If you have paid any attention to me since I started this blog, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that I hate to be hot, and you would be correct. Warm weather’s most redeeming quality is its production of pretty and tasty plants.
I sit on my porch, shaded from the sun. Warm breezes swirl around me. I close my eyes and listen to the wind through the trees. I open my eyes and watch the birds and squirrels frolicking, squawking, eating. My neighbor’s enormous lilac bushes and our peonies combine to permeate the air with the sticky sweet smell of Summer on its way.
Cottonwood seeds, or summer snow, falls from the sky.
The cottonwood seeds billow about, dancing by, landing anywhere, everywhere.
like on one of my hydrangeas
The grass, the entire landscape, can only be described as verdant.
so many ferns
cornflower
rhododendron
peonies
roses
first one unfurled today
clematis
and yes, i did add some potted geraniums
hostas galore, overload of lily-of-the-valley, more ferns…
I was describing our soil to a Georgia friend the other day, since she noticed all the grass, and even better, no clay. Our soil here is Miami soil, natural loam. After years of sand and clay, it feels so good to slide a spade into that dark, rich soil. It smells fantastic. I talk to the worms, carrying them to my new divisions, “You’ll like it better over here. Plenty to do.”
I can only say how honored I am to live here.
You never know what you have until it’s gone. How lucky am I to get it back?
joeyfullystated 
Funny, I can remember phone numbers for years after being told them once, but tell me the name of a plant and it’s gone in five minutes. I do know roses though, and yours are beautiful! Our peonies are just budding (I know that one too) but the roses are just getting their leaves back.
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I can’t remember my OWN phone numbers half the time, Linda. Because it’s too much like math.
Y’all have a short season. Winter too long, too cold there, even for me.
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We didn’t really get a spring this year. One extreme to the next. 😛
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Oh, I miss IL soil. My mother-in-law, who lives in the same town as me now, used to tell me when she visited how wonderful our soil was. I’d smile and nod, not really understanding what she meant. And then, we moved, to Western NY, to my hubby’s hometown, and I understood. Our soil here is red, clay and yucky. People buy black mulch by the yard to disguise the natural ugliness, and growing things in it is a challenge. Add to that that the previous owners of my new home (built in 1991 compared to my previous house in IL which was built in 1928) were not gardeners and spent considerable expense on a maintenance-free garden (lots of shrubs, weed blanket, roots galore due to the shrubs), which i like, but get itchy to see blooming things beyond my elaborate containers and you have challenges I never foresaw when I enthusiastically moved here. I envy you your soil, verdant colors and early growing season onset.
Fondly,
Elizabeth
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I really can relate. I don’t know why you moved, but I wonder if you’ll ever return to Illinois? We had planned to move to Urbana when we left Georgia, but the job came here. *sigh* It all worked out, love my old house, love my yard, love seeing family regularly. Illinois is so much more liberal though — and same great soil!
I was so miserable in Georgia, Elizabeth. I had some Mexican petunias, a bit of mini juniper, some azaleas and some ground phlox. The first coupla years, I moped, First, over some hideous marigolds — I had no idea they grew so gangly in the south! They were free, thank goodness. Had coreopsis, but it NEVER bloomed, it would burn in the bud. Saddest gardening ever. Western facing bed. Seven inches from the sun, lol!
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I like that you know the names of all these flowers. I usually refer to them only by location “the red one by the fence” and do on. I don’t dig much but when I was putting dome pavers in yo keep the fog from digging out, I relocated some worms to my wife’s veggie garden. I did tell them that they would like it better there.
Beautiful pictures. Enjoy the soil and the fruits of your labor.
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And the ‘D’ is too close to the ‘S’ on this phone 😦
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“dome paver in yo keep the fog from digging” almost sounds like poetry. If left unattended, your phone might get published.
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🙂 don’t give it any ideas.
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The Mister doesn’t know the names either. He calls them all weeds. So I use the same expressions you do when I talk to him, “See that clump there, with the orange weeds? Don’t mow over that.”
Thank you, Dan.
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Ha. My wife tells me the same things when I cut the grass. I mowed down something by accident last Friday.
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Oooh, I’m jealous of good garden soil! Our house is sited on the old Grand River bed – it’s all glacial till – stick in a spade and you’ll hit a cobble, guaranteed. That’s below. Above are walnut trees. Wall to wall walnuts. With their nasty toxic juglone that kills or inhibits many of the plants I’d like to grow. That said, my garden inventory is just about the same as yours, except for the rhodos: the deer eat those!
Wonderful post. I’m glad to learn this about you!
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Thanks, Maggie! We only really have black walnut trees here in Indiana, and although they’re commonly found in forests, you just don’t see too many in yards. Walnut trees are quite valuable. Fall on your lot must be GORGEOUS! I had long forgotten about the juglone until you said that. I’m glad the interstate keeps deer away, lol — although my neighbor says he’s spotted them in my back 40 a dozen or so times since he’s lived here — which is longer than I’ve been alive, haha!
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nothing better than living where you feel you belong…:)
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😀
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I could feel the love in every word. What a wonderful garden you have Joey.
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Thank you, Sue. I do so enjoy it 😀
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I love your beautiful flowers and ferns. They are stunning. I would like to see a picture of your wormy friends! Uhh, what do y’all talk about?
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I don’t usually have a camera when I’m with the worms, since I like to keep most of our interaction private…
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Lovely–I talk to works too. But sneeze at the cottonwood…
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Worms are very good listeners. The allergy meds are even better than chatting with worms! 😉
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Works? Looks like I was taking allergy medicines. It has rained so much here lately that my son found an earthworm on the living room floor. Beyond resuscitation.
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God love’im, he was tryin to reach dry land, I’m sure!
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I love to play in the dirt, too. Where I live, though, there’s not enough sun getting through the trees to provide enough natural light to keep a houseplant alive, let alone an outdoor garden. I do have a couple of shade-loving plants outside, but mostly I garden at work. My department has skylights, and houseplants love them and they simply thrive. I went in Sunday to prune and start some new planters with the clippings. And since all the dirt comes out of a bag, there’s no digging.
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My front yard is shaded. I’m going for Astilbe and Echinacea, and some Solomon’s Seal. I’d like the whole front yard to be garden, eventually. (But I do get sun peeking through here and there!)
Don’t you love your light bills, living in the shade? It’s fantastic! lol
Someday, you really need to photograph the plants in your office!
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