Garden Time With a Friend

64°f this morning, about 18°C, mostly clear. 82° and humid as I write this mid-afternoon. 

My Annabelle hydrangea, from a start given to me by my friend in 2021.

So my friend came to visit yesterday, and I was a bit nervous. We have been friends for a few years but only get together once or twice a year, and otherwise stay in touch via Facebook. Once I visited her home, other times we met for lunch or at some event.

The herb garden, with wild daisies coming up where they will.

I wasn't nervous about her coming to my house, but my gardens! She is a retired landscape gardener who had her own very successful business, and wrote a weekly column on gardening for the largest newspaper in the state for years.

And my gardens...well, you know. They are definitely not professional, not even very well planned. I see an empty spot, I stick something in. 

An Easter lily, bought for $1 after Easter 2 years ago, doesn't seem to mind being crowded by sedum and poppies.

A volunteer comes up, I leave it where it sprouts most of the time. 

A corner full of canna lilies that came from one plant that seeded itself here 2 years ago.

Which means I have asparagus and garlic in the oddest places, and some flowers like those Mexican primrose just take over an area. 

Those Mexican primroses 

and tall Brazilian verbena, in completely the wrong place, but that's where it came up.

I am content with all of that; I guess I enjoy the unexpectedness of it. But what would a professional gardener think?

Well, of course, we had a lovely visit. She laughed at some things, like my "lettuce screen", 

made from a broken fireplace screen and 2 derelict dressing table chairs.

and the plants that seem to thrive in my walk. 

Why had I worried? I should have known better, knowing her as I do. 

One thing I tried to be very careful about was to not take advantage of her expertise. After all she still takes contracts for garden consultations. But it was such a pleasure to wander around, talking about plants and gardens and bugs and dirt. 

Here's more from our walk:

She liked the bike

I am so excited about these hollyhock blooms! After trying for years I now have 2 patches that look like they made be okay.

I was surprised to realize that I really have very few friends who are into gardens like I am, and almost all of them live far away. That is one reason I enjoy the garden photos and talk on your blogs. It's like having a stroll with you.

Next month we will be visiting her gardens, and I will be sure to share photos here. I am really looking forward to seeing her summer flowers, which is something I struggle with; my Spring gardens are nice, but come summer,  not nearly as pretty. So I hope to discover some plants I can add to bring more color to my summers 

This morning Larry helped me hoe weeds, and we got the whole veggie garden done. That is a relief because rain is in the forecast this weekend and we have booth work tomorrow, so unless we got it done today, the weeds would have had a field day. I planted the squash seeds Quinn sent me, and pulled up the peas and replaced them with rattlesnake beans. And that was enough for today.  We were both dripping with sweat and it wasn't even 10am. Yuck.

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