The Place I Want To Get Back To

The Place I Want To Get Back To

is where

in the pinewoods

in the moments between

the darkness

and first light

two deer

came walking down the hill

and when they saw me

they said to each other, okay,

this one is okay,

let’s see who she is

and why she is sitting

on the ground, like that,

so quiet, as if

asleep, or in a dream,

but, anyway, harmless;

and so they came

on their slender legs

and gazed upon me

not unlike the way

I go out to the dunes and look

and look and look

into the faces of the flowers;

and then one of them leaned forward

and nuzzled my hand, and what can my life

bring me that could exceed

that brief moment?

For twenty years

I have gone every day to the same woods,

not waiting, exactly, just lingering.

Such gifts, bestowed,

can’t be repeated.

If you want to talk about this

come to visit. I live in the house

near the corner, which I have named

Gratitude.

- By Mary Oliver from Thirst -

This white-tailed deer stepped out of the woods early one morning while I was visiting my Secret Garden. We stared at each for a minute and then she raised her tail showing me the white underside and ran back into the trees. The white underside of the mother's tail helps her fawns follow her.

My family and I have been on a medical merry-go-round with my father for the last month making it impossible for me to spend any time in the world of blogging and I've had no time in the garden. You all know what happens to a garden when it's not watered, fertilized, deadheaded, pruned, talked to and loved on a regular basis. It's not pretty.

This post has been in draft form since July. This morning I decided to go ahead and publish it. I hope the month of August has been good to you and your gardens.

My Secret Garden

My Secret Garden is four miles from my house. It’s the place where I relocate all the chipmunks that fall prey to my Havahart Live Animal Trap. It’s a lovely spot that includes a thick forest, an open meadow and a refreshing pond.

With camera in hand, I always take a walk after releasing the chippies and have fallen in love with this peaceful landscape. A large field of Common Milkweed grows there. The plants are about 48” high and bloom in June and July. Monarchs are especially fond of the nectar and their larvae eat the leaves. Milkweed is also a source of nectar for hummingbirds and many other butterfly species.

I literally see dozens and dozens of Monarchs fluttering from one milkweed to another, but never get close enough for a good photo. But….I did catch this one drinking nectar from some red clover.

The flowers growing there are as pretty as the ones blooming in my garden at home.

I see a lot of dragonflies and because they have excellent eyesight, I was surprised to get so close to this Widow Skimmer. Dragonflies are the fastest insects in the world, reaching speeds of between 19-38 mph.

White-tailed deer are often meandering around when I arrive, especially if it’s early in the morning. I’ll be posting about deer at a later date. For now, I’ll leave you with this deer footprint, which to my eye makes a heart-shaped track.

The novel, The Secret Garden, was published in 1911. Even back then, Frances Hodgson Burnett understood the healing power found in all living things.

Beautiful, Exotic and Easy to Grow

Jean from Dig Grow Compost had a recent post titled, The Lilies of Buffalo. She has recently returned from Buffalo, NY, where garden bloggers from all over the country met up and toured the city and many of its beautiful gardens. Visit her blog. You'll be in for a treat.

Last September I bought a few Asiatic Lilies from a local greenhouse. They were deeply discounted and couldn't be passed up. I didn't get them in the ground until October and didn't hold out much hope for their winter survival.

Now I'm not saying that any of my lilies compare to the ones in Jean's post, but they have surprised and delighted me. These 'Sunny Sulawes' bloomed just two days ago and I can't stop looking at them.

These yellow and purple lilies were in a container labeled Purple Asiatic Pot Lily. I was thrilled to see the colors that bloomed.

'Tiny Nanny' white lilies. Different than the white lilies in the first photo. The leaves on these are narrower and the flowers are smaller. After these bloomed, something came along and ate the foliage down to the ground.

 Stella d'Oros are growing all over our yard. They are definitely the golden stars of the garden. A very dependable re-bloomer when provided with adequate moisture and deadheaded. I wouldn't be without them.

These Ed Murray daylilies don't show up well from a distance and the camera never does them justice, but up close they are amazingly beautiful, especially when the sun shines on them. They bloom after the Stellas.

In this part of the country, we are lucky to have Baltimore Orioles nesting in our tall trees and visiting our various Oriole feeders, or in this case the hummingbird feeder. I think this is a 1st year Oriole although it could be a female. It was raining outside, but that didn't keep him/her from the sweet nectar.

Slowly but surely

I'll make my way

to your blog.

I go out of my way

to read every word

and study every photo.

And as you know

I luv to leave comments.

Sometimes I'm too wordy

but I can't help it.

See you soon.

It's True What They Say

It's true! Plant it and they will come. In 2008, I planted the Echinacea hybrid 'Big Sky Summer Sky'. My feelings about these coneflowers have been lukewarm until the day this Monarch landed on one of the flowers.  At first, I thought it might be a Viceroy, but my Audubon Butterfly Pocket Guide confirms that it's a Monarch. The Guide mentions that there are attempts underway to designate it the national insect of the United States. Do any of you know if that was successful? Guess I could check that out myself.  

I've been away from blogging for a while. This brief post is an attempt to get back into it on a regular basis. I may be blogging about my summer garden well into winter, otherwise what would I do with the hundreds of photos on my computer.

Hoping to visit all of you soon.

I Don't Grow Irises

I don't grow irises, but that doesn't stop me from almost driving my car off the road due to iris gawking. Instead of causing an accident, I parked my car and took pictures of  these irises blooming in an unknown gardener's yard.

The name "iris" comes from the Greek word for "rainbow" because of its exceptional colors. This must be true because I read it on the internet!

All Things Seem Possible In May

Foamflower, Tiarella 'Pirate's Patch'

A plant that tolerates dry shade.

That makes it a favorite of mine.

Pale pink, fragrant flowers in late spring.

The green leaves have dark center patches.

Fall temperatures turn the leaves to burgundy.

These Mount Hood Trumpet Daffodils were planted last fall. They were very slow to appear this spring and then when they did, they were short and didn't look like they'd have flowers. All of a sudden they shot up and produced these white blooms, which are just now beginning to fade. This particular daffodil is sometimes referred to as "The Second Snow", since it adds white to the landscape after the snow is gone. Mystery astilbe growing in front of them.

I've wanted to add some whimsy to my yard.

Nothing too showy or too colorful, but

I like that in other people's gardens.

This piece seemed perfect for me.

Last Sunday morning, Phillip and I made another visit to Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve. We were looking for frogs by this pond, but didn't see a one. But we did find turtles galore all out sunning themselves on the fallen logs. We did a quick count and came up with about 75 turtles.

I don't know a thing about aquatic plants,

except that they grow in water:)

These were in the pond by the turtles.

I imagine they are some kind of water lily.

I went on a bird walk at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary,

binoculars, bird book & camera in hand.

By the time I figured out what tree the bird was in

and focused the binoculars, the bird was gone.

After two hours, I broke off from the group

and made friends with this goose.

Mr. and Mrs. Robin seem to trust me.

They let me take this photo.

Just to be safe, I wore protective head gear.

Yesterday, I went to a perennial sale here in our neighborhood and bought six plants. Also went to Phillip's flag football game and then to his house to do some container planting. Today will be a day of planting at our house, containers and in the ground. The weather is perfect and I plan to enjoy every minute of it. Thanks for stopping by to see what's new around here.

"The world's favorite season is spring.

All things seem possible in May."

-Edwin Way Teale

Do You Think The Rain Will Hurt The Rhubarb?

When I was a kid, my Uncle Jim would ask the above question as a way to change the conversation topic or when there was a lull in the conversation. Even today, I'm not sure what the question means, but the answer is, "Not if it's in cans." All this to say that we planted a rhubarb plant this week, our first ever. A neighbor dug it out of the garden at a home he has for sale and gave it to us. He doesn't know what kind it is except to say that it makes great pies. That's all my husband needed to know.

Mayapples grow in the wooded natural area between our house and the neighbor's. Some of them have moved closer to the flower beds which is fine with me. They are part of the Berberidaceae (Barberry) plant family and appear in forested areas before the trees have leaves. Sometimes they are referred to as the umbrella plant because it looks like a closed umbrella when first emerging and then opens into an open umbrella shape. Second year plants produce a white flower beneath the leaves and then that bloom turns into the "apple" of the plant.  

Our resident robin is taking good care of her eggs and she's very possessive of the area close to the nest, but she did give me permission to stick my camera in for a quick picture. We're thankful that the nest is in the cedar tree and not on top of the light fixture next to the front door.

Many of the shrubs in our yard give us nice color even before they start to flower. Our yard might look too tidy and manicured for some gardeners, but it works for us and we like it. I find myself attracted to yards and gardens where everything is able to grow freestyle, but it's just not me. Maybe in my next life.