Flower Power

It’s been a busy week with me pushing myself each day as I try to improve the outside of our home by placing plants throughout the landscaping. We bought a few Japanese trees to further surround our gazebo. Additional hostas were placed underneath our huge blue spruce outside. We go to a nursery up North where all proceeds from the hostas go to the Heifer Project. The Heifer does not refer to either

Bob or myself.

We got rid of all the plants on the east side and faced reality that spoiled rose bushes have no place on our property. Instead, the place is now filled with some perennials. The rose bushes on the side used to be glorious, but as the summer progressed, time spent to prune those bushes became less frequent. I wish I could place the blame on  my fibromyalgia or vertigo but instead the cause is probably just my laziness and dislike of the humid August weather. Despite Bob’s best efforts preparing these plants for winter, there was always one or two or three who didn’t make it through. So now I want to cut some flowers from my perennial selection and bring them inside. Hopefully they will do better than my berries. Read on for that case of reality.

The strawberry plants are now surrounded by chicken wire. I planted three strawberry plants there last year. We joked about my pale green thumb, emphasis on the pale. You could see many small reddish berries almost ready to be plucked. We started a pool on how many strawberries I would be able to harvest for personal delight. To make a long story short, my neighbor Angie won with a guess of zero. At least I was able to feed the local squirrels and bunnies. I’m not sure the two feet wire enclosure will be of any help though since Bob caught some robins yesterday pecking away in delight. My expectations are minimal.

I have my usual impatiens along our walk to the front door. I admit my speed is significantly slower this year than in the past. I used to put in five flats in less time than it took me to get in one flat yesterday. By now though I could be a middle school biology model for I could feel every muscle and bone that God placed inside me. When I questioned Bob about the number of impatiens plants I had ever placed in our yard, he thought a while and responded with wondering if I am more or less impatien(t) now. I wasn’t too sure of his humor.  I do believe that I have more patience in many matters. The things that tend to drive me the craziest are now of more significance – waiting for medical test results, watching the clock when Bob is in surgery, begging for aches and pains to go away. Age and experience has developed that big modification.

I still need to continue with some pots. At this rate, I might be finished some time in November. I hope this finds you following some quality time in the outdoors – or indoors if that involves some time at your local shopping mall.

God Uses My Chronic Pain to Prove that Life is Good:

      -  It’s a great excuse to explain my slow speed or basic laziness.