[at-l] OT - White Picket Fence Dreams

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 11:08 AM 11/9/2005 -0500, Jan Leitschuh wrote:
>Okay, so I've done it. The picture I held in my mind all of the AT, 
>indeed, for years before that, is coming into being. The 
>little-yellow-cottage-in-the-woods is not done yet, but every month brings 
>new paint to the sketches.
>
>This past week I installed the white picket fence with the little arbor 
>gateway. Okay, so I'm a corny romantic traditionalist homebody at the core 
>of my wandering heart. The truth had to come out sometime.
>
>This morning I planted some antique roses - the rosy Zephrine Drouhin, 
>Madame Alfred Carrier (a vigorous white noisette climber, very fragrant) 
>the pink tea Dutchess de Brabant, Souvenir del la Malmaison 
>(old-fashioned, quartered pale pink blossoms that look like lingerie) and 
>Madame Isaac Periere (a raspberry cabbage rose, wonderful scent) and more 
>to drape over the fence. I'll add a few clematis to clamber over them, 
>then start on the perennial bed.
>
>So that's why I've had (as one friend puts it) carpet lint in my shoe 
>treads this year. Just thought I'd share that, since you all knew me when 
>I was homeless.
>
>Oh, and my peas and cabbage are doing just fine, thank you.
>
>Farmer/Homebody Shoe

I'm a gardener too and I find that it brings me closer to nature much as 
hiking does. No, not "wild" nature of course but if you undertake it as an 
exercise in learning to cooperate with nature, to learn what conditions 
promote growth (soil type, watering, nutrients, sun/shade, etc.) of each 
plant it is a very educational exercise and the satisfaction of 
collaborating with Mom Nature is well... very satisfying. I think the 
experience enhances the time I spent in wild areas because I look at the 
wild plants I see in the woods differently as a result of my gardening. I 
should add that I'm an 'informal' gardener. When plants 'volunteer' to 
grown somewhere other than where I originally started them, I let them grow 
where they'd rather be. I routinely leave certain "weeds" in my garden 
wherever they come up. Mullein grows amongst my tomatoes and gladiolas. My 
wife likes milkweed because it attracts butterflies so it grows pretty much 
wherever it wants. When the Quaker Ladies (Bluets), Daisies, Blue Eyed 
Grass and Indian Paint Brush are blooming in the lawn, I mow around them. 
There's time enough for short grass when the blooms are gone.