Ah my sweetums, it’ SUMMERTIME!!!

Melons! Flipflops! Corn on da cobb!!!

Now if I was a little kid I’d be whining right about now how bored I was with vacation. 

And my mother would be telling me there was laundry to fold, dishes to wash, furniture to polish. Then off she’d go to work, leaving me with a couple of older siblings calling the shots. Or she’d pack us off to Nana and the family summer place on the Long Island Sound where the beach was a one minute walk. And the hammock under the oaks was the best place to read Nancy Drew. 

And the front porch was perfect for lobing water balloons at passing teenagers, the BIG kids, y’know..

All theses years later (and no, I’m not going to tell you how many) my summer vacay consisted of jumping out of bed early, what FirstBorn calls the butt crack of dawn, to be showered and dressed and semi-coherent before a herd of pickup trucks and landscapers descended on the property like a colony of worker bees in Levis.

Because after nearly twenty years of living here, Mr. Spouse and I decided it was time, way past time, to pretty up the property. To define a little patch of civilized garden between the house and the forest that surrounds us. For years we’ve been building rock walls and terraces because we’re good at making things. But since neither one of us had a clue what to do about plants, we hired a designer. And a contractor.  Got the soil prepped and the irrigation in. 

And then the plants came. I took a week off from work to greet them.

Heat
from the Shadows and Reflection Series
©2013 Susan Lobb Porter

Did I mention this is summer? That it’s hot?

Watering
from the Shadows and Reflections Series’
@2013 Susan Lobb Porter

I spent most of the week running around with the hose. Hand watering precious little green things still in the can. Or newly planted but not quite in the irrigation system yet. Telling them this was their forever home and they would be very happy here. Please don’t die!

Mmmmm…Roses!

We’re still not finished. The next wave of plants comes this week. The icing on the cake according to the designer. And after that there will be more as I grow into this. Already I know that the three old fashioned English roses, the ones that smell divine, will not be enough. I can move this and that and have room for a couple more.

And I see spots for bulbs. For Day Lillies and Daffodils. And those whatchamacallems with the big poofy flowers. And up in the little orchard I’ve been assured there’s room for two more fruit trees. I’m thinking Nectarine and French Plum will go nicely with the Apples and Pear. With native wildflowers growing between them.

I suspect that this garden will further blur the lines between LIFE and ART. Plans are growing in my head for sculptures. For wild haired crazy women spirits among the trees. Assemblage! Mosaic! Whatever…they will evolve as the garden evolves.

One Step at a Time
from the Shadows and Reflections Series
©2013 Susan Lobb Porter

But for now there’s more work to do. And I have to keep at it, one step at a time.

xoxo

Are you a gardener? I’d love to hear about your favorite plants and adventures in the comments below, especially if you know anything about zone 9. I think it’s 9. Snows some in winter, hot in summer. That sound like zone 9 to you?

And remember, if you share this on FaceBook I will eat chocolate for you! What’s not to like about that???