Gardening

Strolling through plant nurseries has become a delightful pastime for Don and me. He has always enjoyed doing so, choosing plants, containers, and any other yard-related object he needed, but I am a Joanie Come Lately to gardening. We have started hanging out at three or four favorite gardening spots, buying plants with exotic names like Myoporum, Dymondia, as well as more familiar ones like fushias, gardenias, and geraniums.  It’s extremely fun!  I love Sunshine Nursery in Encinitas where each section has a theme, any plant you desire can be obtained, and they are healthy enough to be transplanted without dying!

Until recently, yard work meant pulling weeds to me. Our half acre had a “wildness-of-untamed-forests” feel to it, but over the years, my husband had planted it pretty much the way we liked it, and my self-appointed job was to try to keep the unwanted plants, for that’s the real definition of weeds, pulled out or chopped down from between the iris, wildflower beds, roses, and whatever other seasonal plants were there. Basically, it was a battle between us and weeds, dirt, and a myriad of garden pests.

Our new yards, front and back are about one-thirtieth (1/30) of our old ones.  This translates very roughly to one tree instead of fifty, two rose bushes compared to forty, no lawn in contrast to two huge ones. You get the picture. So choosing how to change and beautify our yards has taken on a whole new meaning to me. Together we have chosen large, irregular flagstones and beach pebbles to replace hideous red cinder rock. We’re working on lovely ground covers, and flowers, flowers, flowers.

Even watering is restful here as it can be accomplished in a short time and uses a fraction of the water we spilled out before.  Of course the watering brings the guys that love to eat our plants such as snails and rose slugs, but again, there just aren’t that many to deal with!