BLOG #7 Temptations

Well the weather has broken and the warmth comes and goes but I actually got to take the dog for a walk without a coat.  It was marvelous.  I felt like dancing around the block!

But this is also the most dangerous time.With the end of this class looming and the advent of spring racing in a collision course towards each other I am standing at the  crossroads as they barrel towards me.  Time is of the essence right now and I have no choice but to forgo the catharsis of gardening for the satisfaction of completing the assignments at hand.  A deadline is a deadline.

The gardener is here cutting more sacrificial ash trees out of the alter that was my homemade lighting border.  Floods lit the edges of the hill side via multiple extension cords (an electrician's nightmare) and shone into the lofty branches.  The silhouettes were wonderful in the evening and the extension cords were kind of lame during the day as they seemed to take great pleasure in throwing off the covers of mulch I placed upon them.  Solar lights are expensive nice ideas that did not have the umph to do what I wanted them to do.  Word to the wise...I do not recommend them.

Sticks and weeds and stuff are being collected as I sit  and type.  Things I could have done but for the cold and rainy weather.  Frustrating.  There is no question that I want to be out there getting dirty, seeing progress, feeling that satisfaction but first things first.  The final paper and two blogs are important.

Another pitfall of the season is Home Depot and Lowes, Walmart and even the grocery stores that have set out traps for my hungry eyes to devour.  Hostas?  Elephant ears?  Caladium?  Gladiolas, (wrong season, but who cares?)?  Even Asparagus and zucchini are calling my name as I look for new adventures.  I try to stay away but I am weak.  It is irresistible.

About 15 years ago I decided to go on an austerity program and save some money  Impulse buying was my nemesis. I determined that if I stayed out of the stores I could avoid any excess spending.
I dutifully drove by any temptations only to go home and find catalog after catalog, littering my mailbox.  After a dismal failure at restraint, I took the spartan high road and threw out the catalogs before even opening them and that was the solution to my problem.  It worked for a while but then I got bored.  It is the same thing with plantings.  They are everywhere and they are all beautiful to a gardener's starved soul.

The hillside is like the siren call of the season.  Hyacinths are winking at me from their pink and purple and white eyelashes, hostas have little dark pointy teeth that have been chewing their way to the surface of the earth and growl if anyone dares to come near. Creeping roses that looked dead and forlorn are sending out new pale green and pink shoots that scorn the old dead bodies that they spring from.  The daffodils are becoming profuse.  There are so many different kinds.  Teeny tiny little ones that bloom in clumps.  The big fat traditionals.  The white and orange princesses that break up the yellow gallery. And the ferocious lion headed blooms that have plumes rather than petals and look sophisticated but wild as they reign over the bedding in the driveway.

Too many choices.  Too many obligations.

I want it all.  I want it all.  I want it NOW! Queen plays its chorus in my head.  "Patience, grasshopper."  David Carradine whispers in my ear. "Grrrrrrrrrrr!" teeth say, as they clench to adhere to the task at hand.

My last blog will be a annotated photo essay if I can make it up to the ever patient IT department at Chatham. I need you to see what I see.