A Quick WALK Around My LOST & Found GARDEN in May

I decided to take you for a walk through my garden to show you some progress in the last month. We are starting from my back deck , I like to stand here and figure out  if I like what I see.

Or want I want to see instead.

Down we go.

Shade garden in front is doing fine, ferns are green again, all kinds of plants that I have no idea what the names are, are also coming up.

 I am going to plot out my garden on paper, I read that in someone's blog about when you plant a plant to go to your layout and write what you planted when and where. I have so many little plastic name tags , I washed off a bunch yesterday and dried them by my kitchen sink. You know they get all dirty when you are planting. 

I have years of plastic tags in a ziploc bag, so at least I kept those.

When I do that ( make a layout ), I will be proud of myself, as organization is a weak area for me.

Looking better. trumpet vine is blooming for me again .

I also FINALLY put newspaper under my mulch to ward off weeds, I had completely forgotten to do that but I have a good excuse. Wanna hear it ? 

I did not put it underneath because I forgot No. 1 , and most importantly I was waiting for all those perennials I planted to show their little heads out of the ground and did not want to cover up too soon. Now if I had my layout I would have known, but my memory is on vacation most days.

I think that was 2 excuses, but they sort of blend together .

In the distance here is the old birdbath bubbling fountain that I put a lot of old seashells in, I do not like it as the contrast is too start with the black. I will plant some flowers in it soon. Ignore it back there.

That is red salvia I bought at our local zoo garden sale a few years back to the left.

It has been raining cats and dogs here as you can see. I picked up my son from school yesterday in torrential rain, and as we drove up....I saw down the street about two houses down, our big trash can ( Herbie-Curbie ), floating in a bout a foot of water, plus all kinds of things. I got my son in the house, put on my husband's large raincoat he never wears, had flip flops and cropped running pants on...walked down through a foot or so of water, and a mini-flood pouring into a neighbor's backyard. I then waded out, my pants were soaked , luckily kept my flip flops on...rushing water all in that area ( cars were turning around and not driving through it in front of me ), grabbed our big trashcan up and out of there and dragged it back in the thunderstorm. Why I was such a she-woman about this is I was worried our trashcan was blocking some drainage in the road and was causing the flooding there.

Also, it is OUR trashcan-Herbie-Curbie, it needed to be rescued.

My son was impressed how wet my pants ( up to my knees ) were when I got back, and at least he saw me take care of a problem .

Back to the garden,

Delphiniums, pink verbena, Shasta daises, and some plumbago and calla lilies are in here, plus more.

Sideview

I have lots of blue salvia coming up to the back left of the garden, in front of them are orange cannas I found at my neighbor's house.

My trusty blue plumbago getting bigger. I have three plumbago , and this is the first one I planted about 5 years ago. I cut it back after the first freeze, and it comes back every year.

Love this plant.

Keep ignoring the back fountain w/ white seashells.

Ok, since you keep looking at the glowing object in the distance , here is the up-close look at what I do not like and will change. Too stark with the black. But we always need to try out our bright ideas to see how they look.

This was definitely a BRIGHT idea that is going bye-bye.

Cute little birdbath I made into a planter so my husband could see it when he walks in and out of his palace-workshop. I do not know if he ever sees it, I do know he has almost tripped over it a few times.

View from the back. See that itsy-bitsy middle green something in the dark mulch ? That is my third plumbago coming back. I got so happy when I saw that ,as I have planted plumbago three times here, and it died. This one lived over the winter !

I stepped up in my son's fort to take these last shots.

A fort with a view ( a fort he never plays in, and may get taken down and have a small new garden bed here soon ).

I threaten that and he says he'll start playing in it.

Ok, that was a walk around the garden, I did not show you a side back left bed that is in dire straits with deep thatch that I have to fix.

That's what's neat about this tour online. I can blindfold you like this and only show you the parts that look good.

Hey, I think that's what internet dating sites do right ?

It is a cloudy overcast day here, gotta run and get busy with the day,

hope yours is very productive, 

Gina

" Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD ! " Psalms 150:6

Whose EYES Go SOFT For You ?

We were driving back from church last Sunday morning, and I always take my son's little papers they give him after his Sunday School class...and I read them out in the car on the way home.

Sort of quiz him on what he learned. He usually doesn't remember anything, or acts like he doesn't ...so I like to ' feed ' him his answers off the papers.

The lesson that Sunday was about loving your friends like yourself. What love means, how to show it. 

I was reading off the papers, and I then decided to put them down and try to quiz him on the basic visible concept of love from one person to another.
Something that I always notice , and appreciate.

This was my question, by the way...I am in the passenger seat, my husband is driving...and our son is directly behind me. So all answers I received were like a little echo in a valley, back up to me from the back seat.

They were quiet, sure answers.

I first told him how nice it is to be loved, how good it feels.

He agreed.

I then explain to him, that when someone loves you, really loves you...their eyes get soft, they actually get soft-looking. Did he understand  ?

He says Yes.

My love-bug and his Mother's Day roses for me

I then ask him, " Do Mom's eyes go soft when I look at you ?'

Little voice goes, " Yes. "

Does Mavis' ( his bestest friend ) eyes go soft when they look at you ?"

"Yes."

Then I go through his sister's names , each one I ask if they go soft looking at him.

More little Yeses come up from the back seat.

I then ask if his dad's eyes go soft when he looks at him ?

" Yes, " he says.

I look over at my husband and smile, and ask our son one last person, or rather family member about do their eyes go soft , " Do Maxine's eyes go soft over you ?'

A definite ' Yes ! "

Maxine

I then told him how lucky, how blessed he was to have people's eyes go soft and show their love to him.

I felt like it was one of the few serious lessons of life, about love, that my son got at an early age.

I believe if we all have at least one persons' eyes go soft...some people may have more, but I hope you can appreciate the one or many...as it truly is a precious, priceless gift from one to the other.

Diamonds, rubies, gold and silver cannot match the glow in a loved one's eyes.

Don't let it pass you by, appreciate the softness, every time.

I hope your evening is good , or your morning !

Bless you,

Gina

" For thus says the LORD of hosts :' He sent Me after glory , to the nations which plunder you ; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. " Zechariah 2:8

My SEASHELL-Peeble Pavers OUCH Accents I Made for My LOST & FOUND Garden

I wanted to show you some completely impracticable concrete pavers I made years ago...I made them out of plain concrete pavers, I used some  mortar thin-set mastic tile compound on top of them , and pressed in some seashells I found on my walks at Edisto Beach in SC ...and also some pebbles that I bought in one of those large bags of pebbles that you can buy at Lowes. I made some of these square ones, and also bought some odd -sized ones to make a circle one as well. By the way, these babies are HEAVY once you get them loaded up , I move them around only every now and then. I had them in the back of my garden by my arbor, underneath it...but they were getting buried and covered up back there.

So I decided to move them.

Myself of course. My husband never seems to be handy when I come up with a great idea in my garden.

The funny thing about these, as they are hard to walk on, with shoes they are alright, but a big No-No-OUCH barefoot. So strictly decorative, could not use these as stepping stones, as I have tried and it is PAINFUL if you walk on them barefoot. They are fine with shoes on. I like to walk barefoot out in my garden sometimes though.

This large one I made, my oldest son mowed the grass around it ( when I had grass around it ), and went over the top and cut off all the beautiful shells.

I have put this in the front of a middle garden sitting spot, that no one sits at...and I decided to move the shell pavers to the front side of my garden, and plant monkey grass , 

And also I bought some ground cover called Spurge ?  Japanese spurge. I think that was the name as I have misplaced the little plastic tag. You can see that I did not bury these very deep, as I know that time will settle them.

I am also going to have more mulch on this pathway here in front soon.

 

I think this is something anyone can do, as most people go on some beach trips over the Summer, and this is a way to save some of the memories to your garden.

So I have my pavers, and then I dug up some monkey grass that I have all over the place, divided it , and planted it around the outside of the pavers.

I also bought the Spurge ( let me know if you guys think I should rip the spurge out as I read another blog saying it was an invasive bad plant after I planted it ) and planted that between the pavers, and also bought a Speedwell plant with pretty spiky flowers to go behind it,

I also have my wonderful blue plumbago which will be growing directly behind it.

Can't see that yet...but wait...it is already about a foot high.

I look at this from my steps, and I feel it does not blend in quite yet, but I also can use my imagination, and see that in time, they will be hidden more with the monkey grass, and they will also settle...so they will be what I want them to be...in time.

Before the monkey grass

 Water everything very good

Neat how monkey grass is immediately happy wherever you plant it.

 

 

And for the yard-lady with the patience of a gnat...it is an excellent growing tool for my patience quota.

At present , on a scale of 1-10...10 being the most patient....I have probably arrived at No. 3 by now.

after DECADES...

Maybe...that 's probably debatable. The part about reaching a number 3.

Here is some more shots...remember, use your imagination and projected vision that gardeners have !

 

 I love using seashells in my garden that I find, either just throwing them around the base of a statue or embedding  them in pavers, or in planters around flowers or plants.

 I can't sit still at the beach anyway, so I walk around all the time getting shells...and I needed to do something with them.

Here's who ( Maxine ) looks like took some of these photos, she loves to hang out with me in my garden,

Have a nice evening,

Gina

' Be devoted to one another in brotherly love , honor one another above yourselves. " Romans 12:10

If Only I Had Known by Brook Benton---ENJOY !!!

I love Brook Benton , I hope you enjoy this ! Take care, Gina

How GOD Speaks to Me in My GARDEN

 

I decided to write about how God speaks , and teaches me ...in my garden. It is possible that unless you believe in God, you may not understand this...then again, that may be irrelevant. As a gardener, there are many ways that I feel God speaks to me , and two ways are the strongest. 

No. 1 is in the silence, the stillness of day or the feel of a breeze on your skin while you are working.  This world is so polluted with noise, from the life we live...radios or cd players ( which I like ), cell phones,  TV , computers, cars driving by, airplanes, trucks, people , construction , etc. Not all of that is bad, but they make a day outside a respite from senseless, gaudy, worldly noise. Now I am not one of those , hush-hush quiet types...but in a garden..when you are on your knees in the dirt...you are in the quintessential ' prayer and worship ' position. You are working, to beautify and create at your home. I do not believe in ' Mother Earth' , or ' Fairies' or ' New Age ' spirituality. I believe in the one Almighty God , and He started us out in a garden.

So silence, stillness are conducive to feeling God's presence, to feel like listening to Him, to feel like talking to Him .

Or in my case, lots of asking, wondering...whining about life.  Our present , past , choices and decisions , heartaches and triumphs.Thank goodness He is used to that with all of us. 

The No. 2 way I feel God speaks to me in my garden, and this may seem very odd to some folks...is through weed-pulling, weed-irritation, weeds period.

I am down on my knees, annoyed with all these weeds that I cannot EVER stop growing...and I feel God say, " See, if you do not go deep, deep into the reason of why you want something, need something, have an addiction to something...if you cannot EXTRACT the ROOT of the problem...then you will never get rid of a particular weed ( sin ), in your life. "

And so I pull, sweat, tug and wrestle with my weeds ( sins ), that can often overwhelm me with their deep , endless roots.

I also have very positive thoughts and feelings in my garden, especially concerning hope and patience. God shows me to sloooowww down, and wait for something good ( a new flower or first buds ) to appear. He also teaches me to have hope that my creativity will ' appear ' in my garden.

All of this, the beauty of birds, bees, butterflies, flowers and plants, the smell of dirt and leaves and trees and the outdoors...all of it , the whole shebang of a garden...make me consider Who created it all, out of nothing.
Being inside ...I cannot feel what I feel in a garden, outside working.

Lastly, 

I enjoy working on my garden, and my relationship with God...as I see if I neglect my garden...it will not thrive. If I forget it, forget to care for it, forget to check on it...then it will wither and die. Just like my relationship with God, or people that I love or care about. So He teaches me to tend to what I want to thrive...and dig deep and relentlessly for things ( sins ), that need to be out of my life.

When I do that, when I get rid of the ' weeds ' in my life, it leaves room for the more beautiful ' flowers' or habits or blessings, to grow.
The things He wants us to see, to nurture.

Down in your garden, looking at the intricacies of a flower, a buzzing bee, stopping and looking up at the sky and feeling the warmth of the sun...all of it and much more...MUCH more, make me hear God in my garden.

I have no idea if this makes any sense...but it is a smidgen of how I feel He speaks to me in my garden.

Many blessings to you,
Gina


" The LORD GOD planted a garden eastward into Eden , and there He put man whom He had formed. " Genesis 2: 8