Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Leaping Into Color

Aquilegia canadensis in the rain


I was reading the latest issue of AARP magazine...an especially good interview with Jamie Lee Curtis. If you are a member of AARP it is in the mail or in the stack of magazines on your kitchen counter...Quite frankly I have never dreamed of friendships with famous people...* I could imagine having coffee and conversation with her. She would be a fun blogger.
Jamie Lee seems real, a likable person, who isn't afraid to let others know she has flaws. One of the many things she said was that she feared calcifying as she aged. She said as a creature of habit, she wears the same clothes, eats the same food, is very regular in her activities and can be lulled into complacency. She sees decalcification as a process of shedding skins and ideas....a constant evolution.

Now, maybe this is a leap, and I can make these leaps, but garden blogging for me is an attempt to decalcify myself....shed the old safe behaviors and go out on that proverbial limb. Develop skills I have let lay fallow for way too many seasons.

And, to be perfectly honest my garden needs de-calcifying, too. You know what I mean...it has been too dull; same old same old! It's time to jazz it up, maybe get that stock tank I have been thinking about for years!

and bring in more color like this....Loropetalum (Plum Delight)


and here--don't you love the sulphur yellow on Epimedium.

and this Heuchera (Midnight Rose)is a new one I bought for more color




Just some thoughts that are not fully formed and that I want to mull over and post about again, later. In the mean time I have set a goal to make some bold changes to my front yard....



Gail




*well, there was that odd dream I had about Brad Pitt, Friday night of Spring Fling, but I was just interviewing him about what it really felt like to be famous when the alarm went off and I never got his answer.

18 comments:

  1. Gail .. I am snorting here .. yes .. I snort and giggle .. BIG sigh .. anyways .. it was the Brad thing that got me doing that, too funny !
    I think you are right though .. about us falling into the same patterns every year with our gardens .. unless something shakes up our style we keep at it that way.
    I have some new ideas I want to try this year .. so I'm for joining the "New Ideas for Same Old Gardens" club ? LOL
    Joy

    ReplyDelete
  2. joy,
    I need to join, just give me the meeting time...

    gail

    ReplyDelete
  3. I find that just doing a little garden blogging has given me a renewed interest in my own garden. It became a little neglected when I became distracted by my daylilies.

    I love the color of your heuchera! Will have to keep my eye open for that one at the garden centres.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joy has her snorts, I have my
    smirking HA, that is just rich about our boy Brad. I also love Jamie Lee Curtis, for just having the courage to be herself in hollywood fakey land, gray hair, wrinkles and flabby arms, although she is still lovely. Now, down to gardening, I say yes to the stock tank. And yes to anything else, like decidous azaleas, I saw your comment on Tina's daughter's post about the Masters. They are my most favorite shrub and if sited properly, will do well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good you didn't get that answer-you can make the dream end any way you like it. Spring fling huh...must've been too much fun! I would've been dreaming of Mel Gibson (hubby too of course)!

    ReplyDelete
  6. chey,

    Welcome to my blog...sometimes we get sidetracked by a particular project.
    I found the heuchera at a big box store!

    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  7. Frances,

    I wish I had your faith in the azalea in Middle Tennessee...the nearly neutral soil is tough. It killed my well prepared and planted pjm rhodos.
    No one I know can grow them. You have a magic touch!

    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  8. nancy,

    so right and I am going to go for it;)

    Gail

    Tina,

    No it was Brad and I told my dear husband, he just laughed...

    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  9. Stock tanks rock! I'd love to see one in your garden, Gail.

    And as to your dream of Brad Pitt during the Spring Fling---did you know that he is filming a movie in Smithville, just outside of Austin? Maybe it was your proximity to him while you were here that inspired your dream, hmm?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Pam,

    Well that's one explanation!

    I am seriously thinking of buying two small oval shaped stock tanks using them similarly to what James David did with the 3/4 ed clay pots...Let me see if I can find a photo of the idea.

    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gail, I like your mulling ways... your thoughts on color and shaking things up a bit are perfectly timed. Now is the time. This is the fun part of gardening... designing, adding color, trying new plants and making the most of what you already have... can't wait to see your follow-up posts.
    meems @ Hoe&Shovel

    ReplyDelete
  12. meems,

    Thank you...tomorrow a friend/garden coach is stopping by...we are going to walk around and talk ideas... this is the perfect time;)

    Aren't the heucheras a beautiful start!


    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  13. Gail, dang, why don't I get good dreams like that? Good thing Pam didn't tell us at the Fling that Brad was so close ... we might have had an unscheduled field trip. As for the stock tanks, go for it! After seeing Pam's, I foresee some in my future as well.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Go for the stock tank! I'm planning to get out to Farm & Fleet this Spring & finally get one myself. My uncle (the one who used to live in Austin) & my aunt met Jamie Lee Curtis at a book event in Chicago a couple of years ago when she was promoting her children's book. According to my aunt & uncle, she was so gracious & enthusiastic about my uncle's book because it dealt with animal abuse. (A cause after my own heart.) My aunt just couldn't say enough nice things about her. She's one of the rare few celeb's I actually admire.
    (Johnny Depp was filming in Aurora this week (about 40 minutes from my house), but I didn't dream about him - no fair!)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Cindy,

    Not sure why I had the dream....getting ready to meet all the blog stars....I have my eye on a few stock tanks and will check them out this weekend.

    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  16. mmd,

    I like her, too...when she posed with out makeup and refused to let them erase all her flaws, she got my respect.

    Let's get those stock tanks! I have my eye on one but it's the next county over.


    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  17. gail, Here is how you report spam. Go to the Blogger Help page from your dashboard. All the way at the bottom there is a link that says "Report Abuse". Click on it then follow the instructions. On the spam comment I clicked on the "name" of the spammer, went to the profile, copied the web address from the menu bar, then pasted that into the report abuse area where it says to report spam. I wish I had done it with the two prior comments. Oftentimes we don't but I think it will only get worse and at least reporting lets the developers know who and what is going on and where it is coming from. They can track people by url. Hope this helps. It took me a minute to find it as it is not obvious on here. ttyl

    ReplyDelete

"Insects are the little things that run the world." Dr. E O Wilson