In My Garden

I love my garden. It makes me feel good just to be out in the sun, and fresh air, with my hands in the soil.

I confess I don't plant only natives, nor do I limit myself to drought tolerant plants. I just plant anything I can find, and am attracted to, that can take the heat, cold and aridity of this climate.

I love to nuture perennials and watch them grow to overtake their space, until they can be divided to make even more plants, that I can plant in new places in my garden. I enjoy moving and replanting whenever a specimen seems to be telling me it would be happier in another part of the garden. I love crawling around on my hands and knees pulling out the weeds and saying hello at eye level to the plants.

I love to listen to the birds and other outdoor sounds. I love to watch the robins who follow me so closely as I garden, and the quail who scold me from a distance. Sometimes I put on my Shuffle and sing out loud myself as I build paths or spread mulch. I have to make myself come in at the end of a gardening day. Dinner is always late. I can't let myself garden every day, or I would never get anything else done. Maybe I'm compulsive, but once I'm out there, I just want to keep working.