The Rain Came Down and the Flowers Came Out!

After an abundance of dry weather, the rains have come and stayed. You will not hear a complaint from me, though, because after all, this is Mobile Alabama, and for as long as I can remember, back to my childhood even, the rains are daily summer occurance. My happy garden loves the rain as well. Little bare roots that were only a promise of future beauty are now real live plants, thanks to the daily deluge. Roses bloom, all things grow, and the sun manages to be here daily in abundance as well! I finally took the opportunity to get some pictures of my garden. I haven't yet figured out exactly how to post them individually here in my blog, but for now just go to Garden Pictures 1 or Garden Pictures 2 or Garden Pictures 3 or Garden Pictures 4.

Jim has referred to me as the Eclectic Gardener. My brand new Yahoo website explains why!

Down Came the Rain

We live in an area of the country that is blessed with sunshine, plentiful rain, and oppressive humidity in the summer. Ever since we began our garden, we have had days and days, weeks and weeks, even months without significant rainfall. The grass is dying, daily watering has been a necessity, but endless days of good planting weather followed us into our venture. Jim recently purchased some hose dedicated for the garden which has helped tremendously. Trekking through brush and stickers both from above and below made this part of our garden a bit of a challange, but so worth the effort in the end. I lopped and pulled and sweated and even bled a little from encounters with unfriendly vines, but they didn't stop me as I made my way through the jungle we call "the bushes behide the pool. You know, by PeeWee's fence?" We have been in our house here in Mobile for fourteen years in October, and only once have I cleared that area. It's a big job, one which is next on our list of yard improvements when the garden is established. In the mean time, we continue to lop a little here and there, enough to accomplish whatever the immediate task may be. This time it was the laying of a hose, and the results were just what I hoped they would be. I now have water whenever I need it, to attend personally to the needs of each tender plant as it becomes acclimated to what is becoming our Happy Garden.

Yesterday brought rain. I thought at first that it would be an insignificant amount, but we were blessed with a plentiful rainfall, replete with thunderings and lightnings - enough to end the party going on in our pool when Jim and I returned from lunch out with our friends Mike and Gayle at the Original Oyster House out on the causeway. (The wind preceding the rain was something to experience as we sat in that restaurant wondering if the roof would be blown off at any moment!) When we arrived home we found the pool full of grandchildren and sons-in-law, both official and honorary, as daughters were visiting, somewhat protected from the rain in our glider, the top of which they had hastily covered with a tarp. It was a pleasant scene, but increasing rain and the beginnings of the electrical storm brought it to a close. The sun did return in abundance later in the afternoon.

So today, as I make my ritual early morning computer visit, I check the weather on my Yahoo page and discover that today will be storming. Better get out to visit my baby plants while I have a chance!