gardenthoughts

we have a new garden bed .. stone .. stacked one upon another .. curving .. with a turret .. where a five foot fir stump stood .. growing ivy .. blackberry .. salal .. all winding in and round .. the stump shape outlined with greenery .. stump and all her finery removed, there now resides a lovely stone bed ..

we both knew this garden bed would materialize one day .. we knew the right time would arrive .. meanwhile,  i’d been growing lilies in the ground around the front of the stump .. in the picture above, you can see the stump on the left .. and, to the right, a tiger lily from a neighbour’s annual spring plant sale .. there are others, too, which aren’t visible in the picture .. stargazer lilies that i received free from a local nursery promotion .. lilies from friends’ gardens .. lilies rescued from compost piles .. somewhere along the line, i acquired a fondness for lilies .. now i have a bed where they can live .. a lily bed ..

once we realized the time had come to build the bed, my part initially, was to dig the lilies out of the ground .. the largest ones i put in big pots .. there were also a myriad of seedlings which i planted in several gallon pots .. those i spread around the island to friends’ gardens .. my mission completed, i stood back and watched the bed rise up out of the rubble .. literally ..

it was frank’s turn .. he’d begun bringing in the stone last autumn .. over time, he gathered enough .. chunky bits of stone .. flat pieces .. all scattered in a ring .. outlining the space that was the potential bed .. then, he needed fill .. and, true to form, pretty soon the source of fill revealed itself .. frank wheeled .. and dumped ..  many wheelbarrows of fill .. and spent hours stacking stone .. then one day ..  voila! .. the bed was finished ..

once he got going, it was only a matter of time .. and manual labour .. and a bit of magic .. at least, that’s what i believe .. ..

next is to plant it .. lilies .. a rhododendron .. ferns .. hostas .. the ideas are endless .. the japanese maple in the turret won’t be the lone plant for long ..

in the meantime, i love to see it there .. just as it is ..

well .. morning is progressing .. i’ve been awake since 5:14 and up at 6 .. done my ablution .. moved quietly through my morning rituals .. and now .. frank’s gone off into his day .. and i’m here .. waiting for my gardening partner .. then we’ll set off to our thursday garden .. to play ..

it’s a little chilly at the moment, although the sun is shining brightly .. no doubt it’s warmer in the sun .. more the breeze that’s bringing a chill .. you can see from this shot, although taken more than a week ago, that spring is just beginning to come forth out of the winter’s decay ..

nonetheless, there is so much going on in gardens everywhere .. so much ‘life burgeoning’ .. nothing can stop it .. in our garden there’s plenty going on .. building projects .. new beds .. veggies coming .. and more and more colour all the time .. i’m just sitting here .. in waiting mode .. taking this time to do a bit of word to screen .. scanning photos .. while the sun warms the earth .. and while i wait for my gardening partner .. i do a bit of both ..

primula ..

hepatica ..

i see joe coming now .. enjoy ..

as well as being graced, on this island, with patches of white fawn lilies .. i, personally, am graced with this sweet pink one .. this little beauty is the first to bloom in our yard .. it, along with four others which won’t bloom this year, came from a nearby botanical garden ..

you can see the dance .. can’t you ..

it’s the little things ..