Oh, Dear....I Forgot

I was going to cut down on my gardening this year...and then.....I started checking my garden catalogs. It was a snowy day and with not to much to do, so I sat with a cup of tea and started looking at the magazines in my basket under the coffee table. There it was...a lone garden catalog. Wayside Gardens. I started to turn the pages even though the little voice in my head said, "Don't do it!" Page after page of beauty that could be in my very own yard this summer. The pages kept turning...things for shady places, plants for sun, unusual plants, new for 2012 plants. They were all there for me to pick from. Last year I decided to just leave my garden beds the way they were...only maintain what I already had. Only plant in containers. Then I kept reading all the garden blogs throughout the summer months and drooled over new varieties that some of you were trying for the first time. Beautiful pictures of roses, clematis, petunias, and so many others.

I was struggling with the Japanese Beetles at that time and so were you. My moss roses were destroyed, the petunias were full of those nasty pests, the hanging baskets were hanging with clumps of beetles. I had to keep picking them off the roses....and last year wasn't as bad as the previous year. I found that in my own garden the lilies weren't being attacked. So, getting back to the garden catalogs...I decided to go online and check out the lilies. That was my mistake. There they were...Casa Blancas, mixtures of pink colored orientals... all at a reduced price to tempt me even more. They told of the heavy perfume from the lilies, while sitting on your porch. It was like I was intoxicated by their fragrance. "Pick me...Pick me"...they seemed to say. Before I knew it I was filling out the order form and putting my charge card number in. I hit the button and my order was complete. The very nice website said, "Thank you for shopping." I smiled and then I remembered why I hadn't planned to order any flowers. More holes to dig, my aching back, the watering. Oh, dear, the coming in bone tired after a day of planting. Well, it is done and I made my choices. I know how lovely they will be next to my front porch in the evening. I'll have lilies blooming most of the season. Tall ones, short ones...and some in between. When I talk about this to family and friends...I'll just say....."It's my age, I forgot."

Balisha :)