awesome cousin (thank you, Tracy!)
Along the way, repair any split branches with a little copper wire, clipped and shaped into ornamental twists. It may not work in the end, but it looks good while trying.
(Again, that's standard advice from me everyday for everything anyway ~"try to look good while you're at it." Hey, why not? Aw, that's the Southern girl in me talkin'. And don't forget to bring along your favorite CDs.)
For a bit more information on do-it-yourself bonsais, see DIY.com, and "How to Make a Bonsai Tree" at lifehacker.com.
Update on the Morty McSmallbottoms: His agent called and offered him a tv commercial gig in Australia. Gnomes are in high demand, and I couldn't match the day-rate the Aussies worked, so he broke his contract with me. No hard feelings, I even drove him to the airport. But I had to replace him with a tiny mudwoman named Suki. I even gave her a small carpet of moss I dug up from the chilly backyard shadowlands. She's nice and makes a hell of a crispy crawfish roll and nigiri, so we're good.
The way I see it, winding your way through a garden shop is one of the best things you can do to re-adjust your attitude on just about any day. I especially love when the cool spring days give way to warmer ones ~ wandering around through the cool air in the shade and the warmer air in the sunlight. Buying plants is like buying hope and beauty one pot at a time. So far, we've picked over rows and rows of new seasonal arrivals, and carted home reliable favorites like sturdy, fuzzy red geraniums and delicate, frilly petunias, resisting a Meyer's lemon tree along the way, but unable to walk away without the bleeding heart plant.
"How ironically appropriate for me," yes, I know.
We've cleaned and re-cleaned the fish pond, arranged and re-arranged potted plants and statuaries, filled and re-filled and re-filled and re-filled bird feeders. Yum-Yum the Raccoon has been introduced to sliced roast beef, Dole raisins, and peanuts in the shell. I made a flying trip to Memphis to check on things and bring my cat Googie here for a few more weeks, however long it takes me to figure out where I am going to stay-put for awhile. Sometimes I feel like I am crawling, and I'm past being tired of being a recovering patient of this aplastic anemia. But I'll take it over the alternative and appreciate the new growth, still figuring things out along the way as I hopefully and steadily make platelets ~ and as I help replant the entire backyard with new, sturdy, healthy plants and do any other yardwork that pops up never-ending.
As for the bonsai project, it's a really simple ~ just a trip to the nursery (or in my case, the simpler and closer option, Lowe's) for one dwarf juniper, a pretty pot with proper drainage, and a sharp pair of scissors.
Start by trimming away the bigger chunks down to the trunk, making sure to leave key pieces. Just remember it's a subtractive process, so don't over-prune it. But don't let that stress you, or else you can't get zen with it. I should've said, "Start by listening to your favorite CD so you can enjoy the process." (That's standard advice from me everyday for everything anyway ~"listen to good music.")
Keep trimming away tinier branches and bits of green growth to expose even more of the curly trunk underneath, cleanly pulling away the tiniest bits of green along the trunk,
slowly pruning it down to a windswept skeleton,
exposing some of the roots if you find some thicker ones,
then topping it off with a miniature garden gnome named Morty McSmallbottoms given to you by your incredibly awesome cousin (thank you, Tracy!)
Along the way, repair any split branches with a little copper wire, clipped and shaped into ornamental twists. It may not work in the end, but it looks good while trying.
(Again, that's standard advice from me everyday for everything anyway ~"try to look good while you're at it." Hey, why not? Aw, that's the Southern girl in me talkin'. And don't forget to bring along your favorite CDs.)
For a bit more information on do-it-yourself bonsais, see DIY.com, and "How to Make a Bonsai Tree" at lifehacker.com.
Update on the Morty McSmallbottoms: His agent called and offered him a tv commercial gig in Australia. Gnomes are in high demand, and I couldn't match the day-rate the Aussies worked, so he broke his contract with me. No hard feelings, I even drove him to the airport. But I had to replace him with a tiny mudwoman named Suki. I even gave her a small carpet of moss I dug up from the chilly backyard shadowlands. She's nice and makes a hell of a crispy crawfish roll and nigiri, so we're good.
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