A RENEWABLE JOY

By Jim Kittelberger

If you are a gardener or just a garden lover,

this is the time of year you have to love.  Its

time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your,

or someone elses, labor.  We have for the last

few years been planting perennials with a sense

of abandonment.  We, for clarification, are my

wife, Hazel by name, and I.  By rank she is THE

gardener.  I, on the other hand, am the mover of

plants, bushes and other growing things, digger,

opinion giver, and sycophant in my opinions of

"yeah thats great, couldnt be better, or I love it".

I should mention here that by saying garden, I

mean flower garden, not the veggie, practical

garden that helps to sustain you in time of need

and satisfies those cravings for hot radishes,

cold watermelons, and the top of the food chain, the

glorious, red, plump, sweet, king of the garden,

the tomato.  No, I am talking about the other kind

of garden, the one that satisfies another basic

need, the need for beauty in awe-inspiring shapes,

colors, and aromas, that reappear each spring,

to reaffirm the promise of renewal.

This year, like each of the last two, Hazel

proclaimed the work finished, and all we would

have to do from now on is to pull a few weeds

and just enjoy.  Then, just like the last two, not so. 

In the first couple years, she planted all the

gardens around the perimeter of the lawn and

one round garden in the middle of the back

portion.  "Ahh", all the work is done and now all

we need to do is watch what she has wrought. 

As we sit in the shade of tall maple trees in our

Adirondacks sipping on cold iced teas and

discussing the worlds travails, all is well. 

Silence.  I glance over and see THE gardener,

Hazel staring toward the front of the lawn and

I know, I sense, a plan is being formed.  I was

right, the front, middle portion of the lawn was

just that, just lawn.  In Hazels view of the world,

that is blank canvas and her mission is to fill

the canvas with color.  To cement her view, the

local paper is advertising our favorite garden

centers 'fifty percent off sale' on all perennials. 

After filling the autos backseat with flowers,

off we go to our beloved, much visited, home

improvement centers.  We have two, Lowes

and Home Depot and we visit both.  What we

want this time is an arbor.  Home Depot gets the first

chance and they only have plastic, which

doesnt inspire us.  We find a wooden model

at Lowe's that suits us both to a tee.  I dig

deep into my pocket and pay the ransom

and leave the store with the arbor tucked

under my arm.  Everything is unassembled

these days and this is no different.  Fast

forward and it is standing tall and proud in

the formerly blank canvas area awaiting

adornment.  After our return from the fifty

percent off sale we are loaded with yellows,

reds, purples, and one or two red hot pokers,

which looks like it sounds.  We purchased

trumpet flower vines that will grow up the

sides of the arbor and when mature will sport

some red trumpet shaped flowers.  Now the

reason I mention the red trumpet shaped

flowers is because it will attract one of natures

curiosities, the hummingbird.  I visualize sitting

in our screened-in back porch and looking out

directly onto the arbor, and seeing those little

creatures sticking their long beaks into the

trumpet.  Off to one side of the arbors perimeter,

we planted a butterfly bush several years ago. 

It is in full bloom and does just what it is advertised

to do.  It attracts butterflies.  Our butterflies

come in August and it is indeed a magical time

watching the butterflies of various shapes and

colors flutter around and in the bush.  The bush

is rather tall; it is flourishing at about eight feet high. 

Next year if the trumpets are in bloom, I dream of

sitting on my porch and watching the hummers and

the butterflies darting here and there and thinking

it can't get much better than this.