— and I didn’t even realize that until I was reading some blogs whereby gardeners are striving to be self sustained by their gardens.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m like a little kid when I come in from the garden with my pockets full of peas, or beans, or tomatoes. And I’m so damned proud of myself when I’ve made a batch of jelly or jam, or put up the pear preserves, or picked my OWN apples for a pie. But it’s just gravy to me – that bounty. It isn’t why I garden. Part of it is that I just love digging in the dirt. I love putting plants in…moving plants around…sowing seeds…watering by hand…getting down on my hands and knees to see which vegetables are beginning to sprout.
But the big reason I garden, my first love, is to be surrounded by flowers. Flowers make me happy. Just looking at them. In the winter time, I buy them from the store, weekly, just to have them in the house to look at. No matter what variety, they are the *hyacinths that feed my soul*.
I’m feeling a little sad now, watching some of the summer bloomers die off. Although the autumn bloomers are beautiful – they are still the harbingers to me. And I’m not ready. Guess I better get ready. You know when autumn is here when the mums start blooming.
They are. 
and the Autumn Joy sedum turns from green to reddish-pink. It is.
and the Autumn Clematis begins to bloom. It did.
* If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And from they slender store two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one and with the dole,
Buy hyacinths to feed the soul.
(Moslih Eddin Saadi)
My poor neglected tiny gardening area is inspired by your lovely flowers. This is the time of year though for me to put mums around and enjoy the color!
Jackie — I want a job so I can buy pots and planters and soil and turn my lanai into a garden. NOT just so I can have pretty flowers, but so I can have fresh vegetables that actually grew in real dirt and ripened on the vine. It is a flavor thing.
If I was trying to be self-sufficient from my garden I would quite quickly waste away.
I think I’m more like you Jackie – but I’m at the starting off stage. (I’m a Jackie in training! LOL) I always love the spring when things start to ‘wake up’ and I also get a little sad at this time of year when things are starting to ‘go over’.
I always feel better for the ‘fresh air’ and just being outside ‘doing’. I know I’ll miss my garden when we ‘change our clocks’ so that it is already dark by the time I get home from work. Booooo!
The summer always goes too quickly doesn’t it?
I’m like you Jackie. My little balcony overflowed with planters filled with impatients, three kinds of daisys, snapdragons and things I can’t even name. I miss my garden at the house, it really is all about the dirt and the color.
I used to love to just dig in the dirt. Then my back and knees started to say such naughty things to me when I did. Now, my garden if full of weeds…
Alison – mums are a great fall splash of color – if you must have fall.
Quilly-Sister – yes, there is that flavor thing. But those veggies – there a lot of work.
Nezza – I always really miss the garden in the winter. I’m not going to complain as much about my short gardening season this year, though, after having heard about all your rainy weather.
Kat – some of us are just old hoe-ers, aren’t we?
Holly – that IS hard. It’s time to find a big, strong man and have him build you some raised beds!
Count me in the sad column too… the autumn bloomers are trying their best to cheer me up, but… waaaah!!!
Hi…I have some poor thirsty wilted impatiens on my porch that I meant to water today. So seeing your thriving flowers has pricked my conscience.
Guilt has also driven me to try to do something to store some of the vegetables. But, those that don’t get given away are ending up in the compost pile and we will probably have lots of volunteers growing there again next year.
Mumsflowers – aren’t we just a bunch of whiners?
I always get a kick out of complaining about the weather…you know, all four seaons of it. Because of all the things we have absolutely no control over – the weather must be one of the biggies!
Jolynna – don’t you just love those impatiens, they are so forgiving. And I have them in pots that are so shady, nothing else will thrive – they give me color in places I wouldn’t have it. I hate wasting veggies, too – and if you have a local foodbank – they LOVE it – any of it.
I’m glad you do garden Jackie. Gives me a chance to look at beautiful pictures of plants tended with love and care, not by employees who do it for the $$ only.
I’d love to be able to have flowers, but between the summer heat here and my tendency to forget to water them, I don’t see it happening.
Snigspot – different things at different times in our lives. I wasn’t into gardening or flowers when I busy raising three kids – had other interests then. Maybe someday you’ll want to. Meanwhile, visit often!
I like flowers but I’m too lazy to take care of them. I need my own personal Princess Horticulturist; D
Your suggestion about a food bank is a good one.
In reading your comment to snigspot, I have to say that my life is like yours in that when I was younger and raising my children, I wan’t into gardening or flowers either. Your statement about being into different things at different times in your life is so very true!
I love the clematis! I’ve never seen a white one. Mine’s purple and blooms in the early summer.
Nessa – oh, would I love to help – but I think it would be a hell of a commute!
Jolynna – I think that’s a good thing. We get to experience more and more as we age. I know I became more open to things as I got older. And I was thinking about when I was a ‘harried’ single mother – I didn’t know, nor want to know any of my neighbors – I didn’t even have enough time for my friends. Now I am the one that knows all the neighbors on the hill – that T didn’t even know until we married. Come to think about it — that may not be such a good thing. I’m the one that is always watering or feeding animals when any of the neighbors go out of town! LOL
Stacy – the most common clematis IS purple, and blooms early. I have a dark one and a light one, and they are still blooming. This white one has much much smaller flowers, and is called Sweet Autumn. The thing is, we left to go South in October last year, and I didn’t even get to see it bloom it’s first year. It’s blooming now because we had such a hot and dry summer. It can grow to 30 feet and I sure wish I’d researched that before I planted it – because it does so well now – I don’t want to move it – yet wish it were somewhere else. (Oh, isn’t my life tough!?)
I’m swooning. I have an Autumn Joy but it’s barely turned pale pink yet. I’ve been looking at online catalogs and want to buy every flower I see. I hope next spring is better, I really missed seeing flowers this summer.
Janet – my Autumn Joy is even darker today than just the other day when I took this picture. When they start turning, they turn pretty fast here. My sister was up last night and when we were looking at the flowers, she told me that she just doesn’t like that one – it doesn’t do enough to do anything for her – just sits there pretty much the same all the time, except for color. I can’t say it’s one of my favorites, but at least it’s additional color in the fall when everything else is going.