Be Gone With You

I discovered, this year, that I like to weed. 

 

I use to go out and weed for an hour, two tops, weekly and that would be my contribution to the maintenance of my flower beds.  The weeds outshined my flowers.

 

This year is different.  Almost daily, I go out gloved*, with hand spade firmly in my grip, and weed for hours.  It is difficult to stop, but I force myself to move onto other essential tasks.  Weeding is no longer a chore, but a FUN and satisfying activity. The result is perennial beds that are more specific to fragrant and/or showy blooms rather than obnoxious and overbearing weeds.  This is a novelty for me.  Besides, when spending the time removing unwanted vegetation, I can look about me at any time and relish in the flowers that are in bloom on that particular day.  I do not miss any changes.  Every few days, the prominent blossoms differ.  I love color. I love fragrance. I love flowers. I love to weed.

 

For the past few days, we have been static in a rainy weather pattern.  Weeding is on hold.  The upside is that each and every one of my plants relishes the abundance of rain.  Lush is an understatement. Normally, we experience more drought-like conditions and my plants are usually meager, at best.

 

Good rain, during the growing season, is almost an anomaly. 

 

I look out often from the windows around my house into the gardens.  I see healthy green foliage throughout highlighted with splashes of pastel and bold color.  The myriad of greens exhibited by all the diverse leaves, the many hues of flowers, the varying textures of the hardscaping and the ever-changing lighting, layers of sorts, all combine to form a magnificent and complete image.  Today, I enjoy dark purple salvia, airy gaura swinging in the breeze, deep orange and squash-colored daylilies, lavender spiderworts, and many other colorful flowers…my eye-candy.

 

And, the best part of the luxurious plantings is that it is all desired.  For a change, the weeds have not dominated my gardens. 

 

I no longer, at least for the moment, have to pretend that the weeds are not present.  Or, that the weeds are actually a prized perennial. 

 

Quite frankly, in all my years of gardening, my garden has never looked so good, even with three dogs traipsing directly through many of my flower beds.

 

The winning formula…weeds eliminated + abundant precipitation = vigorous perennials and a very happy gardener…me!

 

*A note about my gardening gloves… I use to garden bare-handed because gloves were cumbersome, hot and short-lived as holes wore quickly into the fingertips until a friend of mine gave me some great gardening gloves - they fit like skin, have reinforced fingers and palms, and I barely realized that I am wearing these gems - no more dirty hands and nails, no more broken nails - just easy weeding with comfort.  In reality, I have abused these gloves and they hold up extremely well to my abuse.