Rain, Mulch, and Flowers

After Sassy got her chicken at Patricia and John's house, we came home, rolled out the garbage barrels (aka bird feeders), and did some watering.

Sometimes the rain is sparse, so I watered the new Bee Balm and the Calla Lilies, which are in bloom again. I dumped the last barrel over containing rainwater and emptied the 21st century barrel boasting a drain hose at the bottom and a critter fence at the top. 

Rain water is always good because of its lack of chlorine and abundance of useful nitrogen. I had two new roses which looked like they would never sprout. I kept watering them, especially on windy days and snipping some stem off to wake up the roots. The red turning to green leaves are the sign of roses rooting and reading to grow. I gave them daily doses of rainwater and that first red leaf and stem came out, so I did a little more sprinkling.

Phoenix required a paper bag or cardboard box to keep roses from drying out in the hot wind. I also got used to sprinkling the canes on windy days. 

The mulch works several ways to improve the garden. All organic matter will convert to soil over time. Mulch shades the soil, which plants appreciate. Mulch harbors delicious insects and other creatures to feed the birds and their young. Ultimately, the wood which uses nitrogen at first will release it into the soil as decay happens. 

Cardboard with wood mulch on top will last a long time.

I also use mulch to mark new plants and those which respond to more care. Joe Pye is so large that it creates a weed free zone around it. Bee Balm is so eager to spread that it requires little care once it gets established.

All this comes from the creation of our world by the Word of God, and the perfect engineering which adjusts, repairs, and builds up all life.

Does ELDONA Still Deny Baylor University Is a Babtist School?

Baylor Grants First Charter to LGBTQ Student Group

The group’s copresident calls the move “baby steps” for the 175-year-old Babtist university.

By Bekah McNeel

April 27, 20224

Illustration by Texas Monthly; Getty

Second-year senioBrit LaVergne has been trying to get an LGBTQ student group chartered at Baylor University since her freshman year. She’s now the president of Gamma Alpha Upsilon, and its unchartered status has made it difficult or impossible to secure meeting space, to voice concerns to the administration, and to be a presence among other student groups.  

Complexity Suggests Creation

 

 "The Calla lilies are in bloom again. I carried them on my wedding day..."  

A new thunderstorm is rolling in, just after we transplanted Hostas, planted Calla Lilies in bloom again, and installed red Bee Balms for the Military Gardening Group. I got a tempting email about Calla Lilies and planted a few where Blackberries had dominated, on the side of the house. They bloom repeatedly if watered often. Christina loved having them inside, and we saw the movie where Katherine Hepburn made them famous.

 Calla Lilies

The Hostas were moved last fall, because they were sun scorched in the rose garden, began this year as giant plants and continue to grow. They are probably fertilized by the green fence, where birds roost while waiting for their next meal. That fence began with a row of logs and was planted by birds. Two Elderberries were planted there but the birds did the rest.

Now the Hostas have shade most of the day. Some of their kin are still appearing in the rose garden, and I planted some blue and striped Hostas under and behind the maple tree in the rose garden. Hostas are easy to grow and to move.

The far back yard, once covered with cardboard and wood mulch, is being planted with superfluous Hostas from Mrs. Gardener. She wanted more room for more plants, and I wanted more Hostas for that vast open space. They supplement the hummingbird plants with their lily like flowers on spikes. Other plants for hummingbirds are Bee Balm, Joe Pye Weed, Butterfly Weed, Milk Weed, and Hummingbird Feeders, which I planted in threes in the rose garden.

Complexity in the garden should alert everyone to the source - Creation by the Word of God. Plants have their preferences. Hostas tolerate sunshine, but they prosper when they have a lot more shade. 

The demands of plants, microbes, birds, and insects are part of the garden's life during the spring and summer. Everything is already arranged, according to rain, temperatures, sunshine, and engineering from Day One.