“Isn’t this fun?” As I grinned my way through the large garden center for first time since autumn, I spotted a woman loading a tall red hibiscus and other gorgeously vibrant scarlet, and cobalt blue-flowering plants onto her flatbed cart, and enthused over her choices. It felt so good to be back in the gardening wonderland!

I see that it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on this blog. Life has been upside down as my husband and I have moved from place to place after returning from living in England (see my posts about my English garden here https://aleafyjournal.com/2021/02/15/goodbye-and-hello-new-growth/)

We did finally land back in the Southern Piedmont of the US last year, with spaces for me to garden–a non-negotiable for me. However, because of my late start with the move, and not knowing the soil, my garden didn’t go well. Red clay that was strangely always wet didn’t germinate flower seeds well, and bugs and tomato horn worms decimated my vegetable plants. I did get a few tomatoes and flowers though.

Yesterday, after a stressful morning, I made my way outside among the trees with their bright new leaves against the saturated blue sky, air filled with birdsong and breeze, and felt the stress melt away. That’s when I knew it was time to start my garden!

At the garden center, I was enthralled with the deep red, tropical Mandevillas and several colors of hibiscus, but I reminded myself that I already had those plants—I just need to get them outside in the sun, and fertilize them. The selection was huge, but other than a couple of plants for a large pot, I brought home non-living things for my flower garden—stones, a lyrical metal trellis shaped like leafy vines, and a colorful “hose guard” with a yellow green glass globe topped by an iron(?) songbird.

After being without a place to settle in and call home for a while, it’s become important to me to have more substance to my garden, starting with outlining my flower bed with “X-tra Large Beach Pebbles,” the size of a large fist. I realized that lining gardens with stones has spelled home to me since I was a young Girl Scout making a platform tent, “home,” for the weekend. Today, I had almost enough of the heavy, but not too heavy stones. More to come.

But first, the weeds had to go. What is a weed? Anything that impedes the growth of the cultivated—though we do leave a LOT of (tiny) wildflowers on the property. Thankfully, the morning was cool today so I got a lot done before the temperature heated. However, it was hot, sneezy work that ached my back, legs and feet, but it felt good get the flower bed ready for its next step—soil testing and amending. By the time I get that done—and clear my vegetable patch, there should be no more frosts to threaten plants and seeds.

I even ordered some special, unusual seeds online since the ones in all the stores didn’t do so well last year (the one company must have a monopoly). Special though they are, they didn’t cost any more than the everyday brand. This year, I chose a lot of deep pink flowers. I look forward to showing you what I got.

What are you planting this year?