Appeal of gardening
Is gardening an acquired taste or do you need to have particular genes to enjoy working in the garden? I loved my grandma’s garden since childhood but for our children (who actually are not kids any more), our garden represents just hard and repetitive work. Yes mom, the flowers are nice, the gooseberries are good, but don’t pressure us to waste our precious time by performing those tiresome and boring gardening activities… How could I make them understand?
Perhaps YOU understand?
OK, I won’t torture you by asking such questions, I’ll rather share some of the beauty I find worthy of the gardening effort. First, would you recognise the plants captured in the photos below? Click on the image to hide the description and give it a try, there are just a few of them… Then I will tell you the rest.
In the triptych above, the flower on the left is out-of-the-bloom Pulsatilla (Pulsatilla vulgaris), it looks lovely even without its gorgeous flowers. In the middle you can see Peony (Paeonia herbacea). Its flowers are so heavy that they are falling to the ground, we need to create some supportive construction next year. An finally, the plant on the right is a blooming blueberry plant (Vaccinium corymbosum). Right now it is already covered with plenty of little berries and I’m looking forward to the time when they start turning blue. Last year the berries disappeared suddenly and I suspect birds pecked them off so this time we want to add some protection to prevent this happening again. Hey, I’m the owner of the yield, you birds can eat all the other inedible berries we planted in the garden for you…
No need to introduce fern… I love ferns, yet I have to confess that this particular type behaves like a weed. Its strong roots have been spreading all around and need to be kept restricted. Enjoy but beware…
The tulips on the right are not a hard nut to crack but have you identified the bush on the left? It is called Chaenomeles (Chaenomeles japonica) and the prominent flowers turn into orange fruit that is edible but needs to be processed first, e.g. in the form of a jam.
We had a dry and warm spring which turned into colder and wetter summer and our garden plants have made the best of it. Good for them… and for us! Where would we find anything more peaceful?
