Gifts of the Earth

I have been far too preoccupied with "indoor matters" of late, so today I decided it was time for me to simply go outside for a little while. It was a beautiful day, so I decided to get in touch with my yard.

What prompted this little promenade? Well, one of the things I have wanted to do is to plant as many of the Celtic Trees of the Year in my yard as I can. Given that I already have a few Rowans and Birches, I was thinking I'd go to a local "woodsy" area and see if I could adopt a Hawthorn. I was thinking this very thing when I started up my driveway and noticed a very familiar-looking bush growing out of a narrow patch of earth between the asphalt of the driveway and the concrete retaining wall.

Sure enough: it's a Hawthorn. I'm going to have to transplant it, though, because it won't survive where it is. It's taller than I am, but is bent over, unable to spread its roots enough to support itself. I am a little afraid to try to move it (after all, I'm practically herbicide in human form), but I think it will die where it is if I don't at least try.

After discovering the Hawthorn that had been under my nose all this time, I decided to take that little life lesson and spend some time looking around.

Being early July, the wild strawberries in my front lawn are growing like mad. (They are also very tasty -- much better than the ones I bought at the grocery store on Saturday.)

I looked at the blueberries, and they are coming along nicely. A few more weeks and I can harvest them to go along with my breakfast cereal.

The roses in the backyard are blooming, much to the delight of the many bumblebees. It smells heavenly back there by the rose bush -- so much so that I nearly forgot my fear of snakes in the long grass. (I'm not really one for snakes at all, and spiders bigger than my thumbnail need not apply, either.)

Some of the roses are past their prime, but many are still in bud, so I'll be able to enjoy them for several weeks to come.

Our rose bush is quite wild, and I think I like it that way. It's big and rambling and thoroughly untamed. Just looking at it makes me happy.

There are other flowers in the yard as well, although most gardeners would just refer to them as "weeds".

I've loved buttercups ever since I was a kid, holding them under my friends' chins to see the yellow reflection tint the skin. Is it just me, or were things a lot simpler then? This sense of nostalgia is probably a sure sign that I'm getting old.

The other thing I remembered doing as a child was picking daisies and placing them in water that was tinted with food colouring. The daisies would draw the coloured water up into their stalks and gradually the white petals would change colours. When you are six years old, that's magic!

The last flowers I took pictures of are of a completely unknown variety to me. All I know is that rabbits love to eat them! They grow so thickly that it's almost like tall flowering grass instead of individual stalks. I think they're so dainty and pretty.

One of these days I'll get around to planting a proper garden in my yard. But for now, I think I will simply enjoy the one that Gaia has planted for me.