Growing in to Routine

At last the mad rush of spring is winding down to the blissful days of simple routine in the garden. My garden shoes await by the back door, and when the shoes go on, I disengage my mind, set it on garden pilot and proceed to task where the garden takes me.

After two weeks of July like weather and watering to match, I can hear all of the gardeners along with the plants in a collective sigh of relief. In fact during my phone conversation with my folks in Seattle I was espousing the fact that the temperature barely broke mid 70's.

Photo of Clematis, taken from behind the flowers


Thungberia shrub showing off

There was no sympathy from my Mother who informed me that our temperature was the same as it was in Hawaii where my sister lives. None the less, I could hear the smile in her voice as she was busy in her own garden. She is re-inventing her back garden, with stone pathways and has removed the last vestiges of grass in favor of total garden, and a happy husband knowing that the weekly mowing is now in the past.

Caladium bulbs planted in March are making their debut

These spotted leaf plants of pink, and white are volunteering in the gravel pathways.

Most of my bigger projects are complete now, spring cleaning, re-potted many plants, none to soon as many were one bunch of roots stuffed in a pot. I've tested a few shrubs and plants I wanted to plant in the ground by setting the pots in the selected location for a couple of weeks and observe happiness, or a move me now response. Nice layers of pine mulch are on the needed areas and a freshly applied round of alfalfa pellets were deployed after the rain Friday.

Preparing plants to ship to Daves Garden members that have requested goodies

I can tell the rest of the nation is finally warming up, as many of the Daves Garden's folk are making requests for plant trades. I have 4 or 5 plants to box up tomorrow that were prepared yesterday or earlier in the week depending on recovery time the request plant needs. Boxing up plants is probably the least favorite task and it shows by my procrastination. Speaking of boxing up plants, neighbor Wayne at Zone9tropicals.com had a open garden event this last Saturday, and was quite busy. I usually meander over to Waynes garden around noon, and help out with visitors questions, talk plants and whatever else needs to be done. We've settled into a routine of ordering lunch, and catching up on the happenings of the week during the lulls. Every event, I've ran into someone who reads our blogs, usually in a random flash of conversation. It's been a pleasure being able to see folks who read the blogs, because normally it seems that I'm just writing notes to a computer! This last Saturday I met one of our own, "Butterhummer". She was looking for a couple of plants, of which Wayne was out of and I had, so she popped over for a little tour and one of the plants she had on her list.




In this photo, there are 5 different types of Rubber trees. Until recently I had no idea there were so many

Finally, taking advantage of the cooler temperatures, and the vacated Blue Jay nest, I've brought out the clippers, trimmers and all things pruning and have begun taming the jungles recent meteoric growth spurt. It is a bit early in the season to be doing this task already, but know that this will be one of the continuous routines for the next few months. I take advantage of the pruning to set a few cuttings of the more popular things to give away. In between the routine pruning and watering my eye catches a picturesque view of parts of the garden with just the right lighting and before I know it I've snapped a hundred photos. Guess I'll just have to change the pond filter tomorrow! Ah yes, the garden routine is now in effect!

Rj- Jungle Heights