Small Celebrations of Gardening, Revisiting a Post from 2007

 

In 2007, this was how I started a blog post in April about gardening. "I return to gardening year after year because of the small celebrations each and every day. It doesn't matter the size of the garden or what is planted, there are always changes, surprises, and celebrations on a daily basis."

Twenty six years later this is still true. I love garden beds that look pretty, but I also find pleasure in the day to day things that happen in the gardens. Today I spotted another daffodil bloom. I see it is already time to weed ( even if it was 23 degrees very early this morning). There are plants that need deadheading.  I am waiting for it to warm up a bit before I head outside, but I try to take my camera and capture small celebrations each day in the garden beds. 

In this same blog post in 2007 I went of say, "I am not a life-long gardener. I pulled weeds growing up sometimes. I appreciated the beauty of the flowers in my grandmothers' gardens. Fresh vegetables were a special treat when we visited relatives' houses that had large gardens. I dabbled with containers and annuals early in my adult life. When I turned forty and moved to KF I took on gardening in a  more serious way.

Now I live in a different house. I took a different approach to flower gardening at 514. I design more containers again, more perennials, and lots of bulbs. I have been fortunate to be able to move plants from Mom's garden beds next door and watch them continue to flourish at my house. 

The last thing I said in that original post was "gardening teaches you to pay attention." Each day I do a garden tour and look for new growth, grieve over a dead rose, or celebrate the blooming of a spring bulb. I pay attention to what is working and what shouldn't have been planted in a certain location.

It has warmed up a bit. It is time for the garden tour for today.  I will celebrate those small observations in the garden beds and pull of few weeds.