trumpet vine | Bertram's Blog

Gardening Goals

June 12, 2022 — Pat Bertram

I had to work most of the day today, and my plants needed to be watered. Because of the intense heat, I couldn’t let the plants go an extra day, so I was out in my yard with the early morning humidity, the gnats, and the mosquitoes. Oh, such fun! You do know I’m being ironic, right? Although I usually enjoy my outside chores, there’s something utterly annoying about gnats up one’s nose and mosquitoes whining at one’s ears. I can only hope my mosquito repellant worked because I’ve already had more than my share of mosquito bites this year.

Despite those small annoyances, I still took the time to enjoy the flowers and was even awake enough to think about what I was seeing — California poppies with a few Icelandic poppies. Where else can you get such a disparate mix, not just of color and interest, but of geographic distances? I can’t imagine that those two places have much in common, and yet, there are representatives of both areas in my yard.

Maybe next year I’ll look for poppies from other places and make a true international poppy garden. Or not. It’s a lot easier to let the seed companies mix the seeds for me.

I paused here to Google the company where I purchased my wildflower seeds last year, and it turns out they are now selling a different low-growing mix that includes a European poppy but no Icelandic poppy, so if I want more Icelandic poppies, I’ll have to get those seeds separately. There’s no hurry to decide. After all, despite various flowers in my yard, it’s not even summer yet.

I’ll be interested in seeing if I’ll have any blooms come summer. The larkspur is already going to seed, and I have no idea how long most of the wildflowers will keep blooming. Luckily, there are plenty of things in my yard, so there should be some color. The trumpet vine is just beginning to flower, for example, and I do know that it blooms all summer.

As for the rest, I’ll keep track of growing cycles to see what I’ll do differently next year because ultimately, the goal is to have something blooming all season long.

A different goal, of course, is to remain free of mosquito bites. Luckily, I don’t often have to go outside as early as I did today, though with temperatures heating up, I might have to. Oh, well. One takes the bad with the good and hope it all evens out one way or another.

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Pat Bertram is the author of intriguing fiction and insightful works of grief.

Posted in gardening, life. Tags: Icelandic poppies, international poppies, mosquitoes and gnats, poppies, trumpet vine, wildflowers. 4 Comments »

The Moral of the Story . . .

June 18, 2021 — Pat Bertram

I’m feeling a bit disgruntled this morning and fed up with people who don’t show up to work when they say they will, and who don’t even call to cancel. The mechanic was supposed to come get my car and fix the brakes today, but I can’t get hold of him. I did have a hunch that he wouldn’t be here because his shop was closed yesterday. He and his family have been having problems with both The Bob and the vaccine, so that could be the problem. Though I’m only guessing. I’ll call next week and find out what’s going on and make a new appointment. And the worker who was supposed to be here this week to continue the various jobs that have been scheduled has been on again and off again — mostly off. I texted him a little while ago to see what’s going on but haven’t heard back.

Even more disgruntling, the heat is keeping me from working off my frustration, either by walking or working outside. All I did today was water a few things that seem to be desiccating in the heat and take a few photos.

One special pleasure is my friend the toad was basking in the shade today. I startled him yesterday and didn’t want to disturb him by taking a photo, so I was pleased to see him again today. Although he turned his back on me, he did hold still while I took his picture.

I’m especially delighted with the honeysuckle blossom. I planted the seedling last fall, and not only did it survive the winter, but it seems to be thriving.

The hollyhocks are really starting to pop.

The trumpet vines are doing well. They always do, though they die back in the summer and begin anew each spring. If there is a need for full disclosure, I have to admit that I photoshopped out the ants. For some reason they love these blossoms, though I don’t see that they do any damage

I enjoyed seeing the striped gazanias when I was in California, but the only gazania I could find that was suitable for this area was a plain yellow one. Still, it’s cheerful, and even better, it’s a perennial, so it will be interesting to see what it does in the coming months and years.

Another plant that is flowering, even though I bought the starter plant a mere two weeks ago is this dark purple osteospermum. I’d never heard of it before, but the color intrigued me. Oddly, both the gazania and the osteospermum are called “African daisies,” though they are different genera.

I am disappointed at the brief flowering cycle of the prickly pear cactus, but since I didn’t plant them for the flowers, I am grateful for the blossoms that I do have.

This virtual tour of my flowers has helped with the frustration, though it did not help get the jobs done. Luckily, there is always next week. Or the week after.

I suppose the moral of this story, assuming there is a moral, is to enjoy the things that come my way and try not to be frustrated by workers who don’t come my way.

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Posted in gardening, life, photography. Tags: african daisies, garden toad, gazania, heat and frustration, honeysuckle, osteospermum, people who don't do what they say they will, trumpet vine. 3 Comments »

A Garden of Sorts

June 10, 2020 — Pat Bertram

A friend is planning on stopping by later this month to visit for a few hours on her way east, and she mentioned that she is especially looking forward to seeing my garden. I had to laugh at that — she’s already seen my garden. And so have you. At least what there is of it, which isn’t anything, really, but a few isolated flowers that bloom then disappear. What I mostly have is dirt, dead weeds (you know how bad the drought is when even the weeds are dead), a few baby lilac bushes and some transplants that are struggling.

What I also have is an appreciation for any bit of color, even a single flower, and a good photographic eye, which makes it seem as if I have a garden.

Someday, there might actually be a garden of sorts. I still have to wait until the garage is finished (high winds and rain the past couple of days and now mud today have delayed the work again), dirt is brought to fill in around the garage and the big depression where the old garage was, the sidewalks and pathways laid down, and the ornamental gravel arrayed around the house and garage. Then, maybe, if it’s not too late, I’ll try planting some things.

I did get a large planter and some potting soil, but I haven’t yet decided what to do with it or what to plant in the pot. It was supposed to go on a tree stump to add a pit of color to a dead spot in the side yard, but the top of the stump isn’t level, and I worried that with the high winds around here, the planter would be too unstable.

I’d also planned to get a couple of hanging plants to go on either end of the house, but I’m glad I haven’t yet done it. The wind the past couple of days was scary enough without having to worry about damage from flying planters.

Today’s bit of color: trumpet vines that found their way into my yard. Such welcome visitors! I’m glad they decided to settle in.

I might not have a garden to show off to others, but I must admit, I do love the flowers that show off to me.

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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One. “Grief: The Inside Story is perfect and that is not hyperbole! It is exactly what folk who are grieving need to read.” –Leesa Healy, RN, GDAS GDAT, Emotional/Mental Health Therapist & Educator.