ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the National Council of Churches.
Ah, yes. You almost wanted to plant daffodils last fall. The ground was either dry and hard to manage or soggy and discouraging. Oh - and the bulb packages were so expensive.
Some bargain bags might arrive very late, the chilling winds less than welcoming. As one helper said, "You have enough daffodils." That has become a garden joke mantra, along with "You have enough roses." I am third generation in growing flowers, so I will face the wind and pollens steadfastly.
Impulsively, I planted enough Joe Pye Weed to welcome every butterfly and bee in Northwest Arkansas. I coddled Clethra until I began to realize their aggressiveness once planted, coddled, earthwormed, and manured.
An anti-gardener said, "You paid money for a weed? Honeysuckle? I had to tear it out!" I set aside a sunny patch next to the garage. I obtained cow squares to support the vines. I was given a rain barrel to water the honeysuckle and the roses. The fragile looking vine now looks like it is going to cover the county in time.
Digger, aka Charlie Sue, loves her dog friends along the south and north fences, plus the pug near the north fence. Charlie has raced Dustmop so often that I can easily get them running along the fence as I yell, "Race, race!" She has coached the Doggie Day Care bunch to run back and forth too. She is a Patterdale Terrier, a prankster and speed demon.
This year's daffodil harvest has been splendid, even with echoes of "You don't need more flowers."
Everyone enjoys daffodils, but they are not widely planted around here. Recently I put several daffodils into tall party cups for each of the homes on our cul-de-sac. Flowers on altar also move to the neighbors. Our Laotian neighbor loved getting the daffodils, so I urged her to take home one or more of the scented hyacinths. Yesterday, cutting the last of the flowers led me into harvesting the last white hyacinth, which traveled across the street.
The daffodils wanted to finish up, but I cut their dying flowers off to let the bulbs get more energy for next year, instead of letting the flowers go to seed.
Now I am checking rose bushes to see which ones are thriving and which died during our brief winter cycles. Snow packed winters are far more friendly to roses, but Arkansans are not looking for blankets of snow - or any snow.
Hostas are emerging from the ground - all over. When we transfer hostas from the front yard to the backyard, they leave some roots behind and start more. The front hostas are getting much more colorful, and the brightest ones do not like a lot of sun.
It is time to fill up the hummingbird feeders, this time along the Doggie Day Care fence. I added some Cinnabon bushes along the north fence last fall and hope to have a combination of Clethra (Cinnabon) and sugar water. Humming birds expect food and love to probe the tiny Clethra flowers wit their tiny beaks.
Another feature - cow squares. They are like chicken wire, heavy duty and easy to place. They are perfect tools for growing climbing plants. That started with my honeysuckle vine and will continue with such amenities as cucumbers and climbing beans.
Long ago I coveted a member's dog who dug up moles. When I got Charlie Sue I soon learned that her instincts were indeed powerful in finding small underground animals. That has given her the muscles of a wrestler and astonishing speed. She yaks all the time at her dog friends and the children playing on the trampoline. Inside, she is quiet but intent on training the staff.
Clethra, or sugar spice, or Cinnabon bush. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds love it.
In the South, honeysuckle is a weed that produces berries and nostalgic stories. However, wild honeysuckle berries tend to be toxic.
Ranger Bob grew up with the scent of honeysuckle near his bedroom window. He is doing very well, by the way.
Bob yelled this question, "You paid for a weed? Honeysuckle is a weed and you paid for it?" Mr. Gardener likewise told me he spent a lot of time removing honeysuckle from our green alley. I countered, "But it requires sun."
I bought two and protected them from rabbits and squirrels last summer. This summer my all-around fixit guy brought cow squares over to serve as honeysuckle frames on the sunny side of the house. The first one took quickly.
The second one was protected and replanted in the sunniest spot of all the garden areas - the Butterfly Garden - a resounding success for butterfly plants, beyond all hopes.
I let honeysuckle.2 grow up using other pollinator plants to give them a natural prop. If honeysuckle was as promiscuous as the garden experts say, it would find its way to the sun, emerging from darkness. I let the gardening crew edit the Butterfly Garden without getting nervous. The honeysuckle.2 was growing on the outer edge, but what if...?
I watered this morning for the Sunday altar flowers, and peeked around the corner for a hint of honeysuckle. I spotted a spare sprig and felt great. The root system would soon send up feelers for more honeysuckle, no matter what.
Jamming
I am glad Monty Don encourages jamming flowers together and editing them down later. I am filled with awe about the spread of the garden areas. Rain has helped, but I think the density of growth has shaded the gardens even during weeks of drought.
I found some areas where favorite plants did not continue to grow. As soon as I chopped out extra plants - like the giant borage bigger than a large plant - previous plants (a fragrant yellow rose) and caladiums (red and white) popped up fast, as if escaping from the Doubting Castle.
I said, "I overdid the Monarch Butterfly Plants." Response - "That's what you wanted." I will probably start the spring erasing most - but not all - of the Monarch plants. My alibi is - "Clearance sales for Monarchs." We saw the caterpillars and the Monarchs flying away.
That was the Monarch annex in front of the patio. The sun-saturated Butterfly Garden is now the sunniest, shoulder-to-shoulder dense area, with Joe Pye, Russian sunflowers, borage, comfrey, Chaste Tree, and bee balm welcoming the furtive honeysuckle rose.
This is a fancy honeysuckle named Scentsation, but it was planted in semi-shade.
"Honeysuckle?! Honeysuckle?! You paid for two of them? Didn't anyone tell you honeysuckle is a weed? You can't get rid of it. I've seen 70 feet of that weed."
The same person often spoke of the fragrance of honeysuckle in summer, the aroma drifting through the windows in the summer. Two children have made a point of finding the few berries deep in the back of the yard. Honeysuckle is a big deal in the South.
Mr. Gardener told me years ago about that same weed taking over the grass alley behind our homes. I confessed that I could not get it going. He was amused and puzzled.
I am one of those gardeners who grabs bargains at the end of the season, so I bought two tiny honeysuckle starts - not very impressive. Like some hostas I have ordered for their special colors (stripes, white, gold and green, green and white, blue) - I imagined the honeysuckles pulled out of the ground and eaten by rabbits, squirrels or anything wanting some expensive salad.
I put collars around each plant and bamboo sticks to mark them, pinning down the flighty collars (a collar once rolled a block away during a wind storm).
By spring I had forgotten how to distinguish honeysuckle leaves from a normal weed or ordinary plant. I looked them up on the Net - Aha! They are starting to grow and reach up for support, which a handyman is going to set up for me with "cow squares."
This is Charli Sue on a walk at the local animal shelter, showing off her alert status.
She is 23 pounds, very active, intelligent, and attentive to most commands. She is gleeful when playing and running at rocket speed. I added her middle name so she would not be misgendered.
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.
Honeysuckle is in Shakespeare, sometimes as woodbine.
Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms. So doth the Woodbine the sweet Honeysuckle Gently entwist; the Female Ivy so Enrings the barky fingers of the Elm.
--- Midsummer Night's Dream, act iv, sc. 1 (47).
There are two ways to garden vertically. One is to go down with root crops, like carrots. The other is to go up with vines.
Our fence on Mrs. Wright's side is booked for the summer, and the opposite side is reserved for roses. Therefore, the best supporters left are the trees.
I chose our dead tree for the honeysuckle. I have never grown it before, but various sources claim the vine is vigorous, butterfly, bee and hummingbird friendly.
The little pot of honeysuckle was growing green, but I still soaked it in rainwater for a time. Last fall we covered the base of the snag with newspapers and wood mulch. All winter the soil had a chance to convert the weed-choked base to compost.
The shovel went smoothly into the soil near the tree trunk, and the plant went in the hole. I poured more rainwater in to settle the soil and tucked the mulch around the plant.
The vine seems to need help in climbing, so I may need to provide some extra support. However, it is called twining, which may help. The abundant flowers attract all kinds of insect life and hummingbirds. Hummers do not hover for the nectar. They need insects too, so their tweezer beaks are ideal for grabbing them while sipping the sweetness of the vine.
Sweetheart Caladiums love shade.
I did not want to spend rose dollars on tender bulbs, for another reason besides the Scrooge Prime Directive. They are work - not at first - but later when they need to be recovered in the fall. Spring (tender) bulbs are spectacular in their beauty, but they do not tolerate frost.
Catalogs do not sell bulbs but flowers. The glossy close-ups send gardeners into reveries where labor cost and price fade away. I thought these might be colorful under the maple but we will soon prune the maple. When someone helps out, trampling the new flowers is a consideration.
The bulbs were ugly, like little lumps of mud. Directions told me to plant the bumpy side up, but the each cluster was bumpy all over. They should say "smoother bumps on the bottom." Ultimately it does not matter, so I troweled out mulch and soil to plant them. When I showed their picture to Mrs. Ichabod, she said, "Great. We always had them at home, every year."
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