The garden transformed

May I a small house and large garden have;
And a few friends,
And many books, both true.
– Abraham Cowley, 17th century English poet

So it begins. Spring has arrived and after last year’s disappointing gardening season, I knew a new beginning was in store this year. We are in the midst of a big landscaping project. We started with the side garden in late February – revitalizing the dahlias by digging them up, separating the tubers, replanting them in amended soil, and installing a new sprinkler system. I anxiously checked out the side yard every few weeks. In April, to my great delight, the soil broke as the dahlia plants slowly made their way to light. With great care, I sprinkled Sluggo and diatemaceous earth around the sprouts. I even came out in the evenings and early in the mornings to scrap slugs off the leaves onto the flagstone.

Dahlias sprouting in the pots.

Fledgling dahlias in the side yard in April.

Dahlias in pots and in the ground in the side yard.

Nurturing the dahlias with Sluggo and diatemaceous earth rings around the plants.

Then I hurt my back playing with our dog, Sammy. I couldn’t walk, drive, or move much. So for weeks I was unable to tend to my garden. And then after Mother’s Day I came down with a nasty virus. I’m still not quite over it, but I was able to get out this Memorial Day Weekend to work on the yard – placing the pots in the backyard, weeding, and pinching back buds so that the dahlias will give me big blooms. The leaves are still being eaten, so I need to take care of those insects, but after being absent from the side yard for weeks, I was pleasantly surprised to see how strong the stalks are.

An April birthday bouquet for Kelly – the calla lilies were starting to expire and the alstromeria were going bonkers.

Mother’s Day bouquet for my mother-in-law, Ann. One for Kelly and one in my heart for my mom.

A May 21st bouquet for Kelly reveals the first dahlia from the garden!

Close-up of the first dahlia, surrounded by hydrangea, dianthus, and alstromeria.

Another close-up with a delicate hydrangea.

One more close-up.

To date, 88 plants have sprung up. One dahlia – the orange and yellow ones in a pot – has bloomed. And more will be ready within a week or so. I have committed to the two school auction bouquets this year – my last year with Korematsu Middle School (as Isabella enters high school in the fall) and El Cerrito High School. One of the moms who got the Korematsu weekly bouquet is a repeat winner. She got it two years ago. She split with another family, so even though they agreed to have a bouquet every other week, I’m going to see if I can do two bouquets for each family each week for 10 weeks. And then the third one will be for the high school auction winner. And finally, this year I gave as a birthday present a weekly bouquet to my friend Kelly. Let’s see if 88 plants can give me four bounteous bouquets for 10 weeks, starting the first full week in June. Fingers crossed.

I was asked to make three bouquets for the graduating senior baseball players’ families, which I happily obliged for the May 3rd game.

I was able to use the watsonias from our front garden, even though the flowers were on their way out.

A little scabiosa and our neighbor’s succulent purple plant.

Just enough to make three bouquets at once.

The alstromeria will soon be giving way to the dahlia bouquets.

The ginger plants are sprouting like crazy, too. This ginger plant anchors this Memorial Day Weekend arrangement.

I’m really looking forward to this gardening year. In the backyard we will have six planting beds. Two for vegetables and four for flowers. I’d like to expand my dianthus garden. We’ll see what else the garden will grow this year. It should be a beautiful, colorful summer of flowers.