Gardens – Page 8 – Cynthia Reyes

A Good Home, Canadian Gardens, Garden Humour, Gardening, Gardens, Wild Carrot, Wild flowers

Her Royal Lacy-ness

July 30, 2014February 28, 2020 Cynthia Reyes

There is a place

For Queen Anne’s Lace

In nature’s open garden.

“But not in mine!”

Gardeners decline

And – oh, their hearts they harden.

Tis true, Lace will

Self-seed — and still

I love her gentle beauty

But gardeners think

That in one blink

She’ll multiply their duty.

I spied the Lace

Her pretty face

Not showing in the open

She hid herself

In clever stealth

With mint in our herb garden.

She stayed alive

Two years survived

Unseen by Garden Minder

Till recent days

He cast his gaze

And was quite shocked to find her.

Her stem he gripped

He pulled and ripped

And stared at her in horror

And thought he had

Removed it all

For he’s a true weed warrior.

I found her in

The compost bin

— This tale is not fallacious —

No-one about,

I pulled her out

Aggrieved that one so gracious

Should be thrown down

With newly-mown

Grass, in a heap of greenery

I picked her up

And filled a cup

Of water to redeem her.

And here’s the grace:

She’s fine, our Lace

She flowers now at leisure

Indeed, she blooms

Inside our rooms

For Gardener’s “viewing pleasure”.

If he’s aware

– Our Gardener Dear –

That Lace is what is blooming

He has said nought

Of what he thought

And there has been no fuming

But hold your glee

Don’t “hooray” me

For trouble’s yet a-foot

The Lacy weed

Has done the deed

And left behind a root

Though Gardener Dear

Does not know there

Is still a small plant thriving

In his herb bed

The weed so dread

Is quietly surviving.

Dedicated to people who love wildflowers.

–AND with a smiling apology to my favorite gardener–

There’s more information on the wild carrot AKA Queen Anne’s Lace, at:

http://ontariowildflowers.com/mondaygarden/article.php?id=169

A Good Home, Canadian Gardens, Clematis, Flowers, Gardening

Clematis a-bloomin’

July 22, 2014July 23, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

I promised a blogger-friend that I’d post pictures of clematis in bloom.

But the gosh-darn rabbits ate almost every clematis right down to the ground last winter and spring, so I didn’t know what would come back and what was a goner. We had a few casualties, indeed. We lost the gorgeous white clematis. And the beautiful pink one that graces the arbour on the cover of my book, A Good Home. But there’s much to be thankful for. Now, it’s not all smooth sailing. A few are really struggling, and insects have also attacked them. But the point is that they returned. And others came back in full force. This shy little red clematis decided to spread its wings — er, vines. This one below escaped the rabbits and is full of blooms now. Now, don’t go asking me all their names. Some days, I don’t even remember my own….. But I hope you are suitably impressed – I know I am! Several of these vines were bought for a few bucks at end of gardening seasons in years past, and planted by my Better Half.

I’m especially impressed with this bloom below- usually the first to flower, this clematis missed its moment because the rabbits ate the whole vine and it had to start up again from its roots underground.

But now it’s sent out a single bloom!

Dedicated to late bloomers and other survivors.

A Good Home, Faith, Family, Family Moments, Farm house, Flowering shrubs, Flowers, Gardening, Gardens, Gratitude, Home, Homes, Inspiration

Flowers, Memories, Diaries

July 9, 2014July 9, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Memory is the diary we all carry about with us, wrote Oscar Wilde.

But for me, diary is memory. Years of memories.

Family, home, garden, daily life.

Diaries played a small role in my overall life, but became a huge part of my post-accident experience. With little sense of time, and often no memory of events just minutes after they happened, I started writing in my journal again.

Little things. Big things. Write it down quickly.

A doctor played a key role. She told me to record events as they happened, figuring I could share these entries with the medical professionals I visited. My memory and speech problems were so bad, she noted, that “No other specialist will take two hours to try to figure out what you are saying. Write.”

Of course, that’s not word-for-word. But I scribbled down her order.

I returned to keeping journals. Some of the entries were so painful, I vowed to never re-read them.

The best? Entries about time with family.

Next best: time in the garden.

I used to keep a journal to track my gardens’ progress. The major triumphs and minor tragedies, the plans carried out and those forgotten.

Now, no longer able to garden, I was reduced to observing. But observing led to writing and writing led to “remembering”.

The first spring bulbs to bloom.

The first night-bloomer of the season.

The first time the fern-leaf peonies – presents from friends Les and Sandra – bloomed.

The hollyhock that bloomed in two colours.

The mysterious flower that showed up one summer.

Red currants, seeds planted by birds or breeze.

When your brain doesn’t work efficiently, you misplace things. When you’re in too much pain to move, you can’t go looking for things somewhere else. So I learned to keep the garden journal on the verandah, and other journals in every room of the house.

An onlooker, seeing me writing on that lovely verandah, might have thought: “What a charmed life.”

But as my mother always said : “Never envy others. No-one knows what troubles they have.” I was – quite literally — writing to save my life.

Looking back, I’m astonished at some of the lovely things that happened. Things to be grateful for. People to be grateful to.

I’m shocked at the development of this garden, as captured in my journals.

Grateful to my husband, for building arbours, dividing plants, maintaining the garden — in addition to everything else that landed on his plate.

Some of what I read evokes real memories. They bring tears, laughter, delight, wonder.

Some of it is not at all familiar. It’s like reading about someone else’s life, but knowing it’s yours.

Interesting, that.

Photos by Hamlin Grange

A Good Home, Blue Clematis, Blue Flowers, Blue Garden, Blue Salvia, Flowers, Gardening, Gardens, Homes, July Garden, Summer Garden

I’ve Got The Blues

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

If you’d asked me if I had many blue flowers in my summer garden, I would have said ‘no’. But turns out I would have been wrong. As borne out by this blue Clematis, above. The blue-lavender Clematis on the right, below. And the blue Salvia on the left. Morning Glories get in on the act, and this one is lovely. Blue Salvia will soon get crowded out by Margaritas… But right now it’s holding its own. Blue and yellow make a refreshing mix in the garden. And — honestly — this Clematis below is a blue-lavender. But compared to the sky, it’s positively pink.

Except for this other blue Clematis, which has somehow risen above the pink one and is holding court. While, just below them both, this flower – whose name I’ve never learned – blooms all summer. Do you know what it is? Almost a Forget-Me-Not, but I don’t know what it is or where it came from.