MORNINGS IN MY GARDEN

Woof and I tend to get up early...usually around the crack of 9. My partner is long gone by then....he loves to get an early start on his day, make the coffee and sail out the door whistling all the way. I've always believed in that old saying "early to bed..late to rise". Woof and I head to the backyard to survey the kingdom. She checks the perimeter for traces of overnight visitors, and I wander into my new little greenhouse and turn on the fans, and wonder again why the banana tree seeds still haven't sprouted. Last year I planted seeds and ended up with gigantic six feet tall ornamental banana trees.

Next we check out the garden...me with coffee in hand and her with her sniffer in high gear. The primroses are about finished, but the pansies and impatiens have taken their space. I have one of those late "lilacs" blooming now...they sure look the same but I don't like their scent. Word has it that there's a new type available...that blooms all summer...like the "endless summer" hydrangeas that really do bloom again and again. I'll believe it when I see it...and smell it.

The foxgloves are really tall and beautiful this year, which is surprising. They seed themselves, and sometimes appear but usually don't. The Iris are in full glorious bloom...my friend Mark loves the "Steeler" variety...gold and nearly black. I love the sky blue and white ones. My big old crepe myrtle died suddenly a few years ago, but now I see shoots coming up from the old roots.

My garden is a series of winding paths, and what I see blooming around each corner even surprises me. There's something about walking through a garden rather that looking at it that has always been my favorite way to experience these wonderful havens of nature. I end up on my old stone bench where noone can see me, while Woof sits beside me in the cool grass  path and we talk about all the things we ought to get started on for the day. Most of the time she convinces me to just sit there for a little while longer. Her idea is not to sit there and think...but just to sit there.