Today is a perfect Fall day. or Spring day or early summer day or random winter day with color.
Temp is just right. sunny, mild, benign. Just a day. I have been looking forward to this day all week.
I visited Julia's yard again and scavenged some plants again and i went to Anna's to dig up some bigger Liripe. I drove over the rainbow to Jennifer's where she willingly shared some of her spider lillies with me. I put a request out on one of the neighborhood elists for daylillies and daff bulbs that needed thinning and got 3 responses, so after work, I went digging.
I now keep the pitchfork in my trunk. My baby cabrio is doubling as a truck. Somewhere in its baby cabrio soul it wanted to be a truck, so now it gets to-on occasion.
The city yard waste place i get the leaf mulch and compost is having a sale. The notice was more exciting to me than the Steinmart flyer i got in the mail. Ye Gods. What does this mean? Buy a load get one free. So now I can get 20 bags worth of eye watering nature vitamins for the price of one. I only spend 5 or 7 dollars as is, think I'll just keep to that. When I pull up in line behind the big-bed trucks, Cabrio Calvin and I feel so teeny. When I pull up to the window, I used to get smart looks from the compost teller, as if she is thinking, " What is this? a joke?" I just fill kitchen bags with leaves or compost to where I can carry them, and then I pile them in the trunk, floor, and well, every space I can stuff them. It doesn't take many trips for my space and now that I have the community garden spot started, I will only add compost to the beds. My friend prefers pine straw and she is on her own for that.
My daughter still has a couple of bags of leaves her friendly landscaper mom dropped off a couple of weeks ago. I'm delivering this stuff. I have grown to love the pungent odor of nature renewing it's own resources and changing leaves into growing fodder. My kids like it too. We don't have to unload truckloads of it anymore so it makes it easier to appreciate the value now. Good stuff.
Today at the bank, i noticed the landscapers were putting in pansies. I asked them what they had taken out and one guy pointed to a trash can behind their truck. I dug through the discarded plants but they were sun- loving plants, so i left them be. The community garden needs shade loving rootables.
Someone at work church supplied mums for centerpieces and gave them away later. I planted a couple at my house and one at the community garden. Gerbers have ended up in those places as well.
OMG
I'm addicted to scavenging plants. I'm hooked on putting other people's plants in other other people's yards. I'm a cross planter.
I pay attention to what's in bloom when I'm driving or walking now.
Monday, at 7 am, I will be waiting for the landscapers to arrive at my neighborhood shopping center because I hear they will be changing out the plants for Fall and I want to see if they'll let me have caladiums and ferns. But I'll really be hoping Santa landscapers will fill my bags with it all so I can figure out later what will work.
I'm a greedy dirt monger.
I rearranged my own plot out back and moved the mondo around, collected and regrouped the seedums. Just like furniture. What in the world.
I planted over a hundred sundry bulbs at my house and the same if not more in the community garden. Some bought, some dug up. Spring will be a mystery until we see what comes up. Oh, I hope something does come up. I can't wait to see the color. The hard work paying off. The thing is, all of this is learning for me. I'm getting to know how to do this in conditions different than I'm used to. It will be nice to see some blooms.
I realized that it feels good to me to have living things around me. My office is full of plants and a philodendron that is winding its way around the room. There is comfort for me in being with living things that require nothing more than tending and time. Weeding is peaceful for me, meditative. Wish I could do that weeding in my head and clear it out sometimes. I tend to personalize everything I see, but in this case, all of these things, including the dirt are alive.
oh! two more replies to the neighborhood elist request. Irises are waiting to meet new friends - Maybe today I can pluck a few before dark.
Soon, the season for dirty work will be hibernating and I'll have to rely on soup making to keep me out of my own trouble. Until the clock ticks us into winter, I'm keeping my fingers dirty, though.
