Blooming!

After a rather miserable spring, we managed to venture into the yard all three days of Memorial Day week end as we annually tend to do.  Here’s what’s in bloom as of today:

  

This is wild geranium.  Barely blooming, but has begun.  A lovely perennial ground cover.

Isn’t that the sweetest lamb?  My SAMBS ( Saturday A.M. Bible Study) ladies bought it for my birthday, as I tend to refer to us as “dumb sheep” a lot.  

Planted this “Jack Frost” last summer for it’s pretty leaf variegation... the early spring blooms are a surprise. 

Lily of the Valley transplanted from our neighbor last year.  It hasn’t exactly spread, but, hey!  A bloom!

Not sure of the name of this bush... love its purple leaves all season. (I trim it into a tree shape... these are a few low stragglers which will be trimmed soon)

Creeping phlox is a perennial favorite which is featured in many flower beds around our yard.  As a bonus it spreads, and is dug up easily for transplanting.  The bleeding heart is a delicate reminder of the promise of spring each year.  💗

This is arch angel, another vigorous creeper which is easily transplanted.  Love its sunny yellow blooms. ☀️ The rooster peeking out has a body made of a rock... a souvenir from a trip to Maine a few years back.

Planted some annuals (the goal is less each year), dug in compost from our local dump (***love that we can haul our yard waste in and then haul home buckets of compost resulting from last year’s yard waste), dug in some garden soil, weeded, trimmed, etc.  Good to be at it again, especially following hand surgery in January. Spring has sprung! #grateful

God and Gardens

As I prepare for teaching 1st to 4th grade Sunday School on Easter Sunday, I am rereading familiar texts.

John 18:2 ESV states, "Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, [the garden of Gethsemane] for Jesus often met there with his disciples."

Have never noticed that before - that this garden was one of their regular meeting places. In nature with Jesus. In the quiet and the still.

Reminds me of Genesis 3:8 where Adam and Eve "...heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day..."

God placed mankind in a garden upon their creation.  And Jesus, when confronting his arrest and execution (John 18:4 tells us that Jesus knew all that would happen to Him) took his disciples to a beloved garden.  The beginning of mankind and the end of God's incarnation.

Matthew 26:36-46 is another account of Jesus' time in the garden at Gethsemane... a much more detailed account. Read it and weep. Jesus' two closest friends failed Him in his last hours of freedom.  He simply wanted them to be present for Him, and to pray...for their own frailty.   He took them to a peaceful spot...a known spot... their garden of choice.

Gardens.  Spring is barely here, and our garden is still brown and sad.  But soon!  A goldfinch just landed on our feeder as I'm writing - the first I've seen this year.  HOPE!  Can't wait to be out there in our own little patch of Eden, digging and assisting to create order and beauty.
Come watch and pray with me.  💚

our backyard bliss - summer 2017

Bleeding hearts in our front walkway - spring 2016

Le Jardin

It's hard to believe the garden - it's in crazy bloom and grow mode. It's not even Memorial Day week end and I've already been out planting and trimming. This has to be a record. What will I do all week end? (smile)

You can see photos here.

And no, there are no photos of the powdery mildew nor the bush with a bad haircut...

Powdery Mildew

Wow it's hot out there.

But I still had to go out to the garden and try to save my favorite swaying bushes just outside our living room window. They had patches of white powdery mildew and it was spreading. So, I googled it (of course) and came up with a baking soda, dishsoap and water concoction to spray on AFTER removing all affected leaves.

I cut away limbs. I cut away individual leaves. I cut away flower buds. Cut cut cut. I was rather ruthless because I *really* like this plant. And then I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed, likely overdoing it but wanting to protect the healthy foliage.

And of course it got me thinking.

I'm being pruned right now. Is it because God loves me so much?
Even some tender new shoots of my life are being snipped away - areas I thought might bloom soon. Hmmm.
He's really going at it - snips are coming in all directions. Marriage is hard. Parenting one child is so full of tough love right now - it's agonizing. A "friend's" words were repeated to me - complaining/maligning that was done in a CHURCH setting which makes it even more painful. Work is so busy. School coursework is piled on in this abbreviated summer time frame. And then there's garden ailments on top of it all!

Where does a gal go to resign? I could make a good hermit right about now.

Pruning is needed. Some self pruning is usually a good option as well. Where can I relieve some pressure? What mildew have I accumulated? What do I need to cut out of my life? (a continual revelation as God wants more and more of me) God's pruning is not self directed, but if I deal with sin issues, He won't have to.

I need to remember what I learned in the garden this morning: I was not hacking away at the bush to hurt it. I was cutting deep because I want to save it. I want it to be healthy. I don't want it to infect nearby plants. Believe me, it was difficult to prune away flower buds, but it had to be done. I had to cut away for the long term health rather than the short term beauty. And then I had to apply the cleansing and protecting coat of baking soda, water and dish soap.

In my life the best healing application is the cleansing and protecting Word of God. I need to keep applying it...bathing in it...even with my freshly pruned limbs. It will sting, and it might wither some parts of me that need destroying. But I'd rather overdo it than not apply enough.

And above all, I need to remember that my Master Gardener knows what He's doing in order to produce the best possible fruit in me at just the right season. In most of these situations I don't have big changes to make, but I need to lean in and TRUST that He knows what He's shaping in me.

Jesus said, "I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. ... When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father." (from John 15:1-8 NLT)

Please allow my pruning to bring You glory, Father. Amen.