If you have read this blog long enough, you know I have mastered the art of over promising and under delivering.

Not to mention dreaming big and doing nothing about it.

Or the love of a good ramble. 

This post covers all of those.    

To this day, I cherish and long for my lunch hour trips to the local nursery/garden center. One to two times per week, starting in March and ending in November, I can be spotted walking amongst the plants wearing a sensible polo shirt and the same pair of jeans I’ve had for 4 years now. It is a much needed break from the “desk job” and a chance to become “ONG” for an hour or so.

Contrary to how it sounds, I don’t make a ton of purchases while I’m at the garden center. Some times it is purely research, some times it is the hunt for a specific plant(s) and some times it is to wander aimlessly. It all does the soul well. It is my domain and where I belong. Not to sound too corny, but I am thankful to be able to have a garden that allows me to fill it with plants, a family that supports my passion and the health to be able to do it all without issue.

That was too sappy. Now I need to change it up and talk to you about something I witnessed while wandering the garden center earlier this week. It still sticks with me today and I apologize in advance for putting you through this.

As I walked through the main entrance of the nursery, my eyes were not drawn to the blooming hydrangeas, but to a dude wearing a tank top exactly like this.

Except he didn’t look exactly like that.

At all.

Imagine a cockier George Costanza with slick backed, jet black hair and a remarkable tan. My best guess is early 50’s.

I fought off the urge many times to pull his mini shirt back to cover his nipples which he apparently was thrilled to expose. Was anyone else as in awe as I was? I love and hate this guy all at the same time. So Jersey.

But even stranger than that was the fact that he had one small Sedum groundcover in his hands that he stared at, put down and then picked back up in an endless cycle.

He was there as long as I was and never moved off of the Sedum purchasing decision. I would have killed to have known how it all was playing out in his head. And to follow him home to not only see how long he would wear that shirt, but ultimately where that Sedum ended up.

I could excuse the attire, but never the purchase of only one groundcover.

Moving on.

In the early days of taking the weekly trek to the nursery, I learned about plants through theft. These days, I enjoy it for different reasons. At my mature age of 42 and having been around the garden block a few times over, I am well aware of those plants that will never work for me (basically anything that isn’t deer resistant and prefers sandy soil).

As a result, my vision is much more narrow. I enter with a purpose and the number of nonsensical purchases has been dramatically reduced. This pinpoint focus allows me to make smart decisions and my garden has improved as a result.

I also enjoy walking around and butting into other peoples’ conversations or personal contemplations. I am a quiet individual for the most part and typically mind my own business, but I have no issue jumping in where it is required.

“You don’t want that Crepe Myrtle, it won’t survive the winters here in zone 6B.”

“Really, another Arborvitae? Have you not seen enough of them around here? Let’s expand our horizons, aight.”

“Yes, that Ligularia will handle some sun. Do it.”

Thank you and come again.

Over the years, I’ve also observed the art of “the sell”. Or should I say the lack of “the sell”. My best estimate is that 75% of the shoppers at the nursery don’t know very much. Especially if they are there during the peak months of April/May when everything is at full price (note: buy in mid to late summer and late fall). These people need to be guided and educated. Put down those impatiens and let’s talk perennials. You don’t want only one coneflower, you want seven and here’s why.

As I paced the garden center this week, I came to a realization. I would love to own a nursery and sell plants to the public. My years of wandering their grounds has taught me that. I would love to impart my knowledge on those in desperate need of it. I would love to bring them coffee in the morning and share my new favorite IPA with them in the afternoon as they browse my amazing collection of Andropogons.

I want to hang with plant people and provide them with unique finds.

Of course I say all this without considering all that goes into it. I’m not that naive. And I am too risk averse to ever give it a try. But it is the aspect of gardening I enjoy the most.

I could never get into garden design because:

a)I only like what I like

b)I find that I lose interest when it comes to other peoples gardens

c)It seems like a lot of work

But plants without consideration of how they play with others is pretty fantastic. I can even imagine buyers taking the plants home and sending me pictures of them all grown up (the plants that is). People posing with their Panicums like they were a pet. We’d all be one big plant loving family and there would be peace throughout the world.

Guess I better keep my day job to fund this little adventure.

Have a great weekend.

Something kicked my ass into gear big time this week.

I’m like a man possesed.

I’m wielding a trowel like a ninja.

If there was such a thing as gardening yoga, I’d be the master. A yogi if you will.

Now if I had to make an uneducated guess, it is the fact that my garden is at the point where it is filling in beautifully and, I hope I don’t regret saying this out loud, it looks kind of great. I am thrilled with where things currently stand and I don’t feel the need to move a single plant. Newly planted bulbs from last Fall and newly acquired perennials from this Spring are thriving.

Who the hell am I?

After the mess that was the broken sump pump (and we are about 90% good to go for those keeping score at home) and the subsequent high from getting it fixed, I completed a garden inventory. This a very detailed review of the entire garden and can take hours. I take it very seriously as it provides my gardening direction for the foreseeable future.

Normally this inventory/audit results in a healthy sized color coordinated Excel spreadsheet that ultimately sends me over the edge realizing I’ll never get even 25% of it done. But not this time.

There will always be something to do in the garden, we all know that. But my current to-do list was now smaller than ever before. And I really was searching for items to add to the list. Either my standards had dropped precipitously, or I was finally doing something right.

After careful introspection over a West Coast IPA or five, I settled on “I’m kind of awesome”. Now this is subject to change before I hit “publish” on this post, but for now I am in self-congratulatory mode. But that doesn’t have me resting on my laurels (pun intended) by any means. Instead, I am determined to take care of every little detail so we can get this garden looking f’n stellar (f’n stellar > f’n awesome). The better it looks the more I want to make it look even better.

So I kid you not, I’ve been up early every morning this week ready to get something done out in the yard.         

And there is your proof people.

Yes 6:00 AM isn’t early for most of you, but I am not a morning person at all. I am a night owl. If I could garden in the middle of the night, I’d be all over it. My brain piques around 11:00 PM but then shuts down until about 10:00 AM.

I also realize that the clock could be at 6:00 PM in the pic above, but would I really go through the motions of taking this dumb selfie if I wasn’t trying to prove a point?

Further proof.

Damn it is peaceful this time of the morning. Oh you all knew that already? My only distraction was/is a rooster next door that howls consistently day and night. Does anyone know what that signifies? I find it funny … until it isn’t.

So I’ve been weeding like a champ each morning, relocating volunteer coneflowers and mountain mint to fill in gaps and just enjoying the time outdoors and the little garden oasis I’ve created. As I said before, this feeling won’t last and I’ll be back to my self deprecating ways soon, but for now, I like it. This is why I/we garden. In search of that oasis and the fun/struggle it takes to get there.

A few shots of the garden to take you into the weekend:

Astilbe ‘Amethyst’ surrounded by a lot of blue and purple.

I kind of like my Veronica (Speedwell).

Good mix of color, shape and texture.

One of a few blue Allium that just appeared.

I like Physocarpus (Ninebark) seedehads more than the flowers.

I love love love Ninebark ‘Amber Jubilee’.

Joe Pye Weed is fantastic even before the flowers arrive.

The buzzing of the bees is music to my ears.