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| Honeysuckle's aroma is often mentioned in Southern nostalgia, much like the citrus blooming in Phoenix and other areas. |
We went to the diabetics office, where Christina had a great blood sugar result - A1C. We brought our first rose of the year, May 1, a rugosa rose, very fragrant, plus one iris and one alium. The diabetics specialist is one of our favorite medical people in the area, and she loved the flowers. The rest of the staff oohed and ahhed over them. One said, "I love seeing your name on the patient list, Chris, because that means we are going to get some fantastic, fragrant flowers."
We pass around Creation Gardening often with our floral visits. At one office, 10 copies were given away - to the waiting room and some in line at the pay window.
Tonight the stormclouds broke loose again, just as Sassy and I started our evening walk. Low light brings out some of the plants against their backgrounds. The hostas are up and spreading. Last year's tender little leaves have proven the value of rain, followed by supplemental rain from my buckets and barrels, then 3 inches, then 1 inch of rain, and now another storm.
I found a starling taking a serious bath in the rain - in one of two kiddy pools I use for birdbaths. One pool cost me $3 on sale. The other was donated by John, one of Sassy's dear friends. I have four birdbaths together. Why? I should ask you why you do not! Birds push and shove in the birdbath, so the extras mean room for a lot more. They hunt for grubs and bugs for me, and plant their favorite foods.
The robins are feeding in the rain, which suggests a long storm. They go through the back gardens, which are carpeted with rotting leaves. Robins and starlings flip the leaves with their beaks to expose earthworms and bugs.
The butterfly bushes are leafing out now - as well as most crepe myrtles, both Clethra cinnabon trees, and all the chaste trees.
I am getting mellow about weeds. Some have to go, like the seven foot woody shrub. I trimmed that near the ground. I will do the same with poke weed, which has its own little circle of friends. It can grow tall, get cut, and grow again. Deep roots are good for the soil. Poke and hog peanuts are with us for good, and hog peanuts build the soil by fixing nitrogen.
In the backyard, I encourage, mulch, and water poke weed, as a tall, productive, berry producer.
So many serendipity results come from Creation Gardening. We had a dying tree that our granddaughter posed in. A year later it fell down and became a rustic fence, after being cut up. The stump remained, so I planted honeysuckle to climb up the trunk. Various weeds competed and I gave up sorting them out. Finally I realized the most obnoxious one was helping to support the honey suckle. Rabbits were born at the base.
I approached it, wondering how the honeysuckle was progressing this year. A robin flew screaming away from me, just like the exits from the crepe myrtle. "I see. Mrs. Robin has a nest in the tangled weed and honeysuckled stump."
My watering hose ends at the honeysuckle, so it will be watered in the dry spells. "Watch out. Honeysuckle will take over your back yard!" Mr. Gardener said. I replied, "That is my plan."
I thought this instrumental was better than the vocals I found. Fats Waller wrote it.
