Thursday, May 12, 2016

Gabriella's Garden


Since my granddaughter Gabby was very young,
we've been gardening together.
Grammy and Gabby playing in the dirt side by side,
planting, watering and making things grow.
I think the first time she helped me plant flowers was that precious
Summertime of her third year of life.
It's hard to believe she is nine years old already.
This beautiful creature so full of her own sunshine and flowers.
A lovely friend of mine from Tanzania, Africa once told me,
in her melodic Swahili accent, that,
"Gardening is in the heart of the individual."
I believe she was right.
It was definitely born in the heart of this child I love so much.
She loves the pansies and viola's because they have little "faces" that
smile up at her.
Then there's the old fashioned pink snapdragons that have always been a favorite;
with their "mouths" she loves to gently squeeze open.
Her school is walking distance from my house.
So yesterday,
after we walked hand in hand together while it sprinkled lightly,
I told her there was a surprise waiting at home.
She was delighted to find a happy mixture of flowers waiting for us.
I did the digging and she did most of the planting.
We talked of many things.
From time to time a worm would surface and Gabby would,
ever so gently,
pick it up and set it aside,
reminding me of the placement so I would not
"hurt the worms when I was digging with the shovel."
Ahhh....
A Gentle Spirit...
Another Nature Lover
&
Animal Whisper
A Girl after My Own Heart.

We had a visitor in the garden.
Rosie thought she just might have a nibble or two.
She lives in my yard, spending all of her days here
lying about in the sunshine or the shade.
One moment she's munching grass,
the next moment she is playing with the dogs.
They chase each other round and round the walnut tree.
I've never seen a wild rabbit stop and get nose to nose with a dog before.
She is not intimidated by me in the least.
When I snapped this picture of her
she was literally at my feet and I was talking to her.
The begonia was the first delicacy she decided upon.
No worries however.
I made a quick trip to purchase some spray - on repellant.
Of course I made sure it won't harm any of the wildlife, especially
Miss Rosie.
We needed this hanging basket too.
The gorgeous color explosion just makes us both feel so happy.
The chives are something we planted several summers ago.
I love it when they start to bloom and sway around in the breeze.
Bobbing their tufted heads of soft, soft purple.
A few variety's of mint have lived happily next door to the chives
for many summers now too.
Even though we have to wait until almost the end of the season for it to bloom,
it does get some pretty purple blossoms.

These ancient lover's keep a watchful eye as the season's come and go,
while the birds dine at the feet.

Our little garden grows just beyond my side kitchen window
so when I sit at the table it's what I see.
While I eat, drink tea, knit and daydream,
I watch the dance of flowers in sunshine and rain,
remembering two sets of hands in the dirt,
side by side,
year after year,
growing older together,
and I am happy.

10 comments:

  1. Danette, uroczy Twój ogródek!!! Ja też mam mały ogród. Rośnie w nim dużo lawendy, są malwy, lilie, róża, są też bratki i goździki. Teraz wysiałam astry. Mam też maliny i borówkę amerykańską. Tego roku posadziłam też sobie gruszę, taką niską, kolumnową. Cieplutko pozdrawiam:)))

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    1. Thank you so much Halina!
      Oh how I would love to see your small garden with its charming lavender, holllyhocks, lilies, roses, pansies and carnations. All of my favorites! I tried to grow raspberries once but failed. They are my favorite. I could eat them all day long. My father had a pear tree when I was a child. I love them. Beautiful things. Take a picture of your sweet garden and your pear tree and post them to your blog soon.
      Love to you,
      Danette

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  2. Danette, na razie niewiele kwiatów u nas kwitnie... zrobię zdjęcia trochę później:)Ja też kocham gruszę i jest też miłym wspomnieniem z dzieciństwa. Przy domu mojej babci rosła grusza aż po dach... z okna można było je zrywać. Uściski ślę:)))

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    1. Thank you for sharing that lovely memory of picking pears from the window with me :-)
      When I was a child my grandfather used to open the window at his kitchen sink to feed his squirrels. Now I feed mine in the tree out front. I should post a picture of that soon.
      I send those hugs right back to you :)))

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  3. Think of all you are teaching your granddaughter about gardening, she will remember all of this for years and hopefully will teach her granddaughter's too. Love the bunny.
    Meredith

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    1. You are so right Meredith. Every single moment I spend with her I am in hopes that she will carry the memories for her lifetime as I do of my beloved grandparents who are all gone but live on forever in my heart and dreams. I'm teaching Gabby things now that I learned from my grandmother's, like gardening and baking. So a piece of my grandmothers live on in her too.

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  4. I wish you lived by me, Danette. You are a kindred spirit.
    I named our first bunny regular Agatha but since then we've had a huge bunny expansion and Bill uses the natural deterrent to keep her kingdom out of our yard.
    Happy weekend, sweetie pie!

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    1. Oh me too Pom Pom! Think of the FUN we would have together with all of our lovely Grandchildren in tow! You are in Colorado, is that right? That's a place I've never been but would love to see the beauty of. Agatha ~ I LOVE it! Some years we have more bunnies that others. Last year we had a Mama who gave birth in the yard to 6 babies and around 4:30 every afternoon she nursed them out in the open for all the world to see. All of the wildlife has no fear of us in our yard. And we have 3 dogs here. My 2 and my In Laws {they live next door and have virtually no yard so their cutey pie uses ours}.
      You have a Happy Weekend to My Good Friend!
      Love,
      Danette

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  5. your garden looks beautiful! IF I were a wild rabbit, I'd like to live there, too. What a treat to have such a tame garden pet!

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    1. Thank you Julie 😊 I still have more planting to do. I have to take it slowly because of my RA. My sweet bunny has new babies in my backyard now. Have you seen them on my Instagram? They will be a week old tomorrow.

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Thank you for taking time to chat with me ~
Your comments make me so Happy!
Have a lovely day.
Danette