A Hole of Hope

  To  Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow~Audrey Hepburn

 

I have spent almost a year now, like many of us, walking in circles, with sleepless nights, listening and watching and reading in outrage, sadness, incredulity and fear...not to mention throwing shoes across the room at every report of Twitter gone mad.  I can't seem to find a comfortable spot for myself. I guess I'm looking for safe, for hopeful, for OK. The morning after the election, when I couldn't stop shaking, I told myself the only answer was keep your head down and focus on your small corner of the planet, create what impact you can, do what you can to create kindness and change-to help in any small way to find hope for better.  My office is above a nursery school and when I see those kids playing and screeching with laughter I want to be with them, in a world without the theatre of the absurd come to life. So I try to take my cue from the kids and when I saw their sign above their garden this week  I realized I too can dig a hole-not to crawl into, though that has been tempting this year, but to fill with a bulb. No an ugly flower bulb doesn't solve too much except keep me out of trouble for an hour or so, but in that burlap bag there is hope. Digging a hole is not going to magically make all of this insanity go away, but at least in a teeny tiny corner there may just be a promise of  a sprout, a stem, a blossom of promise. So like the kids, I take my hole digger, a basket of bulbs and a belief that planting a garden means I still have some control and that there is hope -unless of course the chipmunks and squirrels dig them up-are they on Twitter too?? :)

Where Flowers Bloom so Does Hope~Lady Bird Johnson

Eviction Notice!

 Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin

 "THE squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts, 

and sailed away home in the evening."

Attention Squirrels of Camp MoneyPit-you are hereby notified to vacate the premises... at once!  Pack your bags and head on down the street old friends-your free ride here is over!

 It isn't that I have any ill-will toward the residents with bushy tails, nor do I begrudge them their right to eat well or make a living selling their stolen stash from my gardens around the neighborhood, but I would prefer they scrounge, rummage, dig, turn-up and turn over beds, planters, containers and well-cared for plants elsewhere!

After a summer without color I was looking forward to the fall and autumn shades that dress my gardens.  I discarded all the sad tired plants of June July and August and replaced with smiling pansy faces, fluffy white mums and fall daisies, and pink kissed flowering kale.  Two days of clean up and planting later I came out the next morning to see find upturned containers and kale rolling down my drive...the Nutkins had a busy night!  I scooped up and rescued what I could and once again replanted only to come out the next morning to find beds dug up, mulch scattered and pansies lying sadly along walkways.  Come on guys how much nutritional value can there be in a pansy!

 Each Columbus Day I enter into serious negotiations...not for a new business deal but with the winter residents of my gardens. The gardens at Camp MP have admirers but they are not the type who oooh and aaah and walk on...these admirers have fuzzy tails and think my gardens are a country club, dinner included!  The ever populating bunch from the Nutkin clan  have taught one another all the best places to shop, my gardens being the Bergdorf's of bulbs and the best winter fare. The squirrels and I have long discussions and I have always  made every effort to hold up my end of the bargain..the squirrels,however--- So this has been the deal, if they leave my newly planted containers and bulbs alone they can feast on whatever they can shake out of the bird feeders all winter...Squirrels are not to be trusted! and this season they toppled their last cabbage!  OUT!

Consequently I was not going to plant bulbs this year...who could blame me when the majority find themselves in little squirrel sized shopping bags being hauled into squirrel condos... but I can't resist!
Bulb planting is the special spot of a gardener's soul-it represents the hope and optimism that every gardener holds. 

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While the leaves are still turning and the sky is a glorious blue I dig and place and tuck my bulbs in with a kiss for a long goodnight. I admit I often forget where I placed them, which is actually part of the joy...to walk by a section of the garden and see a group poking their heads up is the reason I plant. Winters in New England can be long and cruel so the first sprout of a leaf tip through the cold and icy ground is a gift that I would not trade for anything.

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Once again this year I am continuing my blue and white theme...parrot tulips, peony tulips, grape hyacinth, narcissus, muscari, scilla...I love them in patches and not neat rows. Bulb planting  can be addicting! Pick a corner that is visible come spring and plan around color...what do you want to see first?  Group them in clusters of color...don't plant one tulip here and one there...show them off together. Dig an appropriate sized trench and place them. You can add bone meal or bulb booster but be warned...The Nutkins love that, like whipped cream for them! 

So Nutkin entourage  you may do your best to wreak havoc in the gardens of Camp MP but I will plant on!  while you have been asked to Move On!   

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