One of the best, and most obsessive times of the year.
This year I seem to be more obsessive about the garden than usual. Chalk that up to the year I've had, and the angst that most people in the country feel about government leadership. One of the few places I do relax is in the garden.
I read "Better Homes & Gardens," as well as "Birds & Blooms," and more recently, "Magnolia Journal." (An aside: The latter is published by Meredith Corp., and edited by old friend, Iowa State enthusiast, and DeWitt, Iowa, native.)
All of these magazines give ideas to this gardener, who gets to work on a yard that stretches over one acre in size.
To date we've built about 13 gardens, all mulched and bordered by 'cobbie' stones. I've discussed both mulching and the borders in previous blog posts.
The fun part, which is designing and planting brightly-colored annual flowers, started this week. I'm about a week behind because we were on vacation, but now back on track.
I tried a few new plants, significantly, a bright red canna lily, and planted three sunflowers from seeds we got when traveling through Kansas last spring. A very nice Welcome Center staffer handed out the seed packets to travelers. Hence, planting the seeds is a nice reminder of that trip, and the birds will hopefully appreciate the treats in a couple of months!
The flowers are now planted, watered and re-covered in mulch. I just need to be patient before the beautiful blooms grow up.
I also got into the habit of trying to label the plants. That way, visitors can learn a little bit about a plant if they know its name. That's kind of an educational aspect to what I'm trying to accomplish in this part of our world.
Gotta go; the gardens are crying out for my attention!
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