Every so often, I wish I had a well-behaved garden.
The kind where everything does what I want, when I want.
Where flowers don’t stray into lawns and lawns don’t stray into flowerbeds, and the strong wind didn’t break one of the arches on the arbour my dear husband so carefully built.
But this I know:
Real gardens offer up surprises each week, each day and sometimes, each hour.
Like flowers blooming in unexpected colours.
And interesting visitors.
Like this large bird in the apple tree.
And wild rabbits.
Cleaning themselves without a care in the world.
Like this mother duck, with her ducklings.
She must have squeezed herself under the fence.
This ant, dragging a dead moth many times its size. It took the moth way across the verandah.
This beet, expected to be dark red, is somehow orange.
A single squash. It’s from a vine that strayed from our neighbours’ squash plantation.
“It’s yours”, he says. The thing will grow to almost half my height. No kidding.
These onions, because they delight and surprise me each late summer.
And the garlic, just because the sight of them when newly harvested always surprises me.
The sight of our daughter’s little doggie, coming around the corner at full speed. Well, sort of.
And this shadow “selfie”, which I didn’t know was there till I downloaded it and nearly jumped in surprise.
Gardens: places of surprise and discovery.
**
Dedicated to all gardeners, everywhere.
Cynthia Reyes 
You have a beautiful garden, lovely flowers, lots of wildlife, your daughters doggie and the selfie!!! 🙂 Looks like a beautiful day there to me, we have non stop rain today.
Hi Michael:
Been thinking about you on your mountaintop, and now you answered my unspoken question about your weather. We’ve had tons of rain and wind here too, and drizzles this morning, but okay now. Except, the heat came on automatically last night. Does that tell you anything?
A great post. This is what makes looking round the garden such an adventure every day. You never know what you will find.
Lovely to have some glimpses of your garden. I love the hostas round the tree. And not a trace of slug damage.
Such a cute dog. Is it a Bichon frise?
Thanks, Chloris. I always like visiting your lovely blog in part because I never know what surprises you’ll have in store for us, your readers!
We didn’t get slug damage but we got hail damage on some of the hosta.
The little doggie is a Havanese – meaning he is or was one of the main dogs from Cuba. Or so I think. He completely lacks a sense of direction. Or maybe that’s old age.
A world of discovery!! Such beautiful grounds
Thank you! Hope you and your family are all doing well and enjoying the weekend.
Just lovely! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you,. And of course you are welcome. How’s the book doing, SK? Such a big achievement. Congratulations.
I have feedback coming in from beta readers. I’m impressed by the time and attention they are giving the work and oh so very grateful for their consideration. A very happy me right now.
Excellent.
With the exception of perhaps, bonsai, is there such a thing as a well-behaved garden? Ahh, yes, a petrified ginko forest!
Hah!
Be careful, Eric, or I’ll send you off to catch some salmon and smoke it again.
Great pictures. The blooms are pretty much all gone, but we are very green thanks to lots of rain this year (in comparison to drought-like conditions in the years before).
I hear you. We’ve rarely had to water the vegetable garden this summer, thank goodness.
Most of our blooms are gone too, except for the few that bloom in the early fall.
glad to hear from you, Rose. You won’t believe this: I was just thinking of you when your comment arrived.
Its good to be back around, for sure. And if you say it’s so, I believe it. 🙂
Of all the things I love most about nature I think it is the mystery that I love the most. It all seems to be happening right there in your garden and I’m happy that you’re getting a taste of it. It keeps us curious and awestruck, like children.
“…curious and awestruck, like children.” How beautiful and true.
Such a beautiful garden, Cynthia. The landscape will be changing very quickly. Hope you’re doing well.
Thanks, Levi. It sure will.
Oh, poor arbour. But everything else is a lovely surprise. Yesterday, when it was raining here, I caught sight of a blackbird having a fabulous time in the bird bath. I have had the bird bath for several years but this was the first time I had seen it being fully utilised. Gave me such joy.
It’s the kind of thing that just makes a person smile, isn’t it? I’ll sit, mesmerized, and watch a bird washing itself.
Or a rabbit? 🙂 I wouldn’t be mesmerized if a rabbit arrived in my garden, though. I would be in total shock!
I tell you – those rabbits are not even scared of us any more. I keep reminding them that they are supposed to be “wild rabbits” but they ignore me, even as they chomp on our plants.Thank goodness they seem to like the wild clover in the lawn, but they have eaten some of our veggies, the little wretches.
Here’s a little story of woman vs little beastie which I am sure you would enjoy. http://readinginterrupted.com/2014/09/06/beatrix-potter-and-the-mouse/#comments Letizia’s attempt to dislodge the beastie didn’t work but it was innovative.
Great reminders and attitude to appreciate the surprises in our gardens and lives. Thanks for sharing your garden joy Cynthia. 🙂
You’re welcome, Brad.
Thanks again for the lovely little story of your garden & happenings around your home. I love nature’s surprises they remind us that we can’t control it’s wildness. Your arbor is a beauty but mending will take time as our body does. I hope you are progressing each day. Thanks again for a reminder of the beauty of our gardens.
Thanks, Sandra. And for your good wishes, always. Some days I think those good wishes and prayers are what keep us going.
I am not surprised that you like nature’s surprises. I’ll long remember your story and painting of the day the Monarch butterflies came to visit. Are you seeing more in the late summer? I hope so. I’ve seen very few in these parts.
These surprises keep us on our toes – we are challenged each time something won’t grow, grows in the wrong place or gets ruined by inclement weather. I think eventually we would all get bored with well behaved gardens! Thank-you for this post and the lovely photos from your garden. Re your selfie: isn’t it strange that we don’t see some of the things in photos until afterwards. I am reminded of a photo my mother-in-law treasures of her husband (whom I never met as he died in 1988) with a sign just above his head saying ‘TOILETS’.
Thanks for making me smile, Clare. I wonder what your grandfather-in-law thought of that photo…. You’re right – we would get bored with well-behaved gardens.
At least, that’s what I tell myself….
I am told they were all amused by the picture and it wasn’t the first time my mother-in-law had taken a strange photo. People usually end up looking as though they have poles sticking out of the top of their heads or through their ears and her thumbs or fingers always seem to get in the way too! It’s a family joke.
I so enjoyed this, Cynthia. My gardens are ragged and a little wild looking most of the time, but they are soothing to my soul all the same. Hope your weekend is going great. 🙂
Thanks, Elizabeth. I have whole flowerbeds that look wild and ragged most of the time.
C’est la vie.
I am glad you are showing us around your lovely garden today Cynthia, hope its not too hard a job to repair the arch and that you have had a lovely weekend too.
Thanks, Julie. Not being gifted with woodworking skills, I have no knowledge of what it will take, but I sure endorse your hope. Thanks again.
I agree! I have been away for a few days and I am about to go look for some surprises of my own. Great story!
Thank you. Wishing you a lovely day and pleasant garden surprises.
Cynthia, you live in a gorgeous place! I love all the activity there, even the little ant! ❤
Thank you, Jackie. I love the garden and am thankful to live here. This place gets star billing in my book, for reasons both happy and sad. I’ve grown to consider this home a true blessing.
I can relate to this thinking:-) I look at all those pictures in magazines, or books that show everything in it’s place etc. It never has flowers running across the path, squash traveling to the neighbors yard ( which my vertical does often-lol), terrible weeds that never seem to stop resprotting, and some how when I walk the paths and see ….how happy all the “life” in the garden is…
“Real gardens offer up surprises each week, each day and sometimes, each hour” ( I could not of said it any better:-)
That is what a garden needs to be….an ever changing place to explore + what fun it is to see it all working together….their happiness make me happy:-)
Beautiful post of a beautiful garden:-)
Thanks so much for your generous reply.
It’s hard to enjoy a garden when you’re running around trying to fix and perfect it.
You have a lovely and beautiful garden, i like it 🙂
Merci beaucoup, Christiane.
Delighting in the little things is what it’s all about. And if you had a well-behaved garden, it might not be so full of nice surprises. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich said, “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Perhaps the same might be said of our gardens — they have character!
Jeanne
So well said, Jeanne.
My garden has lots of character, that’s for sure.
oh delightful, a garden where Mother Nature still rules and lovely surprises happen and myohmy that supercute little white fluffy sweety!
Thank you. And yes — our little doggie is a sweetheart, isn’t he?
I nominate you for a One Lovely blog award. If you have no time for this, it is OK, no worries. I just want the other bloggers to know about your wonderful blog. Thank you for your great work! 🙂
I’m honoured that you’d think of me. Thank you.
You’re also right – not right now, please. But I won’t forget your kind thought in doing this. I’m wishing you a good day.
Wonderful, looks like a sanctuary. 🙂
Thank you. It is a blessing, this place. I am enormously thankful for the privilege of living here.
Every day is a miracle and a blessing. 🙂
Awwwww, ducklings!!! Well, she certainly could have flown in but hard to say whether they hatched there or what. Looks like they might have squeezed under that fence, maybe? Ducks are certainly resourceful critters and especially mama ducks! Thx for sharing!!!
I wondered about the space under the fence because I could see the ducklings getting in there, but could she squeeze into that small space, do you think? I also wonder if they were hatched there, because I rarely look over into that corner and it’s very sheltered.
Well, she’s a mallard so she most definitely can fly. (My ducks are *way* too big to get much airtime. Could she fly over and meet them if they squeeze under? Like I said, ducks are really resourceful. And smart. But maybe I am biased in their favor? 😉
Yes, and maybe yes! (smile)
Reblogged this on Cynthia Reyes and commented:
I still love this post from last September — hope you do too!
To have order or not? I wish for order, yet love the tangled look. Kind of like my life. A beautiful mess. This post made me smile. Thank you.
I’m like you: love the natural feel of the garden.
Oh, what a lovely post as are all of your posts! Certainly enjoyed this one! 🙂
Thank you!
Absolutely. Excellent post
Thanks, Derrick.
I like the quirkiness of all this–these are nice surprises (not those bad ones!)
Thank, Kerry.