I need to “remember” to practice what I preach…

I used to be in the habit of regularly telling myself, “you can do just about anything, Jan, if you just take your time.”  But that kind of fell by the wayside, as do  most things with me.  I’m old(er), I forget.  I was getting hubby’s script filled this morning, he has a bug and hasn’t felt well all week.  The clerk asked for my address and I just went blank. I  looked at her with this silly vacant stare and could not remember my street number for anything.  She was about my age, she laughed and said she forgot her phone number and had to speed dial her husband to find out what it was.  Oh, old(er) age is such a hoot!

But back to my story,  I have fleurs sitting in a flat, waiting to plant.  Most of them can wait, but I have several  “Peachy Keen Superbenas” that I really wanted to get in the ground, as it’s going to rain all weekend, and there is nothing like rainwater to give plants a good start.

So I loaded Milly up with a trowel, a bucket to sit on, Epson Salts, more about that later, a Diet Coke, my plants, and, with Maggie riding shotgun, we headed for the patio.

I unloaded the golf cart, ensconced Miss Maggie in a comfy chair, took Butterbean out of his rabbit hutch and gave him a snuggle, and finally gathered everything around me and sat down on the bucket to plant the verbena.

Well there were roots, lots and lots and lots of roots, and my trowel wasn’t going through them, and I was thinking, drats, I wish Larry were out here!  But he wasn’t, and then I calmed myself and told myself once again, “you can do just about anything Jan, if you just take your time.”

I wasn’t in a hurry, a gentle breeze was blowing from the north, Maggie was snoozing nearby in the chair, so I just sat there and slowly chipped away at the soil and the roots.  It took me awhile, but they are planted, all ready for the rain, and I smiled to think that it was such a little thing, but it gave me such pleasure to accomplish it.  So just take your time, ladies, chip away a bit at whatever you’re doing, a little at a time, and you’ll get there. 

Oh, about those Epson Salts.  We have a local legend in Heavensville, a great gardener, who’s often on the news programs giving advice, and he said to sprinkle a tablespoon of Epson salt in the hole before you plant your flowers, it’s good for the plants, promotes strong stems, growth and vivid blossoms.  So I sprinkled away, we’ll see what kind of results I get from doing this.

And earlier I was down by the woods, I go every day on Milly, just observe nature, enjoy the smells, the trees, the dappled sunshine.  I took this picture of what I like to think of as “wild fleurs” but they’re probably just “weeds.”  Nevertheless, they’re nature, and they’re so pretty…