I totally hear you on not being able to bring myself to pull up anything that's still blooming. I'm the same way! I just...can't. My zinnia's are mostly spent but still have some lovely blooms. I've just been harvesting the seed heads off the dead ones. The ones that are still blooming I just can't seem to cut. :p
I'm tempted to collect the seeds from the yellow snapdragons, because they're so cheerful and lovely. But realistically, I know I don't have the facility to actually grow them into anything next year. Most likely, I'll just let them drop, and I'll have a volunteer or two grow amongst whatever I plant next year, like I have a moss rose growing out there now from last year.
Yeah, the zinnias will likely come back up whether I plant them or not (they drop seeds that hide out until spring (sneaky little devils! :p); I even had some come up (and bloom - because I didn't have the heart to pull them up!) in my gravel driveway! I do like to collect the seeds though so I can plant them in other areas if I decide to - and to give away. Would moss roses be "portulaca moss"?
Yes, portulaca. I'm not really sure how the volunteer got to where it is, since I had those in the containers last year, not the bed, but I suspect a friendly squirrel. They love to dig in those pots.
The squirrels are happy now too, since by removing the concealing ground cover, they can now find all the red berries that have dropped from the tree outside my window. Both the birds and squirrels love those berries. The tree is an evergreen, some sort of hemlock or fir it looks like, and I enjoy watching the birds and squirrels contort themselves upsidedown trying to get the berries. I had some zinnias this year too, a bright orangey red. They were a late addition to the garden, and they didn't get put in the best place. Unfortunately, they didn't survive the neglect very well. I would let them grow in the driveway too.
They took me! Usually I fail the iron test, but today I acutally got a 13. I haven't had a 13 in years. So I'm now a pint lighter (and perhaps the persistent anemia is a litte better, which makes me happy.)
The snapdragons are lovely. They are a very bright sunny yellow with white in the flower as well, and they bushed out beautifully under all the weeds. My kids were astounded at how pretty they were when we came back from church. I think they forgot there were actual flowers under that weedy stuff.
Hopeful, yes. One of the things I love the best about my garden is the spring bulbs. In the dreariest part of winter, I know that one warm day of sunshine will start them growing. In February and March, I find myself looking for the little 'noses' poking out of the ground from the crocuses and the daffodils and the peony. Then even when the inescapable last snow and cold comes, I am assured that spring will arrive, eventually, inevitably. Winter is difficult for me, but the garden helps.
In Frodo's case, he got to look at all the beauty without having to do all the work. Wouldn't we all like a Sam around? I know I'd enjoy sitting with Frodo in the shade of a majestic tree surrounded by the beauty of the flowers, sipping a cool drink and watching Sam at work. That would be OK with me on quite a few levels....
I hope that like Ivy, your story turns joyful again. Life is so very imperfect, and much of it is filled with uncertainty if not outright pain. For you, this is a time of pain: some of it fresh and raw, and other parts long-standing and wearying. Hold on though, and have hope even when it seems futile. Hope is the ultimate affirmation of the life of the creator within is. God did not make us to only long for the joy that comes after death, but to find that joy as often as we can within this world, here today. Hope when hope seems gone, and endure when hope is hiding. Things will get better again.
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The squirrels are happy now too, since by removing the concealing ground cover, they can now find all the red berries that have dropped from the tree outside my window. Both the birds and squirrels love those berries. The tree is an evergreen, some sort of hemlock or fir it looks like, and I enjoy watching the birds and squirrels contort themselves upsidedown trying to get the berries.
I had some zinnias this year too, a bright orangey red. They were a late addition to the garden, and they didn't get put in the best place. Unfortunately, they didn't survive the neglect very well. I would let them grow in the driveway too.
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Good luck with the blood. I'm not allowed to myself! <3
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The snapdragons are lovely. They are a very bright sunny yellow with white in the flower as well, and they bushed out beautifully under all the weeds. My kids were astounded at how pretty they were when we came back from church. I think they forgot there were actual flowers under that weedy stuff.
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In Frodo's case, he got to look at all the beauty without having to do all the work. Wouldn't we all like a Sam around? I know I'd enjoy sitting with Frodo in the shade of a majestic tree surrounded by the beauty of the flowers, sipping a cool drink and watching Sam at work. That would be OK with me on quite a few levels....
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(The comment has been removed)
((Hugs))
I am keeping you in my prayers.
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