As I have said before, this time of year my garden is usually no good. Roses few and far between, ferns all crunchy, and only the native manzanita persists. Summer done, we wait for rain.
This year, better. Big ol’ revelation; I watered more. And funny thing, now that the entire yard doesn’t reek of surrender and despair, I find some tiny bits here and there quite beautiful, and in some ways more rewarding than the boister (efficient noun) of spring. I love the wilt and pink stains of my white tea rose. (I did want a “whiff of decay” in my wedding bouquet, after all.)
One of my little olive trees, the standard (i.e. bush size) ones in pots, has put out two entire olives. Here’s one of them, ripening.
One hydrangea still holds four little wine-colored blossoms, veined in something darker. Remains of the day, I suppose.
Yes, fine, all right, all this suggests a metaphor or two, maybe even a concept, but I’m stopping here to leave it to your imaginations. Have a wonderful weekend.
6 Responses
If garden is metaphor then my petunias are profound. I set them in our porch whiskey barrel planter two years ago. Didn’t have a chance to do any seasonal prep so they spent the northern New England winter outside. Hard time last spring prevented any new planting but at the end of last summer a few hopeful blooms came out. Another winter and spring of not touching them, this time to wait and see what they would tell us, and this summer we have a lovely loosely filled barrel of slightly leggy but colorful and brave “annuals.”
What adorable olives — I’d be so excited! Most elegant and gratifying martini ever? Barbie’s Dream Tapenade?
Your tea rose is absolutely beautiful. Every stain a testament. The way we wear our miles is what makes us stunning.
Love the beauty of your olive. Thank you for the photographs, and the food (plants?) for thought. xo.
I’v been through that exact phase, growing despondent when my California garden wilted in fall. But then, somehow, miraculously remembering my hose DOES work!!? Not to saturate, but maybe nudge a bit, and often that was all it needed. Thank you so much for your lovely zen pics. Your tea rose smells like heaven.
“Adorable” is so apt for that little olive. ❤ I always love your garden photos and metaphors. I’m sure I experience nature and myself differently because of you. Have a lovely and joyful weekend!
“Amazing what a little water will do” to keep flowers blooming in our gardens. Roses, hydrangeas, olive fruits can’t perform without a constant drip-feed of water. All living things need water. A standoff. One must make peace between the heart that loves having flowers blooming in one’s personal garden, and the head that says conserve water at all costs, for a stake larger than yourself.
I’m as conflicted as the next guy who taunts: take pleasure where you find it!
Hello Lisa, If it is “amazing what a little water will do,” we here are finding out what a whole lot of water will do. It has been raining violently non-stop for days, and that is the forecast at least for the next two weeks. An occasional rainy day is good for staying inside and catching up with projects, but I need to get out and run errands!
–Jim
p.s. I am endlessly impressed with your olives. Fruit forming on a tree is always a miracle of nature and abundance to me (yes, two olives equals an abundance), but to me olives always seem like a fruit grown “someplace else.”