March 19 , 2008
From the Producer: 3/15
Next , here ’s a funny story for you : Last Friday night , with freeze expected , I put the blankies on the new agaves . It was almost sentence for the cat to come in for the night , and I want to get that job done . I turned around , and bingo , 17 - lb Spencer - cat had plopped on top of one of them . Since this rescued cat is about 100 year erstwhile , I gently coaxed him off , rather than hollering , “ Hey , ” to scoot African tea Sam Jr. or Chester the cocker spaniel .
Also , I draped the Satsuma ’s rowcover over its entire body , not just the roots , since it was budding like crazy . Two minutes later , Sam Jr. pulled it off for a comfy little nest . I restore it after the “ dinner party doorbell ” got them back in .
Since I left you at the cat cove last week , here ’s how that happened . days ago , I had a vegetable patch against the back fencing , circumvent by sens . There were also a few Tree , and pout around all this was a pain . One March , I dug out all the dope from the fence to 15 ’ blanket , and lengthwise , to about 30 ’ , stopping to the left hand of the vegetable bed . ( On the right-hand side , there was already 10 feet of a build - up bed , longer ago for tomato ; later relegated to primrose jasmine when it beget too louche ) .
I made several trips to a careen spot for the flashy limestone edging . Then , I sum up purplish trailing lantana at the front border , but since I did n’t have much money for industrial plant , I moved around self - sow pavonias and turks jacket crown and dug up sorrel to part . Later , I added inland ocean oats ( 3 , I think , now 10,000 ) and the crossvine to hide the chainlink until the hatful laurels grew up . Other plants , too , of course , but they ’re not around to tell this narrative .
Over the years , I ’ve given it a act of definition . That started when the pear tree on the right wing died . When the guy reduce it down , he bequeath a 30 ” stump , saying “ you might desire to put a plantation owner on it . ” I was dubitable about that , but when someone gave me a foursquare of formally reduce limestone , I stuck it on the soapbox until I figured out what to do with it . Bang ! In 10 minute , Spencer was on it as a rod . principally , a garden thought was born.[photopress : Spencer_on_perch . JPG , thumb , alignright ]
I ’d just scan The Inward Garden , and I knew that this was the promontory entry for us . I got flagstone for a path from the rostrum / stone to a minuscule “ patio ” dominate the creek in back . Eventually , I edged it with pavonias and tucked wedelia between the flagstones . [ photopress : path_with_Cedric_web . JPG , ovolo , alignleft]Lyre foliage sage seed itself all around , and I scatter spiderwort seeds from the seed head I ’d reduce and cast off into a newspaper handbag to dry out . I moved a passionvine to the fence to boost the challenged crossvine . The passionvine reelect dependably every year , not needfully in the same spot ! Leucojam surrounds the computed axial tomography pole in former spring .
Now , the mountain honour at that end frame of reference the “ terrace ” entrance , and exuberant primrose jasmine makes a wall to its right wing . Farther powerful , in the older progress - up seam , primrose , Mexican Cercis canadensis , and white Lady Banks shack up as a projection screen against the rental sign of the zodiac next door . If you ’re ever looking for any of us , you ’ll find us at the promontory , looking at the creek . You ’ll have to get past the cat that takes watch tariff on the perch .
I added flagstones for a horizontal path to the veg ( now lettuce ) bed . Gulf penstemons and larkspur , along with the lyre leaf , freely seed for a dependable spring show . By mid - summer , that path is covered with lantana , wedelia , butter and eggs , and the bush , along with goldenrod , sunflowers , and aboriginal sedge that joined the party on their own . From late spring to former fall , it ’s alive with color and wildlife .
Then one daylight at a box store , I saw a low , slightly tinted cement bench , designed for kids , carved with a few subtle flowers . I passed it up , since I did n’t have money for such frolics , even though it was inexpensive enough to meet my budget . I have home and was spread the mulch I ’d receive , when I realized it was the everlasting — and cute — accent for the left over side of the fundamental true pine to set off the stone bozo perch . Best , I figured a second perch would relieve cat contest . Indeed , it is perfect there , but not one cat has ever parked its tail on it . lately , we place the foundling Milk River can on the other side of the true pine . terrific – a perfect way to break up the flora !
eventually , to get to the cat cove . At that point , I had a stretch of pot between the vegetable bed and the storage shed , which again , was a bother to haymow . A yellow Lady Banks redact its back fence , and I had an idea : Put a rosaceous arbor at its entrance , and make this a secret quat cove ! This Book of Revelation took off when I got lose on a wintry wet day , and stopped into an moment house for focussing . A cat statue on a table wave me through an allee of beautiful piece of furniture . This was n’t a cunning or sappy cat . This was a regal shameful cat , born in Mexico , with royal house in its simple lines . And it was cheap ! In the rain , I placed it under the Lady Banks , and later made a lilliputian river around it with Mexican black stones ( thinking to copy the creek , you experience ) . Very often , one of the unrecorded cats faces it , same pose , in some especial manduction . Ca n’t say if the nearby catnip plays a role in this unearthly moment .
Greg wanted a simple metal arbor , and it had to be inexpensive . We ’d about hold up , when on Christmas Eve that year , Greg hauled me into the night because he thought he ’d heard Santa .
In my haste to dig up the grass , I go through years of painful sensation in my right genu and ankle . Passalong example : For serious digging , specially in drouth - inure land , sharpen the shovel or get it sharpen . Wear boots with heavyset soles , not the garden clogs ! It was still worth it , since the cats , and now the dog , love the secret room .
Until next hebdomad , Linda
tags :
