My Beautiful Garden

~ Posted: 29 December 2015 ~
 
Awhile back, a friend suggested that I don’t do post about my plants on my blog and I lost my confidence for a time.  But to be quite honest, I can’t resist sharing the beauty of my garden with others.  My garden helps me get out of my bubble regularly and gives real meaning to my life.  It refreshes me and inspires me... rejuvenates and uplifts me. 
 
Once again I am reminded of one of my favourite Frankl quotes:
 
“In life the opportunities to address oneself to this or that group of values vary from hour to hour. Sometimes life demands of us the realization of creative values; at other times we feel it necessary to turn to the category of experiential values. At one time we are called upon, as it were, to enrich the world by our actions, another time to enrich ourselves by our experiences. Sometimes the demands of the hour may be fulfilled by an act, at another time by our surrendering to the glory of an experience. Man can be “obligated” to experience joy. In this sense a person sitting in a streetcar who has the opportunity to watch a wonderful sunset, or to breathe in the rich scent of flowering acacias, and who instead goes on reading his newspaper, could at such a moment be accused of being neglectful toward his obligations” (Frankl 1986:45)

I think it’s important to share on my blog about the things that I love to do and that make me feel good about myself.  After all, I am not just an adult survivor of child abuse that experiences day to day struggles, but also a person who has values that are meaningful to me and that make me who I am today. 
 
Paradoxically, I inherited my love of gardening from my abusive mother... she used to create the most beautiful gardens, so she too, was not JUST an adult survivor of child abuse, and she was not JUST a horrible abuser who hurt her children severely on a daily basis.  Mother also had some ‘good’ values that helped her to cope and that brought moments of beauty and sanity into her own messed up world. 
 
I am truly grateful for inheriting “green fingers” from her, because without time spent in my beautiful garden, I just don’t know how I’d cope with living in this ‘isolation bubble’ with my frequent bouts of depression.
 
Vegetables:  Here are pictures of the beautiful red onions I dug up from my little garden recently, and the butternut plant that I never planted, that is growing in my garden right now. 
 
I always say that the plants that surprise me by coming up on their own, were planted by Heaven and so I make sure to take extra special care of them.  So far, we have four large butternuts on the vine which I have growing upright.  I also grow a lot of herbs and try to use them often as a natural way of including vitamins and minerals in my diet.

Fruit:  Besides tree tomatoes (tamarillos) and a lemon tree, I also grow strawberries on strawberry towers that my son in law made for me.  It is the first time I’ve tried this and already know what mistakes I have made so that if I ever do them again, I will have a better idea of how to plant them correctly for best results.

Flowers:  I am very excited about my beautiful star flowers.  In the picture, the pentagon shaped bud opened today and that is one I’ve had for a while. I love it so much... it’s a stunning and very unusual flower and a hardy plant.  But to my surprise, there are two long buds suddenly growing out of what looks like the same plant.  I am really hoping they are a different maroon star flower that my friend, Helen, had in her garden when she gave me cuttings about a year ago.  It has never flowered so I thought I’d missed it or maybe it died, so talk about excited... I can’t wait for it to open to see what it is! I’ve marked the buds with a red arrow.

The third type of star flower that I have, which is open at the moment is a much smaller and quite different version of the other one... this little one attracts ‘pet flies’ so must have a stinky smell to is.  No flies in this shot though.  I absolutely love star flowers and would love to have all of the many different varieties, shapes, sizes and colours of them... they are very beautiful to me!  I hope I inspire some of my readers to find and grow these too, because they are so easy to grow from my experience so far!

Over the last few days, these beautiful oriental lilies, given to me by my sister-in-law last summer, have started to bloom for the first time.  They are magnificent with their huge flowers and beautiful scent.  I delight in seeing them... they are a lovely experience to behold... totally gorgeous!

So now, for those who read my previous post a while back about my orchids, you will remember that my first orchid to open was a beautiful white one.  At the time I was waiting for my second one to open and it finally did.  It was a lovely green one and all the flowers lasted for ages for which I was very pleased.  Take a look also at the lovely one that I’d given to my daughter before it bloomed.  It eventually opened with a mass of pink flowers... not sure if you’d call that pink, but whatever happens, it is beautiful and she loves it.

Well, that’s my garden news for now.  Stay tuned for the opening of the ?-star flower buds... I will definitely post a picture of them when they finally open... soon I hope.

Goodnight beautiful world... and to all who are waking up on the other side of the world, have a very happy day.  I hope I have inspired you to look around you at the beauty of nature as you go about your day and I hope you will feel as refreshed by doing so as I do in my lovely garden.

~ Pana