The Herbs in my Garden

            Everyone should plant an herb or two, even if it’s just in a container.  Having fresh herbs is enticing.  It makes you want to cook more because you’ll want to put these plants to good use.  And having herbs makes you feel like a real gardener, like you have a green thumb even if you don’t.  Because most grow very well with only a little care.  And there’s just something about growing a plant that looks and smells good, and that you can cook with, too.  It’s inspiring. 

Worthless Tips about my Perennials, Wildflowers, and Roses

            This post will be about some tips that I learned about the plants I have.  So if you don’t care about that stuff, feel free to skip it.  There are no inspirational or spiritual lessons, just information.  And it’s not professional info, just friendly.  And probably pointless, but I feel like sharing it anyway.  So here are some things I’ve learned.  And, FYI, I live in zone 5.  Hot summers and nasty cold winters.  (I’ll look at my herbs next post.) 

Butterfly Gardens and Wild Strawberries

            Just north of the perennial bed, right behind the garage, is our new butterfly garden.  We put this in last summer as a project for my oldest son.  My other three sons love strawberries, so they got a little alpine strawberry bed right behind the house.  But my oldest hates berries of all kinds (unthinkable and tragic!), so he got a butterfly garden.

My Perennial Garden

            Just ten feet or so past the first wildflower garden are my perennial flower/rose garden and another wildflower garden, separated by a trellis.  When I look out the kitchen window, this section is in full view.  The wildflowers to the left of the trellis and the roses/perennials to the right.  It’s just about in the middle of the backyard, bordering the cement patio where we sit in the summer. 

Wildflowers

            If we turned left at the bottom of the rickety stairs, the first garden bed we would hit would be a wildflower bed that’s right behind the porch.  (These may not be considered real “wildflowers,” but I call them that because I don’t really have to tend to them and they just keep growing anyway.)  I can just see the tops of these flowers from the window when I do dishes.  This is my newest bed, so it is still a work in progress.  I’ve only had it up for one summer.  So we’ll see what it turns into this next summer.

            I love roses tremendously, but there is just something about these wildflowers that I find so enchanting and romantic.

Roses and Thorns

            Okay, so let’s walk out the back door of the kitchen into the backyard.  As we leave the house, there is a little rickety porch with rickety stairs leading down to the driveway.  The porch used to be enclosed, but some of the windows blew out in a storm and shattered.  And when it rains, the water drips right through the porch ceiling, so it is bowing and bending and ready to fall in at some point.  And yet, we can’t do anything about it right now because we already have other necessary repairs that we don’t have the money to fix.  But let’s forget about the porch as we carefully step down the rotting stairs, being careful not to wiggle the railing too much because that’s barely holding on, too.

            As we step down onto the driveway, the first thing you might notice is the smell of mint.  I did a big no-no, and I planted some chocolate mint (the best kind of peppermint) in the ground, to the left of the porch as you walk down.  Mint is a known bully.  It will spread like the flu. 

Looking Out the Kitchen Window

            Pretend you’re standing with me in my kitchen right now.  (Ignore the piles of dirty dishes and the crumbs under the cabinets that the boys are somehow blind to every time they sweep.)  We’re at the back of our almost-100-year-old two-story, creamy-yellow house.  Unfortunately, the kitchen walls are a horrible bright yellow (which I intend to paint as soon as we can afford to take care of some necessary repairs first), but there is a window over the sink where I stand at least three times every day doing dishes and staring out into our backyard.

            I love my backyard.  There’s no place I’d rather be than in my backyard with my family. 

My Garden

            We are still in the deep, deep freeze of this really long winter.  But now is the time when I start to dream about and plan my garden.  And the next however many posts will be about my garden.  About the things that I have tried that have worked for me and that haven’t worked for me.  And about the lessons that I have learned that have touched my soul and taught me about life and God. 

We've Lost the Wonder

            I was at a seminar not too long ago.  And the speaker asked us to think of a word or phrase to describe how we see ourselves.  And then he asked a few people to share their phrases.  One lady stood out to me; she said, “I feel like a child full of wonder, filled with delight at God’s creation.” 

            My goodness, how long has it been since I have felt that way?  I envied her.  How wonderful it must be to go through life like that, feeling so alive and free and inspired.  On the contrary, I could only think of this phrase to describe myself, “A third-wheel, I don’t really belong.”

A Long, Dark Winter

            You know, I’m gonna say something that’s not going to be very popular, especially as snow is pouring down outside right now, predicted to give us 8 extra inches.  Which will probably make the snow thigh-high for me.  But I’m really loving this winter.  I’m loving the deep snow.  (I don’t love the bitter wind, but it only really bothers me when I have to go shopping or pump gas.)  Oh, sure, I roll my eyes about the weather and gripe about “too much snow” when I am with other people; I don’t want to look fruity for being like, “It’s cool with me.  I’m liking it.”  But I’m glad there’s no sign of thawing yet.  Because I haven’t learned all the lessons that a deep winter offers.  And I need these lessons.