What is Your Favorite Flower?
Do you remember the slogan of a popular soft drink... "The pause that refreshes." Well, here it is - May - the season between the seasons. Weve got the first early rush of planting work done, now trying to catch our breath, and get started on the next round. Maybe some of you feel that you are entitled to a little pause between rounds.
I planned for my rest several years ago. Our cultivated strips of ground are about 20 feet wide and 100 feet long, with grass paths between. When we first moved here, it looked awfully bleak around the end of the rows, and I visualized how hot it would be when one reached the north end of the garden.
My solution was to plant a pin oak. It is now large enough to furnish shade. With a comfortable yard chair it is ideal to sit in the tree's shade and muse over the gardening problems. Maybe I should have planted two such trees far enough apart to swing a hammock between them.
They often deride someone for wishing for this or that. Wishing for the moon," they say. Just like, when i wish for my own beautiful japanese garden design. Probably all of us at some time in our youth wished for the moon, or maybe it was just a star. Every true plant lover, I suspect, is still just a child at heart. Whenever you read of this or that, don't you say to yourself, "My, Id like to have that growing in my garden, landscape, greenhouse or wherever."
In all honesty, I must confess I get an almost uncontrollable urge to try everything I read or hear about. Oh, some of you will say, I specialize in roses, iris, daylilies," or whatever your favorite might be. But did you ever know a "specialist" who didnt want more varieties? In our back yard youll find no evidence of specialization. Someone once asked me what was my favorite flower. My reply was The one I happen to be looking at at the time.
