Weeding For Peace!!!

A little over a month ago, I shared the story about a Guerrilla Gardening adventure that I had with a few of my friends - http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2010/05/guerrillas-are-on-attack-again.html. We got together to plant Day Lilies, in the shape of a peace symbol, close to a railway track so that the train passengers would see our inspirational garden!

Last week, I thought I would go and pay a visit to this area to see how the flowers were coming along…


This is what I found!!!!

The entire area had filled in with grasses, Golden Rod, Milkweeds and other plants that had been growing here for many years. They are all about 20” high, now! I did expect this, but maybe not to this extreme.

When I was deciding on the location for our planting I spent a bit of time studying all the dead plants from the previous year. This gave me a few clues as to what would be growing in the area this year. I was looking for an area that was filled with mostly grasses, so that our flowers would be able to grow without too much competition. I was partially successful.


It took me about ten minutes to find the Day Lilies that we had planted. They were struggling for light, as the surrounding plants were dominating. I decided that if I wanted to see our flowers survive that I would have to do a little weeding.

I pulled all the plants that were within 16” of the Day Lilies. I kept the weeds in small fisted bundles and carefully laid them on the ground at the edge of this area, thinking that they would help to make the peace symbol more visible, when this job was finished.


I figured that by weeding in this manner I would accomplish two things. #1 – the Day Lilies would have a chance to grow and be strong. #2 – even though I’m only expecting a few lilies to flower this year – next year they will flower ten times more – the peace symbol will still be recognizable from a distance.

After an hour and a half of soiling my knees as I crawled around on the ground weeding, I had to leave. The rest of this work would have to wait until I had time to return.


And return I did - just yesterday, after work!!!! It was drizzling rain when I arrived and another hour and a half later, with close to thirty mosquito bites now covering my arms and legs, I was finished!


A few of the lilies had died, but for the most part I was rather pleased with how they were coming along. I inspected each plant and was delighted to see that several of them had sprouted flower buds! I have no doubt that this garden and the two other gardens that I planted around London, will need a bit more love and care over the next few years, but it’ll be worth it in the end. I have plans for adding more flowers to each garden, as each year passes and in a few years these peace gardens should be the dominating growth in each of the three areas!


It was quite a climb, getting to this height to take this photo. I climbed all the way to where the train tracks go by to see what train passengers might see if they happened to be looking down into this field. Not half bad – eh????!!


What’s that? You couldn’t see the peace symbol. Okay! Here’s another photo with my camera set to ‘zoom in’!

This peace garden will be the most work, out of the three gardens. I’ve been watching the other two gardens growing steadily over the last month – as I drive by each of them daily – and they will need a bit of weeding, too, but not to this extreme. The other two gardens were planted in grasses, mostly, so they should take a bit less work to keep them thriving.

I hope to have those gardens tended to in the next few weeks and I’ll be sure to bring my camera so I can take pictures to share with you.

Until again,

Be Green! Be Peaceful!!

Jim

Hail Nature And Be Hailed!!!

Recently I’ve mentioned how different parts of Canada have received some unusual and unseasonal weather. About five days ago, Calgary had been blasted with another winter storm with temperatures that plummeted while the snow escalated. I’m wondering if it was that cold air mass that brought the wicked hail storm to London, yesterday afternoon.

For the last week or so, we’ve been enjoying a lot – I should actually say A LOT – of sunshine and blue skies, here in London, Ontario. We’ve had so much sun and so little rain that some of my bushes were beginning to shrivel and patches of my lawn were turning brown.

Yesterday was the same. The weather forecast was calling for some rain with some possible thunderstorms for the afternoon.

It was 2:00pm and I was enroute to my high school to pick up the students when the sky turned from clear blue to white huge clouds then dark and black clouds – in a matter of minutes. It started to rain. A few seconds had passed and the sky started to change colours again, only this time I was seeing greens and orangey yellows scattered across the sky. Then it started to hail! Oh my! Did it hail! My bus was filled with all the echoes of these rather large bullets of frozen rain – I couldn’t hear anything else.

This storm last for about fifteen minutes and then the skies began to clear… for a few minutes. I finished my route and returned home for half an hour and I couldn’t believe what I saw.


The roads had turned green. The hail was so furious that it had ripped thousands of leaves off of all the trees. I grew concerned as I neared my home.


Parts of my lawn were still covered in small piles of hail and then I started to inspect my plants and flowers to see what had survived.


Twenty minutes ago, these hostas filled this space with their strong green leaves. Now, they had been reduced to a mess of slaughtered leaves and broken stems.


Hostas have very strong leaves, so it was quite a surprise to see the amount of damage that this storm caused.


My inspection took me into my back gardens and my eyes widened in disbelief. Boy – I thought that the Maple tree keys had been a problem! Now my lawn was covered – or I should say COVERED – in ripped and torn leaves.



I looked up into the tree and it looked almost naked! I would guess that over half of all the leaves had been torn from this tree. Usually when I look up into this tree I can’t see the sky. Now, I can see the sky quite clearly.


All of my flower gardens look like an ugly monster tromped through them before dumping bags of leaves on them. It’s going to be quite a chore cleaning up after this fifteen minute storm.


A few of my bean plants were destroyed, but I should still get a healthy crop. Most of the seedlings are still in the process of breaking through the soil, so I was glad for that. But my tomato plants!!!! Will they bounce back?


And my Marigolds, my beautiful yellow and red Marigolds!!!! It was enough to make me want to cry! I shook my head and thought about how out of ‘our’ control Mother Nature really is.

I think that it’s moments like these that help us put our relationship with the Earth into its proper perspective!

Jim

From A Bug’s Point Of View

I’ve been sharing stories about all the gardens that I’ve been planting throughout this spring and I’ve stated that because the roots and tubers are healing this year, I won’t be seeing a whole lot of flowers – some… not a lot. Because of this fact I’ve been taking photos of my flowers using a macro setting on my camera. Here are some of the highlights, so far this year…


In the early spring the Daffodils came into bloom with these other flowers – I don’t their name. I like how the yellows and bluey-purples compliment each other.


I was able to capture this interesting photo when the small flowers went to seed. Even the death of a flower can be beautiful!


A few weeks had passed and in this same garden – at the far end of our backyard – another patch of bluey-purple and yellow flowers began to bloom.


Both of these photos were taken just after the first three Irises had bloomed.

Just two days ago, the yellow Irises began to open up to drink in the warmth – actually hot (We’ve broken some records for the unseasonable highs we’ve reached already this year. Last night, on the news, there were stories about how Calgary just got some more snow, and how the farmers near Winnipeg can’t plant their crops because of all the flooding.) - of the sun.


Even when I’m using the macro setting on my camera, I am always thinking of the background of the final image.


The main focus of this photograph is obviously the flower, but by filling the image with the out-of-focus shapes of the background, flavours are added. In this photo you can feel the coolness of the dark shades of grass and the warmth of the evening sun as it breaks into the distance. A person – that’s Joanne – is relaxing in the background and that adds an emotion to the photo.


Irises are made of soft curvy lines, intricately laced with flowing veins of darker hues. It is this fact that makes this photo so interesting – even with all the curves, straight lines can still be found to divide the photo in interesting ways.


This is what a patch of Irises looks like after I’ve played around with a few PhotoShop texture settings on my computer.


Not too far away grows my Hosta patch. The evening sun cast some interesting shadows into this area helping to create this textured photo.


The evening sun also played a crucial part in this simple and relaxing photo of a small bush. Again, I spent a bit of time considering the background of this image. I’ve slightly tilted my horizon and I’ve included my wheelbarrow and a part of a lounge chair to show that gardens are a place of work as well as relaxing!


I moved the lounge chair to be included in this photo showcasing my growing Day Lily patch. I’ve straightened out my horizon line to create a dramatic horizontal break in this photo, using my 1/3 divide rule. The different shades of dark reds and purples in the background really add to the yumminess of this photo!!!


As this evening’s sun was setting I was quite taken by the contrasts of light and shadow that were created as the sun lit the sky behind my neighbour’s beautiful White Pine. This time I took my camera off of the macro setting and I zoomed in, instead. Again, I had a bit of fun enhancing the artistic quality of this image using my computer!


Taking a short walk to the south side of my backyard we’ll see that a huge patch of Forget-Me-Nots is thriving very well. By keeping in mind the 1/3 or as it kinda looks in this photo the 1/5 rule used for creating division in a photograph an ordinary scene can be made to look a little more interesting.


Here is a super close-up.


This is a photo taken from the gardens at the front of our house. I’m not sure what this flower is called, but it’s colouring is very nice and the shapes of the leaves are anciently interesting – they look like they’ve been around since the age of the dinosaur. Notice the placement of the Bleeding Heart flowers in the background, as they add a brilliant pink to compliment the foreground.


This is a flower that I started learning about just last year. I’ve learned how to split them, care for its roots and I’ve learned a bit about what kind of shade and sun it likes to grow in. The next thing that I need to learn about this flower is its name!!!


Well, I hope that you have enjoyed this macro tour of my flower gardens. As you can tell, I enjoy doing a lot of crawling around on my hands and knees looking for the perfect photographs to share with you. I hope that I may have inspired a few of you to take a closer look at the colours and shapes that surround us in our day to day lives. Beauty is all encompassing – you just need to take the time to see it!!!!!

Jim

Hypnotized By Peace

You are feeling very relaxed.


Thoughts of peace


are entering your mind.


Your eyes are opening.


Your heart is expanding.


A gentle calm


is washing through your soul.


Colours look brighter.


Sounds are clearer.


You feel a connection


growing inside of you


linking you to all the people of the world


all the animals of the world


all the vegetation of the world


all the air of the world


all the water of the world


and all the fire of the world.


You are understanding


that you have a reason


you have a purpose


and that you are a solution.


You are a warrior


with the light of the universe


within you.


Your path


is yours alone


but you are never alone.


The spirits of peace


light your way during your darkest hour


so that you can light the way


for others during their darkest hour.


You are inspiration.


You are motivation.


You are dedication.


You are peace.

Jim