The Last Blooms

Last night I went and cut flowers from my garden. Now that summer is coming to a close in about three weeks, I wanted to enjoy the flowers inside. This is the first summer I've been able to have both flowers inside and outside of my dwelling.

I made the mistake of putting cat mint into the bouquet. Since the cats leave the cat mint alone outside, I thought they wouldn't bother with it inside. As I was trying to take the picture, Dryad kept hopping up on the table trying to eat the flowers. I was finally able to take a fairly good picture, but during the course of the evening both cats kept trying to get at the cat mint, so I moved them over to my altar. Later Paul said he had to take Dryad off the altar. Silly me, I thought they would be safe on the altar.

Flowers bring me joy. And I can't explain why. For me the pedals are a reminder of perfect beauty that does not have to be altered. I am hoping that next year, I'll have a whole yard full of wild flowers, roses, lilies that border by lawn in the back. If you came to my yard, it doesn't look like I'd have enough flowers to make a bouquet, but I do. They are just spread out all over.

I admit, I'm making up this prayer garden thing as I go along. My dad's neighbor has this plant, Delphinia, that I had been admiring all summer long. She said she'd give me seeds from the pedals that have withered. Her Delphinia is tall with beautiful royal blue flowers, it almost looks like a foxglove, but the opening is smaller.

As summer comes to an end, I'll be able to enjoy the last blooms of the hibiscus and the dahlias. In the fall before the frost I'll plant some bulbs and clean out the flower beds for their winter rest. Then my husband and I (probably with my husband doing most of the work) will kill off our front lawn, which is mostly weeds and replant. I'd like an actual lawn to sit on a nice green small lawn when the weather gets nicer.

Meanwhile this gives me time to make a plan for the garden. Choosing the plants and flowers and the layout. During the fall and winter I can work on the inside or my home creating more sacred spaces and maybe learning to cook new recipes I hadn't tried before. The last of the blooms puts me in a reflective mood of what I can do during the fall and winter seasons.

In the meantime, does anyone have any advice on how to get rid of overgrown ivy?

In Serenity and Joy
Andrea