- Weeds. To numerous to name!
- Imperfect design.
- Damage by deer and storms.
In addition, I have had numerous obligations that have called me away from my garden, and rainy days that only increased my feelings of despair. (Not complaining about the rain, though!) But suddenly, I felt like I've spent way too much time (and money) on something that isn't as pretty as I had hoped.
That is, until yesterday.
 |
| new flowerbed |
Yesterday I spent the entire day gardening. Planting bulbs, pulling weeds, and preparing a new flowerbed. It always helps my mental attitude to get outside and work.
But it was the view that I saw as I was working on the new flowerbed that made my heart sing. New Dawn blooming on the arbor, with pink Flower Carpet roses, red salvia, pink La Marne, and white Madame Joseph Shwartz in bloom behind it. The arbor is at the top of the flowerbed, so I saw this view all day.
Looking the other way, I could see New Dawn in front of some Knock Out roses, and that thrilled my heart, too.
As I worked, my heart gladdened. And I saw the beauty in my garden. It may not be the most beautiful garden in the world, but it makes me happy. Very happy.
Suddenly, I was
- Satisfied.
- Joyful.
- Content.
To me, there were at least parts of my garden that was just as beautiful as any garden could be.
Do you feel this way about your garden sometimes? I hope so.
Your garden is beautiful friend! Isn't it crazy how we "humans" can pick apart our gardens and projects and compare them to the next?!?! The beauty for me like you said is being in the garden....seeing the imperfections and beauty all wrapped up together! Your blooms are stellar! I am so glad that your feelings went to joy! All the best this week friend!!!!
ReplyDeleteI find that when I get outside and work in the garden, my attitude improves immensely - gardening wise as well as just in general. It's easy for us to compare our garden to another, and sometimes we only see a glimpse of their garden at one moment in time.
DeleteEvery now and then I do get that feeling, but then, I don't aspire to having the most beautiful garden in the world. Which is a good thing, because I don't. Your garden is still looking great in mid-November.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to have a long gardening season. My garden would be completely different if I lived elsewhere!
DeleteI used to notice--as a kid--that I was really happy about most things until I went out into the big world and began to compare my life in some way. Then I became unhappy. That observation was never lost on me. If I can find it and dig it out--ha ha--I'll send you a hilarious essay (maybe it's by Eleanor Perenyi) about a silly socialite who hires dozens of gardeners to plant her a perfect garden for one day to impress her friends at a social affair and then then next day everything is dismantled. I suspect most of us wonder what our gardens would be like if everything bloomed at its very best ALL AT ONE TIME. But the garden is always changeable and that is life. Out to find you this really fun piece, if I can....Susie
ReplyDeleteI would love to read that essay! Sometime around May or June, most of my garden blooms, and it is spectacular. The rest of the time.... meh. I think that's why I'm not so very satisfied most of the time! Time to plant more variety!
DeleteFunny, isn't it, how you can lose sight of how happy your garden makes you at times. On the other hand, it can go the other way too, some parts of my garden make me smile hugely not because they currently look wonderful but because when I look at them I see how they are going to be, once the tiny shrubs have put on a few year's growth and the large shrubs have recovered from their first prune in years! Glad yyou garden is making your heart sing, I would be happy to garden with that view too!
ReplyDeleteSo true about the anticipation being as good as the moment! I have a lot of that in my garden, and it is such a joy to see those "babies" grow up! :)
DeleteI often feel this way Holley. I guess it just goes with the territory. As you say there are also many times when the garden gives full satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteI'm usually more satisfied when I'm working in the garden than the times I have to be away from it. I guess I figure I'm working on it's improvement!
DeleteWell think your garden is gorgeous and you have so much to be thankful for! I intentionally chose a house with a small yard but I will always want to have the wide open spaces as backdrops for my flowers and you have that!
ReplyDeleteI'm thankful for a large space just because I love to keep adding! Although, I'm getting very far behind on its maintenance! A smaller garden would always look better, I think, than my weedy mess!
DeleteI am so glad you can see the beauty in your garden! I feel disappointed with mine once in a while because the "big picture" is not very good yet--all the plants are still so young. But your garden is beautiful on so many levels!
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you, Jan. Mine is a little odd because some areas are quite mature, and others have just begun! I don't know how it will all mesh together, but I guess in a few years things will look a bit more cohesive. I bet yours will be just as beautiful as in your dreams after a year or two, too.
DeleteHolley, what a lovely sentiment. The reasons for gardening make it worthwhile, otherwise we would all just call in a crew of landscapers and get a cookie-cutter lawn and flower-border edges. We just finished getting up leaves and pine needles, which lasts for an hour and it's to do again, a labor of love.
ReplyDeleteA labor of love. That's what all of our gardens are to us. And you are so right - it is very worthwhile! :)
DeleteOh I do know what you mean! Your garden is, however, really beautiful. There are patches of mine I ignore, and I focus on the pretty areas! Isn't that what we do with everything in life though?! I wonder what's going into that new flower bed... ;-)
ReplyDeleteI ignore parts of mine, too! Guess it's human nature! That bed will just be some shrubs - nothing too exciting. I just needed something there so grass would keep creeping under the fence!
DeleteYou should have seen my garden last week! The mantra I live by. I have days when I think my garden looks wonderful, then the plants have to go through their life cycles and things don't look too good. Thank goodness for close-up photography.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point. Plants have to go through their life cycles - and we humans are so impatient! Thanks for the new perspective!
DeleteDefinitely Holley. Garden owners tend to get over critical of their own work and garden that its easy to lose sight of other wonderful things in their garden. Sometimes there's nothing wrong at all, just the gardener being too fussy. The garden is a wonderful place to be and to work in it is very satisfying, a source of bliss.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right - it's the work that so satisfying, not the end product as much. I love that you called it a source of bliss. For me, that's exactly what it is!
DeleteAbsolutely! Your garden is much more beautiful than you give yourself credit for. I've spent most of my 3 day weekend in the garden, too. I'm sore but satisfied. What are you going to plant in the new bed?
ReplyDeleteDon't you just love that sore-but-satisfied feeling?! Nothing beats it! As for the new bed, don't tell anyone, but I'm going to plant barberries. I know they have a bad reputation, but I have always loved them, and want some of them, so I'm going to give them a try here (along with some daylilies and butterfly bushes, etc.)
DeleteYes, if I catch my garden at just the right time, I am surprised by how sometimes everything just comes together. And very often it's the areas that Mother Nature designed!
ReplyDeleteMother Nature is the ultimate designer. We can never top her!
DeleteYes I get quite critical of my garden and then it shows all its beauty...yours is stunning especially the climbing Dawn with the garden in the background.
ReplyDeleteThere are some times I feel like my garden is just beautiful, especially if I just get a glimpse of it. It's when I get closer - and see all the weeds - that I become critical! :O
DeleteI'm getting more satisfied with my garden every year. Partly that's because it's actually getting better (yay!) but partly also because I'm spending more time out there working and also really looking and soaking it in. For some reason, this makes me more content and less critical. I now notice all the beauty and if some areas aren't so lovely right now, I somehow have developed confidence they will be at some time, and I'm happy to be patient.
ReplyDeleteI think that is a very important point, Lyn! I am more content, too, when I have been working out in the garden more. I guess it's the anticipation of future beauty that helps, too!
DeleteI've been feeling pretty blue about my garden lately. It's a large acre that I have opened to the public occasionally, so has been beautiful BUT due to drought and bush fires and high hot winds it has become a never ending chore of just watering, getting wetting agents in and mulching - all to little avail. Many trees and shrubs are suffering and all pretty things are wind burnt and looking sad like me. Just when I'm over it - RAIN !! Yippee real heavy rain tank filling rain. Now I can't wait to get out there and actually 'garden' not just water.
ReplyDeleteBloomfield Cottage is sure to bloom again.
Rain makes such a difference! Not only in our gardens, but in our attitudes! SO glad you got some!
DeleteI feel the first way about my garden most of the time. However, there's usually a 15 minute period sometime in August when I'm happy with part of my garden.
ReplyDeletehaha - I only get 15 second glimpses now and then! ;)
DeleteYes, I've felt both ways. Right now, I'm looking away from my garden because it's covered with snow. :( Time to read some good books and plan for next year's garden!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm thankful I don't have to deal with snow (usually). But planning is a good thing! Enjoy!
DeleteHolley, the feeling of happiness is one of the strong human feeling that wins many illnesses. I think the gardening helps you in your life, filling it of joy and satisfaction. I wish your new bed is full of bright flowers in spring!
ReplyDeleteNadezda, my garden really does help me in my life. It has been my love, my joy, and my consoler.
DeleteInspiring arbor. I hope I can make it true in my garden.
ReplyDeleteI hope all your dreams for your garden come true!
Deletegardens change things
ReplyDeleteAnd they are always changing!
DeleteVery pretty! Sometimes it takes me just one bloom to be thrilled with my garden. Sometimes, though, I see how short my garden falls compared to my dreams and plans that are in my head, and I get dragged down with the feeling that there is so much more to do! It teaches me patience :)
ReplyDeletePatience. The never-ending lesson of the garden. I guess if we were always satisfied, we wouldn't continue to dream.
DeleteHi HolleyGarden, i smiled on you saying 'this might not be the most beautiful garden in the world.....', i guess all of us are like that. Just like the only rose of the Little Prince, or the mother-son relationship. Whatever makes us happy is very dear to us, 'salute', salute!
ReplyDeleteRe ur visit to my post: I indeed appreciate the love energies coming to our country, i posted that because i felt the need to inform my blogger friends how i was. And i was right, as some comes back and forth to verify how i am. Maybe i am their closest representative to the calamities because i am their blogger friend. Thanks so much and God bless.
You really are, to us garden bloggers, the representative of your country. I am so glad you are safe, and I hope your country will be able to work through these dark days.
DeleteI think it's common to have both misgivings and moments of pure unadulterated joy. The former hone our critical decision-making skills and the latter keep us plugging away to make our gardens even more the places we love.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Kris. Without joy, we wouldn't continue to garden, and without misgivings, we wouldn't continue trying to improve our gardens.
DeleteWhat do you do when your garden is bigger than your back can handle?
ReplyDeleteI worry about mine getting that way. And I guess every enthusiastic gardener eventually feels like that. I think you either change your garden to mostly shrubs that don't need a lot of maintenance, or you hire help! I guess there's a third option - just ignore the weeds!
DeleteI find being a passionate gardener can be an emotional roller coaster, but the highs are more frequent than the lows, fortunately. In the last 2 photos your garden looks divine, in the 1st photo it looks full of promise and potential.
ReplyDeletePromise and potential! I love that! I think most of my garden, to me, is full of promise and potential. I just need to work out the wrinkles! (That's what I keep telling myself anyway!)
DeleteI, too, suffer a lot of disappointment that my garden doesn't look as good as it did in my imagination. I suffer an extraordinary number of "back to the drawing board" days. Some day, hopefully, it will match my imagination.
ReplyDeleteI think that is the hope of most of us. :)
DeleteHolley your views are wonderful and I am so glad you enjoy them and your garden. I have a love hate relationship with my own gardens, but sometimes in the early morning or late afternoon when the light is just right I see beauty in what I have created and in the plants themselves.
ReplyDeleteIt's those glimpses of beauty that keep us going. They're what we remember, and continue to dream about.
DeleteNorth, South, East or West - Home is Best. Yes, sometimes I am amazed by other gardens I see. But what's in my yard still makes me very happy. Well, maybe not the weeds!
ReplyDeleteI think that you have a good point. No matter how large or small our own garden, or what type of style, our own gardens are best. They're what we've labored over, loved, and dream of every night.
DeleteHolly, your garden is a joy to visit any time of the year!
ReplyDeleteI often see gardens on TV where I think I wish I could create something like that – just to realise I would need to win the lottery first to: A. Have enough money to move to a bigger house and garden and B. Have enough money to employ a couple of gardeners to help me with the work! But a quick trip out in my own garden soon puts a smile on my face, I am happy where I am :-)
And that's a wonderful thing to be - satisfied. Like most of us, money and labor are the two biggest design challenges I face! :)
DeleteWhen I see gardens in magazines ore TV I am dreaming what it would feel like having a garden like that. I am gardening on 100 m2 and I often wish my garden was larger. But when I look outside I am so proud what this little garden is bringing me.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is great Holley.
Have a wonderful day.
It's all about being satisfied with what we have, isn't it? So glad your little garden is bringing you such a large amount of joy.
Deleteyes, there are bits that are coming together perfectly. And still a final stretch that we haven't planted yet, which yells PLANT me whenever I walk past eyes carefully averted.
ReplyDelete