A Grower Perspective

 Do the fun stuff first. Eat the frosting before the cake. Eat desserts or your favorite things first as you never know what will happen.  In my garden I cut sunflowers and dahlias for cheery bouquets before I even put my gloves on.  Fill your home or work space with colorful joy in the form of bright late summer /early autumn floral beauties.  That done, you may adorn yourself with gloves, kneepads, pruners in hand and head out to spend some pleasant time with your plants. 

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 When I want to take some time to renew my spirit, get some fresh air and have a bit of creative time, I pot up some big pots with a variety of plants from the nursery.  I’m like a kid in a candy shop choosing plants and tucking them together.  As I was out there today, a scene on the Paris streets went through my mind.  I went to Paris once.  It was winter, January to be exact, cold damp.  We never saw the sun or blue sky, but we were in Paris.  The scene was this; outside a lovely florist shop someone was arranging a huge bouquet for I assume something very special.  He had all the flowers and branches laid out around him on the sidewalk and he was using his special touch to put together something of great beauty. So I think of him, and Paris and the bathtub we soaked in every night to warm up after a cool winter day.   

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Last evening after dinner and as dusk was setting in, earlier than usual I might add, I went for a walk along our country road. I needed a quiet moment to clear my mind. Wandering along, I noticed the Queen Ann's Lace growing, thriving, and so extremely beautiful. This delicate plant exists and is glorious in what would seem to be the most adverse conditions, gravel against asphalt, with cars and trucks passing regularly and no water or fertilizer except what drops out of the tall boy beer and coke cans. Yet thrive it does and bloom with flowers that look like the finest lace from the north of France.

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 Now is the time to harvest and prune your lavender plants. What a fragrant job! For some folks this is the culmination of a year of growing and the harvest bringing in flowers, which then turn into sachets, bundles, wreaths and oils. For the home gardener it may mean filling the house with bouquets of sweet scent that will last throughout the winter as a reminder of the sunny summer days.

To prune lavender I use two tools, a hand scythe and hand hedge pruners. I harvest the flowers with the scythe and then shape

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  Walk out and cut some flowers or lots of flowers and make bouquets for all over your home. By doing this you encourage more flowers on your perennials. Just cut today: lavender, white lavender, veronica, grasses, salvia.

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