Are You Getting Senile?

My friend Nancy and I were talking the other day about our gardens and the weather. Each year we say that we are going to cut down and not plant so many different things. We catch the gardening fever in that cool spring weather and can't go by a garden center without looking. What gardener can just look? We decide to just buy a few petunias...then maybe a geranium, then on to the perennials. It's like an addiction. We plan where we are going to squeeze in just a few plants and get to work. Then after getting down on our old knees and spending an hour or so a day...it's all planted. Now we need to take care of these babies. When it is cool...it is a joy to be out in our gardens taking care of these plants. We sit on our porches and admire the beauty all around us. Now summer starts. It's either the heat, rain, or bugs that spell doom for many of our plants. We work so hard in the early spring, getting things looking as close to perfection as we can.....then one day in July..the wind shifts and we get the oppressive heat and humidity that only we in the Midwest experience. It gets so miserable that we hardly want to go out. We wait until evening (when we are bone tired) and run (can you see two old ladies running?) out to the hose.We give things a squirt and run back into the house. Our hanging plants are now drooping plants....they perk up after a drink of water. We both like some fresh veggies in our yards....what is that on my tomatoes...Japanese Beetles!!! We run (there we go again) to the faucet and fill a bucket with soapy water and go out to kill those suckers. The lawn is drying now and will soon be a shade of beige. Crispy feeling under our bare feet. The flowers planted around the mailbox are hanging on. The road was recently tarred and graveled...the poor plants have been bombarded with gravel and spits of tar. Glad I planted day lilies there...they are a tough plant and will take abuse. We go to sit on the porch and the air is so thick you could cut it with a knife. The cushions are damp and feel good against our bodies. August is coming....ahhh the dog days and then wonderful September. I told her that next year when I say I'm going to buy some plants she should say, "Don't you remember last year? Are you getting senile?" I was thinking later, after the phone conversation, that maybe this is what keeps us going. Gardening is a passion for me. The little ups and downs during July and August are good for me. I keep on plugging away and filling my beds so full that the weeds just say forget it. I get exercise and use my brain and except for the few days in these two months....I am happy. Yesterday found me researching some new lily bulbs to plant for next year. Nancy do you hear me? Give me a phone call before I order and say, "Are you getting senile?"

Balisha