Tag Archive | pansies

Tuesday View 7.25.17 – Cully

Jul25

Returning to the Memorial Garden, singing farewell songs and remembering Cully.  He educated thousands of of people about our God-given right to cannabis and the benefits of the hemp plant.  When folks were divided about this or that in the Maine cannabis community, Cully kept going, doing the work that needed to be done. Teaching.  

With the powerful wail of the bagpipes setting his earth spirt free, I recommitted mySelf in his honor and memory to never back down from doing my part to speak truth to power.  There are so many acts of “resistance of the heart against business as usual” to be done.  I think that when we do what we can individually, the collective impact creates the world we want to live in.


We just don’t get to know how anything will turn out.  What we get to do is the work to make it possible. So we go in faith, hope and love.  But we must surely keep going. Keep the faith. Walk in beauty. Seek joy. Turn on your love light and let it shine. 


In the beginning, I did not know what this plant would bring to the Memorial Garden.  I still don’t know anything but the magnificent fragrance and bouncy cheerful color I can see from my kitchen window. And I remember Cully’s mischievous grin. His vibrant twinkle. The sticky sweet green bud he shared so freely and with such pleasure. 


The work of liberation and resistance doesn’t end. Harry say that rights are not given, they are won and taken.  The garden needs weeding, so the fullness of color has space to emerge.  Weeds of indecision, past regrets, discouragement, fear, weariness–rip them out and make way for an explosion of color revolution.


Cully was one of the political forces that created The Hill. To the cause of cannabis liberation, he did indeed commit his life, his fortune and his sacred honor.  In honoring his work, we can do no less. 

Come share sweet flowers with me!

Jul20

In the secret space of dreams, where I dreaming lay amazed…


When the secrets are all are told and petals all unfold..


When I had no dreams of mine, you dreamed of me.  Thank you, Jerry. 

Saint Francis said the journey is essential to the dream.  Joy on your journey. 


Flowers for the Court of Cannabia, set in our Green Love Renaissance

 Zowie Zinnias, pansies , petunias and hemp, hemp hooray!

Speaking of flowers…says the farmer. 

In a vase on Monday 5.15.17

May15

This vase started with a flowering grass bouquet Harry brought me in from the yard during the Mothers Day drenching!  We marveled at the soft purple tint of the seed head and its determination to regenerate.  The Sorbet and Penny pansies with Durango marigold looked so sweet that I put them in the vase too.  The vase is a little shot glass we use for tiny blooms and bouquets.  Deadheading pansies and marigolds is a regular task now. It’s a joy for this Deadhead mama, just “skimming through rays of violets” in my “sunshine daydream.”
And the view from the top:

II do enjoy preparing a weekly arrangement and post for In A Vase on Monday.  It’s a garden “meme” hosted by the Cathy at the Rambling in the Garden blog.  I look forward to the other blog posts and seeing their arrangements, flowers and reading about them. It’s my online garden club!

End of the month garden view: April

Apr30

What a difference a month makes!  It’s been a long snowy season and I welcome spring.  It’s a time of discovery–greeting old friends in the garden and making room for new beginnings. There is a lot going on.  The Hill is greening up. Harry is pruning the Nanking cherry bush. Strawberries look promising. The nettle patch can’t be stopped and the garlic is coming up gangbusters.  Tax day peas have germinated.  Every day we can is spent outside, clearing, digging and in love with the land. 


Every sunny day there are new “daffy-dills” sporting their colors. 


The daffodils are a delight. They remind me of my mom. She would tell me I was born on a beautiful spring day when the daffodils were blooming.


Spring dug transplants and cuttings.  There is so much abundance and life around me.  Here are roses, Shasta daisies, comfrey, sedum, wild strawberries and rhubarb!


The south side hoop tunnels is now filled with petunias, alyssum, crazy daisies and pansies.  


The onions are looking great!  I’m growing Talon, Borretanna Cippolini and Ailsa Craig onions and Bleu Solaize leeks–all Fedco seed.  We will plant them as soon we get the plowing done.


Have I mentioned pansies? They will all be in the ground or in buckets soon!  I’m very impressed with the beautiful lavender flecked color in the Sorbet variety 


Saint Francis keeping watch in the flower garden. This statue is on loan for the summer. It belonged to my mother in law Mary O’Connor. She was my flower growing mentor.  Mary gave me a package of cosmos seed and said “Even you should be able to grow these, dear.” Thank you Mary.  I miss you and our garden talks.

I really have fun with this End of the Month Garden View project.  Check out other end of the month views at The Patient Gardener. 

In a vase on Monday

Apr24

Pansies are blooming in a wide variety of colors and sizes.  I have Majestic Giant, Sorbet and Penny from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. And do you spy the first calendula bloom? 

I’ve been inspired by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden blog.  She hosts a weekly gathering of “Flowers in a Vase” every Monday.

“I sing you songs of the rainbows and whisper of the joy that is mine.”   

End of the Month Garden View: March

Mar31

It’s the last day of March on The Hill and we are expecting more snow.  The view of the main garden from the upstairs window makes me think getting peas planted by Tax Day might be pushing it.  I still have high hopes.  Peas and larkspur are planted by seed at the same time.  I love the bold blue the larkspur brings to the landscape.  I’m hoping to plant them both in mid April and again at the first week of May.

CALENDULA


Taking advantage of a south facing window. Light is at a premium right now. Every available space is filling up with seedlings and transplants. This is calendula. I love its blazing color. If I keep it picked regularly, the blooms keep coming. It will be one of the last blooming flowers in my garden. This is one of three calendula that showed up in one of Harry’s “winter surprise” pots. He will bring in a planter of soil before the ground freezes, keeps it watered and in sunlight and we see what happens! We had calendula, pansies, pigweed and clover this year. I transplanted out the calendula and will see what happens!

TRANSPLANTED PANSIES

I have about 100 seedlings from three varieties of pansies- all from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.  Penny is reputed to bloom all season long.  The fairly colors are unusual for pansies–orange, yellow, blue. Majestic Giants, traditional pansies with extra large flowers and Sorbet, an early flowering variety.   Most of the seedlings will be transplanted into containers for the Green Love Renaissance garden.  I also have a few choice spots for them in the main garden too!

NEXT STOP FOR PANSIES AND ONION SEEDLINGS


It’s like saying hello to an old friend to go out on the south side of the house.  Harry and I sat outside sunning ourselves in this oasis of ground.  The cold frame may not look like much, but it works really well for the pansies and the onion seedlings.  I won’t start hardening them off out here until this next batch of snow has passed.

I’ve used this method successfully for years. What I like is being able to remove the apparatus and store the until I need it again.  This area is quite shaded when the trees leave out, but right now it is the perfect place for the seedlings that can tolerate some cold.

For materials I used plastic tubing, old tent poles, greenhouse plastic and dimensional lumber from previous projects.  The tent poles are from tents that are missing pieces.  I stretched them out and cut them apart to make “stakes” to poke in the ground.  The black tube goes over the “stakes” and I shoved it into the ground to secure it a bit.  The lumber and plant pots secure down the plastic. It’s crude, but I had a blast putting it together.  The sun was shining as I stood on my little island of soil surrounded by snow.  Sweetness.

STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER


I was lifting up a piece of wood to hold down the cold frame plastic and found new baby strawberry plants saying hello to me.  One of my plans is to pot up plants that are already growing around the yard or self seeding in the garden. This is my first challenge I think.  Wild strawberries transplant well and make excellent container plants.  There is no cost for the seed and I can keep the potted plants outside.  I wonder how they would do with attention and care?

Thanks to The Constant Gardener for the inspiration to share an end of the month photo.

“Every so often you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”