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Sunday, July 25, 2021

TOUGH TIMES

I will preface this post by telling everyone who wrote on my Blog or on Face book that David and I have been been most touched by all the kind things you have written, as we contemplate our move. I thank each and every one of you. Garden friends are a treasure and have brought so much joy into our lives. David only reads my posts occasionally and I told him please read the comments people have made. When he did he became quite emotional.

I will never forget the day that, volunteering at an Austin garden tour, Pam Penick approached me and said how much she had enjoyed my garden when it was on the LBJ Wildflower Center tour. She gave me her card and told me about garden blogging and how much fun it was. On a cold and windy day over Thanksgiving I ventured onto Blogspot with no idea what I was doing. A name? How about Rock Rose?  After all, we do have plenty of rocks a few roses and of course Rock Rose is a native Texas plant.

Purchased at the Rock Rose gin distillery in Northern Scotland a few years ago, a stave from a whiskey barrel. How could we not buy it!

 I never looked back, joining the local garden blogging community and I hope that I will continue to look forward wherever we settle. We are not planning on moving from Austin just yet and will go into an apartment while we decide. It will probably just have a balcony so I will only be taking a few plants with me. Trying to find a place with the right sun exposure is not easy. Trying to find a place at all is not easy. What to do with all those potted plants and pots!

I'll be honest if the deal on our house and the 'back up' offer fall through we have decided not to care. But I can tell everyone the last month or so as we prepared and now the waiting is killing us. We have had to vacate the house so may times in the last week that there has been no time to get out in the garden which, as every gardener will know, would be a big stress reliever.

Two years ago our neighbors told us "Don't leave it too late it is very difficult to do" and we are 10 years younger than they were. Apart from all the logistics of selling and finding and timing, for the first time we are leaving something we created from scratch. From bare pieces of ground. Hardly a day goes by without a walk around the garden bringing me a surprise. Yesterday, it was this pretty little tradescantia, Tradescantia geniculata, given to me by Lucina Hutson. It has the delightful name of Tahitian bridal veil. Tucked under a yaupon tree I caught a glimpse of its shadow on the wall as I walked through the house. This is its first year in the garden.

 

 It is easy to forget all the difficult moments when a new flower pops up in the garden or a cactus blooms or a bird chooses to nest in one or your bird houses. This morning a clump of rain lilies flowering. This one chooses it time to flower. We have had rain several times over the last month so why did it just decide to flower this week. Just a few days ago Pam posted about her pink one blooming and I went out to look at mine. Not a peep. Now, here they are today and  it seems I missed two flowers yesterday. 

And an argiope spider with 2 fecal sacs dropped and caught in its web. It seems late for birds still to be rearing young. I wish I could sit and watch to see if a little web cleaning had been going on as one had disappeared a few hours later. 

 

When I walk out the back door lizards scurry in front of me as if to say " I can run faster than you can" and they can. It almost seems like a game."Here she comes" If the lizards start to disappear then I am thinking that a snake has been around. I know many people have walked around this garden during the day but have little knowledge of who walks around at night. We once saw a ring-tailed cat sitting on the kitchen window ledge at night and a skunk passing through early one morning. Foxes moved into the garden one time when we were gone for 6 weeks. Sometimes I hear the wrought iron gate rattle in the night-a raccoon or possum or skunk or fox maybe. Throughout the pandemic winter we put up extra bird feeders and I spent hours watching them. At one point we had to vacate the patio because a house wren built a nest high up on a piece of art work. If only they had carried away the fecal sacs instead of arranging them around he rim of the nest or sticking them to the wall. We tried to outwit the squirrel getting on the bird feeders until we finally bought the pepper-coated seeds which they won't eat. 

And during the last two years of cancer treatment and pandemic I often sat out there or tinkered a little. One time I sat on a stool and weeded. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like not to have had a garden.

I'm going to miss it all. As you can tell this continues to be a difficult time so please bear with me . It's a sort of release to write about it.

27 comments:

  1. You're welcome to store any potted cacti or succulents in my greenhouse if you like. Nothing of mine really needs more than about a quarter of the space.

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    1. Thanks for the offer Vicki. My neighbor has offered me space in her garden for the plants I will take with me.

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  2. Keep writing, we are all here for you. xoxogail

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    1. Thanks Gail. Hope to meet up with you again at a Fling.

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  3. but after the apartment-with-balcony and the decisions, there will be a garden again?
    Very hard to imagine a life without being able to step out into the garden.

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    1. I certainly hope so. I am taking all my garden paraphernalia with me.

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  4. How could it not be difficult? Please keep writing about it! Everyone reading has, or someday will, go through something similar. We all can sympathize and we all want to stay in touch with you and your adventures. You take care of yourself!

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    1. If we had been a little smarter it may have been manageable. Hopefully I will get the change to make it so.

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  5. Having moved from a garden and a house that we lived in the longest of our lives, I know how hard it is. Your garden was spectacular to visit on our Fling. While you never know how much each gardener took away from that visit, please know your garden had impact on all of us. Pieces of ideas will be continued far and wide. You, my dear, planted the seed.

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    1. Lovely words Janet. Don't count me out on either Fling or garden yet. I'm up for a new adventure.

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  6. Do, indeed, keep writing your thoughts! It is healing "letting go" of something so beloved. But you and David grab life and its adventures by the tail with passion, gusto, and joy, even when sadness fits into the mix.

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  7. As focused as we garden bloggers can be, our blog posts are never entirely about our gardens. I also hope you'll continue to write throughout this journey, Jenny. And do take up offers to temporarily house or give away plants before you move on - gifted plants can always be returned through seeds or divisions.

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    1. I have plenty to gift and we are fortunate to have the GoGos for sharing. One coming up soon.

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  8. Prayers for an as wonderful journey in the future

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  9. I am taking all your thoughts in as I will be following in your footsteps in about a year. We already have some of our land for sale and the house and garden will follow in due time. So you see, even the part of breaking up with a garden has an impact on others. I hope there is a buyer for your garden that will appreciate all the energy and passion that went into its creation. I hope that all the plants and wildlife are cared for as avidly in the future. May your new voyage be as fulfilling and adventurous! And again, thank you for sharing your garden on your blog and tour!

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    1. You are welcome Karin. I feel like I still have so many things I want to do with this garden but it is not to be. Another one I hope but it wont have the wonderful rocks I have come to love so much.

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  10. I found a lone rain lily in my garden last night, too; it hasn't rained here in over a week! What a lovely surprise it was. I can't remember how I found your blog but I am so glad I did! You have planted a desire within me to go see gardens in England. Your travel posts have been so enlightening! Please DO keep writing; we will all have to leave our gardens someday. So many people write about birthing a garden; you are living the other end of it. How fortunate you and David have each other during this difficult transition. You are in my prayers.

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    1. Get ready for more English garden posts. I have a whole line up of gardens we visited over the years and may be the only garden subject I have to write about.

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  11. Can't imagine how hard it is for both you and David to leave such a beautiful spot. The waiting only intensifies the difficulties. Observe and enjoy every detail while you wait.

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    1. Yes! It's hard. We are enjoying breakfast outside every morning and know how much we will miss that one small aspect of having a garden.

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  12. Jenny, I wish you and David all the best in the next chapter of your lives. Your garden has been an inspiration to me for years. The fact that the two of you did it all yourselves and maintained such a large garden is even more of an inspiration. This is one of the 4 garden blogs that I still check regularly for updates. If you have the time, I would really enjoy seeing a post of some of your favorite pictures of your garden over the years. Another post that would be interesting is to see some before and after pictures. You garden has always looked great, even after hail storms and deep freezes. I am not sure I have ever seen a picture from the beginning when you were just getting started. Take care.

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  13. "A garden is a peaceful, patient place where many things can grow — perhaps, most of all, our hearts." Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I love Rock Rose!

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  14. This is totally understandable. We are beginning to think about moving, too, and I know it will be tough. I hope you'll continue blogging during the transition and after the move, too, as your thoughts and plants and designs are always inspirational.

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  15. Dear Jenny, although not a blogger, only a lover of great garden blogs, I have never written a comment after the numerous virtual strolls through your amazing garden.
    The profusion of flowers and plants, rooms and rocks, walls and water features always amazed me and gave me much pleasure. I should have told you much sooner. All the best things in life come to an end and so it seems to be with your great treasure of a blog. I garden a bit further north between Fort Worth and Dallas.
    Wishing you all the best for your future and saying "Thank you" for sharing your garden and knowledge over the years. With gratitude, Sieglinde

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  16. Your design skills are truly impressive, and you put them to work in a way that really expresses _you_, rather than superficial scene creation for effect. On top of that, your practical horticulture skills are far beyond the average gardener, especially with plants from your tough, distinctive region. Your garden is one of my absolute favorites to "tour". Thank you for sharing so much of it and your knowledge.

    All this makes me confident that when you have a chance to settle in a new place, you'll make a beautiful & expressive garden -- however different the scale. My very best wishes for the wait to be as short and painless as possible.

    I'm heading home today after 10 days in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery. A week of high heat & more coming will have further frizzed up an already unruly picture. I'll just set my eyes on a few tidy vignettes and not look at the big picture

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    1. So kind of you to write such lovely words Nell. I have to say from the short periods I have spent in hospital 10 days in the hospital is a long time. I do hope the surgery was successful and that you will be a cancer survivor. And I hope there is someone there to help you during your recovery. I was fortunate to have David through all the treatment and he was a wonderful caregiver. It is not an easy journey but it does make it more bearable to have good support. Take care and thanks for being a reader of my blog.

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