It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!
So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?
What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?
Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)
Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?
Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?
What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?
They are outside, in the garden. If is cooled today, 79° F.
Sun, and just now some clouds.
The irises I planted about 5 weeks ago (barefoot) are growing well. The barefoot iris I received 10 days before going to Idaho, I soaked in water for 24 hours when we arrived home yesterday afternoon. I am going to plant it now, hoping it survives.
I don't know what area of the country you're in, so if you're in a hot West or SW area, try to find a cooler place to store the root. Keep it out of the sun one way or another.
Another alternative is just "heel it in" in a temporary place so it gets the benefit of soil, then when you're ready to plant it in its permanent home, dig up the root ball with the iris root and replant the whole thing.
BTW, is that the Abe Lincoln rose in your avatar?
Any experience with this? Thoughts?
Yosemite is but a distant dream in the past.
Just being so grateful for all of you here, on the gardening as therapy thread.
Our garden actually looks much improved, as I said before.
The bougie is thriving, the rose bush has 4 buds, there is a unique patch of St. Augustine grass left, bright green, growing fast, in a circle surrounding the tiny apple tree, also thriving! Couldn't have asked for a better border to keep the
water from draining away from the tree. Never have seen anything like it. But after trimming about 15 inches away from tree trunk, adding new topsoil and feeding the tree with the normal, popular liquid-it appears a miracle! Really!
So, I am happy with my yard, garden, best ever! Dear hubby is on his own schedule, and has self-motivated for about 4 months now! Lots of praises go out to him for his meticulous hand gardening. Now, less damaging work for me, I am getting better now that I quit trying so hard and hurting myself in the process.
How does my garden grow?
What do you all think I have been doing by walking on his back? Lol.
Florists dry them, or freeze-dry them to retain the color and use the dried hydrangeas in an elaborate flower arrangements.
If you are really fond of them, you can grow them quite easily in containers. Take some cuttings now, they take about three weeks to root and start growing on. Not sure about root divisions but I don't think so, the daisies are tuberous perennials aren't they?
Gosh yes you are going to miss the garden. I was braced to do without when I moved in the spring, and it was pure luck that this rental property comes with a nice little plot - not really enough for vegetables but plenty to potter about in.
This is the Sad part of leaving our home of 23+ years, all of the improvements we've made. The house was only a year old when we got it, so the yard was practically a blank slate. Every plant, every garden, all planned out by my husband mainly, as he always loved working in the yard, do we will definitely miss that part about home ownership. When we get reestablished in a Condo, I'm sure that we will have many container plants and a little garden hopefully, so that he can putter!
I only bothered this time because a friend was admiring the parent plant and said she'd love a piece of it if I didn't mind - so she'll be the first to get one of the babies in a nice pot, as soon as it's big enough.
It's inspired me to have another go at the rosemary, in spite of its being a dismal failure first time round. I fancy a low hedge of it along the path to my front door, so I've got twelve cuttings dibbed into clay pots. I live in hope!