Garden vs. Suppers

My husband has given me the talk already ... in fact, I think I've gotten it twice, maybe three times. It's 5:30 p.m. and the family is getting restless.

"Dear, I know you love your garden and tending to it and looking at it. But you're neglecting some things - like suppers."

My first reaction is defensive-mode. What do you mean? I always fix something for the girls. Ramen noodles, chicken noodle soup, salads - and on a good night - fishsticks! The kids are outside, the teenager is gone and somtimes I postpone that whole idea of "dinner."

But I know what he's getting at. My husband has an absent wife on most nights from 5:30-7:00 p.m. Once I get in the door from work, I quickly don my garden gear: baggy shorts, ratty T-shirt and my knock-off Crocs. I strap on my iPod or radio headset and listen to the Twins game while I go about my business of weeding, introspection and frustration.

"I'll do better," I tell him.

But I've heard the girls fuss a little more too.

"Mom, aren't we going to eat"?

"You love that garden more than me!"

"I'm going to eat at the neighbor's house."

My sister used to tell me that I needed a wife. I think she's right - I'm now ready for one. And if you find one for me, tell her to put the roast in the oven .... I gotta move this iris before the Twins game comes on.

Spring at last!

A labor of love from my husband for Mother's Day

Hello bloggers - it's good to be back! I haven't been writing lately because, well, I've been gardening! The snow has melted (the last snowfall we had was about 10 days ago - it's May for crying out loud!) and there 's been a lot to do since then.

As you can see in the photo above, my husband promised to expand my garden this spring and I held him to his promise. With shovel in hand, he dug, and dug, and dug and loaded fresh dirt into a larger space in our backyard. He finished it off with new edgers that look great against our newly stained deck. I've been busy filling it with perennials I've moved or divided. I think in another month it'll start to really thrive.

With spring comes the inevitably inventory of what made it through the winter. Sad to say these plants didn't make it:

• Sunray coreopsis


• Gaillardia


• Veronica


• Ken Donson clematis


• one barberry bush


• Jacob Cline monarda (I know - monarda! Just when you thought nothing could kill it)


• One catmit (that's because the snowblower got it). It still might be salvageable!

Oh well, a lot of my other transplanted stuff is thriving - the ligularia and lungwort are going gangbusters and the one phlox I thought I destroyed has sprouted to life again.

Mommy's little helper in the garden

This time of year is pretty tough for me as I have no willpower. I've visited the local white hoop flower shop in the grocery store parking lot at least 5 times since it's opened last week. I've been to darn near every nursery in Fargo, not to mention big box retailer garden centers. I have to see what's new and am so enticed by all the colorful blooms. Here's what I've done new this year so far:

Cannas! My co-worker dug up all of his canna bulbs when he moved from Indiana to Fargo and graciously shared them with me. He came in to my office with no less than about 40 bulbs. Really, you can only have so many cannas. I probably planted a good 7 or 8 and the rest I shared with friends and other co-workers. Not sure how a tropical-looking plant will look in my landscape but I'm willing to give it a shot. I hear they are no-maintenance and rabbits don't care for them. Nice ...

A new clematis - Ernest Markham. It's supposed to have reddish-pinkish flowers that I think will look tremendous next to my salvia caradonna and rudebekia. Clematis and I have had a tough relationship over the years. Let's hope a new variety will be good karma for me.

Red coreoposis - different than the sunray coreoposis - more mound-like. I hope it doesn't get as invasive as the pink - I was digging those out of my garden bed for two years.

More to follow ...

A new year, a new addition

I've taken quite the hiatus from my blog - since October 19 after the tragic loss of our family dog, Henry. Much has happened in our home since then and the best news that I have to share is the addition of our new four-legged friend, Miss Sasha Sioux.

We got Sasha on the day before Thanksgiving and she's been healing our hearts ever since. I told my husband I don't think I could ever live without a mini Schnauzer. I love the breed so much and both of our Schnauzers have given us so much joy. I am especially encouraged by Sasha's growing interest in chasing rabbits in the winter landscape. Already, she's got a beat on them, chasing them away from the remaining stalks of my sedum. Atta girl! I have big plans for you sweetheart!

Have you ever experienced a winter in North Dakota? It's god-awful and I can say that being a lifelong resident of this state. This last stretch is some of the coldest weather I can remember. I tell out-of-staters if you can live through December 15-March 15 in North Dakota, then you've done well. The rest of the year is all good ... or at least tolerable!

Several seed catalogs have made their way to my mailbox. I'm ordering zinnias from the Harris Seed Company and am still on the hunt for the best California poppy and signet marigold seeds. My fellow gardener and co-worker Jane turned me on to Harris seeds as she and her husband bought their seeds from them last year and they had the most beautiful zinnias. Robust and absolutely spectacular in color. Aren't the lime ones gorgeous? I gotta try them.

Perusing through a retail supercenter garden section recently, I saw some of those pre-filled trays where you plant seeds and water. Anyone ever tried that? I went on to Connie's blog and she really does it the right way! This tray thing seemed pretty straightforward, effortless. Almost too easy? I'm a little hesitant as I'm not sure where I would put a tray of fledgling seeds when I have a playful puppy that already likes to jump on garbage cans. Direct sunlight isn't the problem - it's finding a peaceful resting place for them to grow. I'll have to think on that ....

Another encouraging sign for 2008: My husband said to me last week, "How did we say we were going to expand your garden this year?" What a guy .... you see, he finally IS coming around!

Stay warm everybody.

A sad October day ...

Henry McEnroe (April 25, 2006-October 18, 2007)

I'm writing to tell you of the passing of our sweet dog, Henry. If you were on this blog in July, I posted this photo of him swimming in the lake. He died unexpectedly Thursday.

Prior to an appointment for being neutered on Wednesday, the doctor withheld surgery after detecting a heart murmur and unusual noises from his heart. We had an x-ray and EKG done. We received the results Thursday morning that everything appeared OK. Within an hour of speaking to the doctor, Henry suffered what might have been congestive heart failure. Only our two oldest children were home at the time and were the only ones to witness his final moments. Henry was only 1 year old.

Words cannot describe the grief I feel. He is the second dog we've lost in less than 2 years. Josie, our 12-year-old Westie, had failing health last year and we gracefully put her down and ended her suffering. It was a hurt that I thought I wouldn't feel again in many years. I was horribly wrong.

Henry was challenged from the get-go. He was the runt of the litter and even when we got him, he needed extra TLC. His littermates had been unkind to him and he had open wounds on his underbelly that needed immediate attention. Undaunted by this, we took him home anyway. He bounced back from his early adversity and was a loving member of our family. He craved human companionship - and we reciprocated. I joked that he was my "boyfriend" and he was! He was so much a part of my daily routine from morning until night. My heart aches at the injustice of it all. His life was just beginning.

We are dog people and for others like us, losing a pet is so personal. I am only comforted in the fact that we made his short life on earth a good one. He was cared for, nurtured and oh, so loved! I cannot tell you how many kisses we gave him and how many more he gave us. Henry's needs were simple: a warm lap and a kind hand.

We will miss you buddy. You are forever my boyfriend and little Schnauzer boy and we all love you ...

I hope you find a warm lap to sit on in heaven.

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached, unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way."

- Author unknown

Until next spring ...

Just wanted to bid a temporary farewell to my handful of blog friends who have visited over the past few months. As the growing season comes to an end, I have found little to no time to tend to my blog (and garden) for that matter. I am slowly putting my garden to "bed" for the winter and thus, this blog will go on hiatus until next April. The next few months will be busy with many hockey games (I am the communications volunteer for my son's high school team which includes lots of emails, web editing, newsletters etc...), Girl Scout outings and various school functions. Such is the life of a working mom with three active kids.

So for now - so long. I will periodically check everyone's blog as time allows. Have a wonderful fall and winter season!

Great Garden Quote ...

This sent to me by my wonderful sister ... thanks Barb!

When you see a beautiful flower garden, try to meet the owner. Beautiful gardens are often tended by the nicest and most interesting people.

- H. Jackson Browne, Life's Little Instruction Calendar

Tomorrow would have been my mother's 80th birthday. My mom took off for heaven 15 years ago after battling cancer. Not a day goes by when I don't think of her - whether in a funny or melancholy way. Anyway, I can't help but think that she would be proud of this new passion I have found in gardening.

We lived in a very modest house growing up and mom didn't have a lot of garden space. Our house faced north and I remember she had the most beautiful impatiens. She nurtured those plants all summer long and they were glorious in color - salmon, pinks and purples. I remember her going out in pouring rain to collect rain water from the spouts just so she could nourish her flowers with that precious water. Only now do I understand why she did what she did for her flowers.

So Mom, happy birthday. And if you're looking down on me and my garden today, I hope you give me a thumbs up for effort!

Fall musings

It's been a long time since I've posted anything! Been very caught up with getting kids to school, practices and the normal school-year routine. My garden time has been cut short (as you might imagine) but it's supposed to be nice this weekend so I plan on having a little "mom time" in the dirt.

One blogger (thanks Kate!) asked if we had any frost yet - no, but it's getting awfully close. As I look on my desktop this morning it's 37 degrees. The cherry tomatoes are still blooming and I still have annuals. My sedum has turned a beautiful brick red so now I know it's autumn.

Earlier this week I stopped over to my friend's house (Kathy, the master gardener) with shovel in hand. She wants to redesign her garden and simplify. (Refreshing memory: She had removed all of her grass in her backyard and filled it with perennials and ornamental grasses.) She has a lake home that she is landscaping plus maintaining her regular home. I guess the garden work for both was getting to be too much.

Anyway, she let me have anything I wanted and as much as I wanted. I was like a kid in a candy store.

I took lungwort (with pink and purple blooms), another ligularia (the kind that I couldn't identify earlier), astilbe, primrose, neon sedum, liatris and a cool plant I had never heard of - Kathy called it Pig Squeal?!?! I Googled it and came up with Pig Squeak or bergenia. It has real rubbery leaves like the sedum. Good - maybe rabbits won't eat it.

In anticipation of my "shopping" at Kathy's, I cut down seven potentilla (sp?) shrubs that were dying and had several layers of rock underneath (see photo). (back-breaking work) I was rewarded at the end because the dirt underneath the rock and landscape fabric was excellent and not clay-like.

What I couldn't fit in the front of my house, I placed in this new area. A temporary home, if you will.