Recycling decorations

Some years ago, we received this basket as part of a holiday food package. I loved the basket, but wasn’t sure what to do with it. It was too pretty to throw out, so I kept it in storage, waiting for inspiration.

A couple years later, someone gave us a rosemary plant as a hostess gift. It was decorated with these fun picks. I kept them as being too pretty to throw out, but didn’t know what to do with them, either. They, too waited for inspiration.

Last year, the light dawned at last.

The basket even had gold-wrapped florist’s foam in the bottom. All I had to do was cut apart silk poinsettia and holly bushes and shove them and the pics into the foam. Voila! Instant flower arrangement!

And I got to enjoy the virtuous feeling of having recycled something beautiful, and we get to look at something beautiful.

That radiant glow

Until I used this photo in an illustration, I did not notice that the leaves glow. I swear that I did not do some special tricks in Photoshop to make that happen. I don’t know that much about Photoshop! And even if I did, I doubt I’d have the patience to draw glowing areas around each leaf.

The glow is just some natural lighting effect, God’s gift to this photographer.

Or maybe the sunflower is radioactive and I’ve received some as yet undiscovered supernatural powers from exposure to this thing?

Frou-frou lamp sunflower

Sunflower at left reminds me of a fringed lamp. Can you tell that I have never lacked for imagination?

The head turning downward has a practical purpose. A sunflower head parallel to the ground makes life harder for birds trying to eat the seeds.

This particular sunflower field is a confectionery sunflower crop. Sunflowers grown for oil would have smaller heads. This head is full of sunflower seeds; therefore, it’s a prime target for birds.

Sunflower rising

I was trying to get this picture when I included my cap. I love the interplay of light and shadow across the flower and the variations in the petals.

The pond garden

Pond Garden looking northeast. Coral bells and pepper plants are in foreground.

Pond Garden looking southwest. Blue spruce, pampas grass and volunteer green beans are in foreground.

The Frugal Gardener and her hubby have two main vegetable gardens. The narrow rectangles south of our house are the vegetable garden, currently planted with the Three Sisters on one side of the sidewalk and tomatoes and herbs on the other side of the walk. The other, an irregularly-shaped chunk of our backyard, is “The Pond Garden”.

The only water in that garden fills the bird bath. Hubby named it “The Pond Garden” because it’s shaped like a pond.

Our friend Kevin had shown us how to lay out natural-looking landscaping by using a garden hose. The hose marks sinuous curves for a relaxing, free-flowing appearance.

At that time, we had a large, ugly weed patch in our backyard. I hated it. I tried to avoid looking at it because I didn’t know what to do with it.

Then the mental light bulb turned on. I would turn that nasty patch into a garden, using the outlines of the weed patch to create natural-looking curves.

Instead of using a hose, I bought the cheapest can of orange spray paint I could find. I outlined the awful weed patch with the spray paint. Hubby tilled within the lines. I laid down salvaged red bricks for the border.

Previous owners had planted cedar trees and I had received a blue spruce from my brother and sister-in-love for my 40th birthday. We planted pampas grass in the gap between spruce and cedars for privacy, then scattered flowers in various parts of that garden. Flowers include coral bells and irises from my mother's garden. We have purple bee balm and lilies from Hubby's aunt's garden and coral hollyhocks from his parents' garden.

In the spaces that are left, we plant various vegetables each year. Volunteer buttercrunch lettuce returns every year.

An eyesore became something beautiful and productive for almost no money.

Gift from the birds

Every winter, I put trash cans underneath my bird feeders to catch the waste. I’m amazed how many sunflower hulls are in those trash cans and how many little sunflowers come up each spring.

I thin them ruthlessly, but always leave a few of those beautiful yellow flowers to brighten my garden. Yellow is one of my favorite colors. It’s so cheerful and warm. Sunflowers’ shape makes them look like faces. I often feel that my sunflowers are smiling at me and the thought warms my heart.

Solomon and the lilies

As I looked at my blooming lilies, this passage came to mind: "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!" (Luke 12:26-28)

I confess to being a worrier. Faith and trust come hard.

Looking at my lilies reminds me that my Father cares for me just as I tend my flowers. I weed and water them, mulch and fertilize them. Their welfare is my responsibility. Flowering is their responsibility.

So it is with my Father. He tends me so that I may flower and produce fruit.

Why am I borrowing trouble and carrying responsibilities that are not mine to bear?

My Heavenly Father beckons me to give my worries to Him.

I wish I only had to do that once, that all concerns would vanish the first time I confessed my worrying. Such is not the case. I must repeatedly hand over my worries. Just as I build physical muscle through exercise, I build spiritual muscle through exercising discipline over my mind.

Worrying makes my flowers diseased and wilted. I want to produce beautiful flowers, so I must turn over my worries to the One who cares for me.

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. (I Peter 5:7)

'Pesky ants' yield character

Peony: Could you please get rid of these ants that are crawling on me? Spray them with insecticide and kill them! I hate the way their feet feel on my buds. The feel of their mandibles crunching away on my pretty shiny bud coating is just grotesque. It makes my leaves crawl. Please do something before I die of the heebie jeebies!

Master Gardener: Silence.

Peony: Are you listening to me? I hate these ants. They are bothering me. Why won’t you do something?

Master Gardener: Silence.

Peony: Hello! Where are you? I’d like you to lose the ants for me. It’s not like I can brush them off or spray them myself!

Master Gardener: Silence.

Peony: I have so many buds this year. I’m going to bear beautiful blossoms – if I could only get rid of these pesky ants! How is a girl to make flowers when she’s being crawled upon?

Master Gardener: Silence.

Peony: My buds are popping open. Aren’t they beautiful? I just love the color and fragrance. I’m so pleased to make these beautiful flowers!

Master Gardener: You see, Peony, the nice shiny coating you had over your buds often keeps them from blooming. Those “pesky ants” ate that coating just as I intended them to do when I created you and when I created them. Your shiny coating is part of My provision for those “pesky ants”. And the “pesky ants” are part of My provision for you.
While you thought I was ignoring you, I was enabling you to be the plant I intended you to be. You were made to produce beautiful blossoms, but you couldn’t do it alone. You needed the trial of those “pesky ants” to open your blossoms.
Remember how I pruned you? How you complained! “That hurts! Stop that!” you cried. But I had to prune off the dead stalks for you to thrive this spring. I had to sprinkle you with that Bordeaux mix that made you sneeze.
But your life hasn’t all been ants, pruning and Bordeaux mix. Who watered you? Who put up a wire hoop to support those beautiful blossoms?
I did.
When you thought I was ignoring you, I was right there tending you.
And now you are fulfilling your purpose with your beautiful, fragrant blooms. Weren’t the pain and annoyance worth the price?

Peony: Yes, Lord, it was worth the price.

A perennial gift

My peonies are a perpetual gift from my mother and grandmother. Mother planted some of her mother's peonies in her backyard when I was a girl. After Grandma died, my parents moved to her house. Before they moved, my dad and brother dug the peonies for me.

The Frugal Gardener in me loves divided plants. They are generally free and are wonderful reminders of the people who gave them to us.

We nearly lost our peonies, which would have been a catastrophe. Our roofer nearly killed them when he drove over them. After several years of trying to repair what he'd done to them, I moved them. They are now happy and covered with blossoms each spring.

When we were children, my brother, our cousins and I tried to remove the ants from the peonies. Disgusting bugs! Or so we thought. Somehow, the peonies didn't bloom without ants. Some of the websites I've seen say that peonies don't need the ants, but that's not true in my family's experience.



Apparently, peonies produce various ant attractants. The ants eat a waxy coating, helping the blooms to open. The Heartland Peony Society and GardenWeb's Peony Forum have all kinds of information about the flowers.



If a person wants to use peonies as a cut flower, the ants can be removed by dunking them in water. Personally, I prefer to enjoy the flowers in their natural state, remembering the heritage they represent.

Strawberries and cream

Nothing says potential quite like a berry blossom. Our strawberries are blooming and my mouth waters every time I see the strawberry bed. I have visions of strawberry ice cream and strawberry shortcake dancing in my head.

Sometimes strawberry and raspberry seasons overlap. The combination really makes my mouth water. Strawberry/raspberry smoothies, anyone?

We haven't long to wait!

Snow on the tulips

I have a proverb about the climate here: "Snow until Tax Day; frost until Mother's Day."

A different proverb applies to yesterday's weather: "Every rule has an exception."

First came the wind. As I watched out my classroom window, the power lines twirled like jump ropes. Then rain blew in, then snow came down sideways. From my recliner last night, I watched the snow stack up in layers on the window.

Hopefully, nothing of importance froze. I didn't think to unhook the hoses from the spigot last night. And my tulips look pretty sad this morning.

Oh, well. We desperately needed the moisture and spring snows melt fast. Forecast high today is 59 and the weather is supposed to climb back into the 70s tomorrow. In a great blessing, the ground temperature was high enough that we don't have to scoop. Hooray!

And I hope that a twist on another proverb will also prove true: "May snow brings June berries."