Random Thoughts by Shelley: On my challenged garden

I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye or to please my soul, to challenge the elements or to challenge my patience, for novelty or for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow. – David Hobson

A late spring. A season of very dry weather. A life full of long days and little energy to devote to gardening. Is it any wonder my garden looks like it needs lots of TLC to help the flowers blossom and thrive? The old faithful marigolds seem to make it no matter what. I'm pretty sure next year, they will be the only flowers I plant.

I've been patiently watering my glads to see if I really didn't wait too long to plant them. It was Father's Day this year. That's pretty late. Just planting them again this year was an experiment. Last fall when I went through the long process of waiting until they died off naturally in the ground, pulling them out and letting them dry in the cool garage, removing all the unnecessary stuff to reveal the corms (or something like that) for next year's planting, storing them in a paper sack, and then setting them on a shelf until spring was A LOT of work. I had my doubts. Maybe I should say, I still have my doubts.

But then...last night I discovered some hope. There might just be one that survived the challenge and will actually bloom. Ah, the novelty, the nostalgia, the joy of seeing something actually happen that I hoped for. I can't wait to see what color pops out!

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the moments that please your soul! I'll be back soon...whenever the random thought strikes me again.