Below you will find a photo of peonies that bloomed in my garden this morning. For some reason this is a once in three years occurrence so I greet each bloom with excitement. They are among the most beautiful peonies I have seen, and the scent is intoxicating. I have been a gardener for as long as I can remember. Growing up in a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, I remember my mother at work with her roses, about 50 bushes of various varieties, secateurs in hand as she deadheaded, debudded (to leave only one rose on a stem) and carefully removed aphids and other undesirable pests. My grandfather who spent a third of every year with us always wore a fresh rosebud in the lapel of his suit jacket. When I was an adolescent I was given the rock garden as my provenance and loved to plan and plant and move rocks. My nemesis was the snails who shared my rock garden. Johannesburg, situated on a plateau at 6,00 feet, and with a temperate climate, dry heat and usually reliable summer rain, is an Eden for gardeners. There is one drawback, cyclical drought and with it watering restrictions, so every seven years gardeners watch their hard work, manicured lawns and the beauty they created wither and die. In the suburbs drilling for artesian water sources was a flourishing business.
As a young wife and mother I had first a pocket garden with an almost sub-tropical micro-climate due to a sunny vantage and thick white washed walls. Around giant strelitzes, avocado and mulberry trees the carefullly designed borders flourished. Later I had almost an acre in which to garden and loved every inch of the rich loam in which whatever I planted grew with vigor and beauty.
When we moved to the Boston area many years ago I had to re-examine everything I had learned about gardening. Our first home was a three hundred year old carriage house set on an acre of land. We had hundred year old giant beeches on the property. The land itself had been neglected for years, but with care and attention a garden will emerge with alacrity from underneath the undergrowth and weeds. As I uncovered flower beds, dug and sowed, the garden returned to some of its previous glory. From spring to autumn we ate fresh produce from the rescued and resuscitated cold frame beds. I planted strawberries around the swimming pool, hosta in the shady areas and a riot of day lilies wherever I could. I learned to accept the cycle of the year, and reluctantly return my gardening tools to their permanent place in the garage each November. Come February the catalogs arrived and soon I would have spindly seedlings growing under lights.
I planted myself in American soil in bringing that garden back to life.
Now I have a much smaller garden again. It is all I want to manage. For me little else in life compares to the satisfaction of caring for a flower bed of rich dark soil where every plunge of the weeding fork or hand spade reveals not only the roots of the weed but wriggling earth worms too. Then you know you have an arable patch and the result is glorious peonies like these.
Good dispatch and this mail helped me a lot in my college assignment. Thank you on your information.
This is probably the most amazing blogs Ive go through in a quite prolonged time. The amount of info in here is amazing, like you practically wrote the book around the subject matter. Your weblog is great for any individual who desires to comprehend this subject much more. Great things; please maintain it up!
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.
Thanks for a great blog!
Awesome read, well done
We just couldnt leave your website before saying that we genuinely enjoyed the high quality information you offer for your visitors… Would be back frequently to check up on new stuff you post!
Great web site I shall bookmark it and come back later.
Thumbs up for energy invested in making all of this.
I really enjoyed this post. I have even bookmarked it to help your pages improve in the serps. Keep up the good work!
Very well articulated thank you.
Excellently written my friend!
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this. Thanks for all the enthusiasm to extend such helpful information on this post. I love to comment on your blog sir.
This is my second visit to this blog. I am thinking about starting a brand new blog in the same category. This blog provided me with information to work with. (Don’t worry, I won’t be copying you :)) You have done a good job.
It’s really a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
Seeing that i have been exploring temporarly for a pleasant study with reference to this one topic . Researching in Yahoo I lastly came across this web site. Reading these details I am relieved to convey that I get a good uncanny feeling I came across precisely what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to remember this web-site and check it out consistently.
Hi, good day. Wonderful post. You have gained a new subscriber. Pleasee continue this great work and I look forward to more of your great blog posts.
Hi we real1y enj0y ur fantastic web site
Wow, this was a really quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a lot and never seem to get something done.
I have been exploring for a reference to this one topic . Researching in Yahoo I came across this web site. Reading these details I am pleased to convey that I get a good uncanny feeling that I came across precisely what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to remember this web-site and check it out consistently.
I’d just like to tell you how much I learnt from reading blogs Tweeted you.Hope 2 be back in the near future for some more good articles
Beautiful blog with nice informational content. This is a really interesting and informative post. Good job! keep it up, hope to read your other updates. Thanks for this nice sharing.
Cool site bookmarked u thanks
Where may I purchase this particular page layout?
I as well conceive therefore , perfectly written post! .
This domain appears to get a great deal of visitors. How do you advertise it? It offers a nice unique twist on things. I guess having something real or substantial to post about is the most important factor.
Thanks for the one of the best blogs i have encountered in a long time.
I have been reading a lot on here the topic On Gardening | janetlevine.com inspired me, i have picked up some really great ideas. Thanks and i hope to see more soon.
Bookmarked your website. Thank you for sharing. Definitely worth the time away from my workload.
Hello, i´m beginning with rss subscriptions. Now i can stay current with your site and especially the topic On Gardening | janetlevine.com now, really a nice feature. Thanks, Zahn-Ersatz
What a great blog. I spend days on the internet reading blogs, about tons of different subjects. I have to first of all give kudos to whoever created your website and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an amazing post. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only a few posses and frankly you have it. The combination of informative and quality content is definitely extremely rare with the large amount of blogs on the internet.
What a great blog. I spend days on the internet reading blogs, about tons of different subjects. I have to first of all give kudos to whoever created your website and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an amazing post. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only a few possess and frankly you have it. The combination of informative and quality content is definitely extremely rare with the large amount of blogs on the internet.
i’m continually wandering all around the internet virtually all of the time as a result I usually tend to browse a bunch, which unfortunately is not generally a good matter as the largest part of the web pages I see are constructed of pointless nonsense copied from several other internet sites a thousand times, nevertheless I have to give you credit this site is truely readable and even delivers a bit of authentic material, so many thanks for breaking the trends of simply replicating other peoples’ blogs 🙂
Keep up the good work. Everyone is open to their opinion. Excellent blog here, i am still reading
I just found this blog a while back when a friend suggested it to me. I have been a regular reader ever since.
You should definitely write more about this! Please!
Hey! I want to wish you very Merry Christmas. I believe that new year will be more happy for us. It is good opportunity to make some plans for the future and it is time to be pleased. I have read your post and if I could I would suggest you valuable advice. Perhaps you can publish more posts referring to this one. I want to read more information about it!
very good post, i actually love this web site, carry on it
Regards for this fantastic post, I am glad I discovered this site on yahoo.
Great post.Really thank you! Want more.
Major thankies for the blog post.Really thank you! Really Cool.
this was a really quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this also – taking time and real effort to make a good article. Really what I needed. Thanks I have been looking for this sort of info for a long time.
Thanks for sharing the link, but unfortunately it seems to be down… Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please answer to my post if you do!
I was very pleased to find this web-site.I wanted to thanks for your time for this wonderful read!!
We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable information to work on. You have done an impressive job and our entire community will be grateful to you.
Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here
Extremely rated post. I learn something totally new on completely different blogs everyday. Deciding on one . stimulating to read the paper content from different writers and study slightly one thing from their website. I’d like to apply certain of this content on my weblog you’re mind. Natually I’ll give a hyperlink here we’re at your internet-site. Recognize your sharing.
Great job here. I definitely enjoyed what you had to say. Keep heading because you undoubtedly bring a new voice to this subject. Not many people would say what youve said and still make it interesting. Properly, at least Im interested. Cant wait to see extra of this from you.
I really enjoy the blog.Much thanks again.
Quite a beautiful website. I built mine and i was looking for some design ideas and your website gave me some. Did you develop the website alone?
Thanks for taking the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If doable, as you achieve experience, would you mind updating your blog with additional data? This can be very useful for me.