Before I get started, I want to say “ouch John” and I hope your listeners find both Debbie and myself equally nice on air guests. I myself enjoy Debbie’s knowledge and her lovely personality. She always seems upbeat and excited about her topic. I appreciate her contribution to the show and I think your listeners agree. I also hope the listeners have not tired of “our “frequent banter which is done in fun always!
I have truly appreciated the many opportunities I have had over the years and through the many different media formats to share the green heart I have been blessed with as a passion.
Now for Plant Talk: As always, “walk abouts” inspire “blog about”.
With this in mind, I feel the urge to “Re”-view a favorite choice that reliably performs in our Midwest heat and humidity, Bloodflower. I even might go so far as to say this annual asclepia has teetered on the edge of being a complete and total show off this year! With both the bicolor red-gold varieties and the solid selections hitting a peak that can surely be considered a star performance and a Plant of Merit!
More banter:
This conversation then led to Jim and my mutual complaint about the problem with using common names. How confusing and discouraging it must be to hear us recommending to a newbie gardeners with limited knowledge and maybe even shaky expectations, to buy a plant that is clearly titled “weed” even in its name!
Jim and I also went on to a more positive note to discuss a few other of the “solution oriented” beautiful members of this amazing genus, including the muted rose flowering swamp milkweed and the fiery sunset orange flowers of the Missouri native prairie resident butterflyweed . I didn’t even have time to sing the praises of the “is that vanilla pudding cooking on the stove” sweetness of my favorite roadside queen, common milkweed!
I would venture to guess there is an asclepia perfect for anybody’s landscape. Recently some exciting variations have been discovered bred for production and are finally available. Best of all, all of these family members are the food source for Monarch Butterflies! .
SIDE NOTE: Lots of Gardeners seem bent on comparing this year to some other year. I suppose we have all had better years, better times, better plants- I savor those memories too and count with you –let’s toast to our loves, our successes and to years gone by!
PS
It does seem I am not alone in the tendency each year to compare our “memories” of the” perfect plant”, the “perfect year” to now. I think we do that with the memories of our loved ones as well. I admit have found it difficult to give balance and perspective to either since the loss of my sister. I mention this just so that if you fear I am exaggerating, about a perfect plant or a perfect sister I encourage you to reflect on your past loves and see if you do the same!
It seems I have a very emotional connection to my gardening history and my loved ones. (Just ask those who were present at my talk last night-how often has a plant talk brought you to tears?)
Although in no way are the loss of plants equal to the loss of my loved ones, I only recently was able to acknowledge the impact of the losses of both on me, how the compression of time occurred in the process and the effects and the blurring that still occurs from looking at life through my tears.
Maybe it is suppose to be this way. Maybe I need to forget how close to sun stroke I got working in Jeff’s garden a million years ago, the nerves I had that made me sick before my very first presentation, the times I cried, the times I was hurt, and the times I did not think I could do one more thing or hardest of all the time I knew there was nothing more I could do.
Now I can almost smile recalling the spring I moved an entire greenhouse of plants back into the greenhouse for what surely was the 5oth time, the time the model train in the Children’s Garden was found sunk to the bottom of the pond, the times I knew I was facing life changing choices and knew I was going to do what was right over what was easy. I didn’t know how sometimes I was going to keep going, I just knew, if God wanted me to, I would and if He didn’t I wouldn’t.
I am choosing to remember a year the dogwoods seemed to bloom for months, the time the honeysuckle flowers were on the arbor so thick I couldn’t see the foliage, when the summer phlox bloomed so long and hard that their fragrance followed me inside. And how could I forget the fall that the butterflies were so many the hepticodium tree became for me, a study in motion.
As my birthday approaches and I am saddened that my baby sister never got to be my age, I am choosing to seek the joy of the past to balance the pains of aging. I know the miracle of life and look to find the perfect balance of memories and lessons learned to help me know I am here, in the present but she and I will always in God’s Hands.
I have truly appreciated the many opportunities I have had over the years and through the many different media formats to share the green heart I have been blessed with as a passion.
Now for Plant Talk: As always, “walk abouts” inspire “blog about”.
With this in mind, I feel the urge to “Re”-view a favorite choice that reliably performs in our Midwest heat and humidity, Bloodflower. I even might go so far as to say this annual asclepia has teetered on the edge of being a complete and total show off this year! With both the bicolor red-gold varieties and the solid selections hitting a peak that can surely be considered a star performance and a Plant of Merit!
More banter:
This conversation then led to Jim and my mutual complaint about the problem with using common names. How confusing and discouraging it must be to hear us recommending to a newbie gardeners with limited knowledge and maybe even shaky expectations, to buy a plant that is clearly titled “weed” even in its name!
Jim and I also went on to a more positive note to discuss a few other of the “solution oriented” beautiful members of this amazing genus, including the muted rose flowering swamp milkweed and the fiery sunset orange flowers of the Missouri native prairie resident butterflyweed . I didn’t even have time to sing the praises of the “is that vanilla pudding cooking on the stove” sweetness of my favorite roadside queen, common milkweed!
I would venture to guess there is an asclepia perfect for anybody’s landscape. Recently some exciting variations have been discovered bred for production and are finally available. Best of all, all of these family members are the food source for Monarch Butterflies! .
SIDE NOTE: Lots of Gardeners seem bent on comparing this year to some other year. I suppose we have all had better years, better times, better plants- I savor those memories too and count with you –let’s toast to our loves, our successes and to years gone by!
PS
It does seem I am not alone in the tendency each year to compare our “memories” of the” perfect plant”, the “perfect year” to now. I think we do that with the memories of our loved ones as well. I admit have found it difficult to give balance and perspective to either since the loss of my sister. I mention this just so that if you fear I am exaggerating, about a perfect plant or a perfect sister I encourage you to reflect on your past loves and see if you do the same!
It seems I have a very emotional connection to my gardening history and my loved ones. (Just ask those who were present at my talk last night-how often has a plant talk brought you to tears?)
Although in no way are the loss of plants equal to the loss of my loved ones, I only recently was able to acknowledge the impact of the losses of both on me, how the compression of time occurred in the process and the effects and the blurring that still occurs from looking at life through my tears.
Maybe it is suppose to be this way. Maybe I need to forget how close to sun stroke I got working in Jeff’s garden a million years ago, the nerves I had that made me sick before my very first presentation, the times I cried, the times I was hurt, and the times I did not think I could do one more thing or hardest of all the time I knew there was nothing more I could do.
Now I can almost smile recalling the spring I moved an entire greenhouse of plants back into the greenhouse for what surely was the 5oth time, the time the model train in the Children’s Garden was found sunk to the bottom of the pond, the times I knew I was facing life changing choices and knew I was going to do what was right over what was easy. I didn’t know how sometimes I was going to keep going, I just knew, if God wanted me to, I would and if He didn’t I wouldn’t.
I am choosing to remember a year the dogwoods seemed to bloom for months, the time the honeysuckle flowers were on the arbor so thick I couldn’t see the foliage, when the summer phlox bloomed so long and hard that their fragrance followed me inside. And how could I forget the fall that the butterflies were so many the hepticodium tree became for me, a study in motion.
As my birthday approaches and I am saddened that my baby sister never got to be my age, I am choosing to seek the joy of the past to balance the pains of aging. I know the miracle of life and look to find the perfect balance of memories and lessons learned to help me know I am here, in the present but she and I will always in God’s Hands.
His,
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