Saturday, September 30, 2017

The Fun in Creation Gardening - Moving the Plants Around -
Seeing the Results



Outside the hobby itself, people see work, agony, and tension. I cannot imagine mountain-climbing, assembling boats that fit in a bottle, or Parkour.

Creation Gardening and Farming used to be called -Gardening and Farming.


Gardening requires some work and cost, but very little compared to the results. Do miniature boats help the hobbyist fit them into the bottle? Do mountains provide convenient, stable shelves, plus excellent weather? Does Parkour ease up on the basic laws of gravity? In comparison, Creation Gardening is a snap.



I have a long list of flubs and mistakes, but many plants just take in the sun, grow, flower, and set seed. I thought parsley was eaten by rabbits, but that survived and flourished - another butterfly plant from the carrot family. Dill grew so I am scattering the seeds, which grow better that way than from the package. I grew coriander and fennel, and one of them made a modest start, only to be weed-wacked.



A cooling trend and rain got the roses blooming again. Everyone enjoys seeing and smelling them. I took a bunch over to a neighbor, who was ailing with pneumonia.



The most encouraging part is to see past labors working out. Many bushes and plants are quite hearty and in need of pruning in the early spring - Chaste Tree, Crepe Myrtle, and Clethra. I have two Beautyberries when one would do, so one is reserved as a passalong.



Our yard team took out the Morning Glory hogging the rose fence and dumped the seedy vines in the wild garden. Mr. Gardener warned me, "They can take over." I wanted Morning Glory and Honeysuckle to take over the wild garden.



Trumpet Vine is the most successful in that area, perched along a fence and well watered. As an experiment, I left one alone, in the shade, to grow up a tree. Trumpet Vine climbed  and covered the bark, neglected and unwatered but victorious. Likewise, the sun-drenched Trumpet Vine in the front yard, well watered from the roses, has really climbed the maple tree. If all goes well, many orange flowers will attract Hummingbirds next summer.



Three Trumpet Vines? Yes, we had them at home in Moline, so it serves as a bit of nostalgia too. I once bought a book on vines and studied them. I find them fascinating, so fragile at first, so exasperating when they threaten total domination.


We let the established English Ivy grow over the picture window, calling it our redneck drapes. However, the ivy wanted to grow inside, and across the rose garden, so it is being removed entirely.