Garden Guests

I've gotten very little (nothing actually) done in the garden this weekend, so far.  I've been sidelined by a nasty cold and an impending overseas trip.  I did, however take a walk through the garden yesterday with my daughter.  It's usually my son who loves to be the garden helper, my daughter could most times care less what I was doing out there, so I was pleasantly surprised when she wanted to join me.

I walked her through the whole garden and showed her the new seedlings.  She was thrilled that I had planted little pumpkins this year and loved the idea of using them as fall decorations.  She LOVES decorating the house, whether it's for a party or holiday, the girl should really go into party planning.

Her biggest concern was that there were no carrots.  "Where are the carrots?  We grow really good carrots!"  I had to explain that, in Florida, it was too hot for carrots now, but that they were getting planted as soon as we returned from our trip.  Looks like I might need to dedicate some more space to carrots since they are one of only three veggies both my kids will eat (the others being corn and edamame).

I showed her the gerbera daisy plant I bought for her birthday in the spring.  It was loaded with hot pink flowers when I got it, but as many potted flowers do, wilted in the summer heat.  Maybe wilted is too kind of an explanation.  I'm thinking dried up into fire kindling would be a more accurate description.  Not sure whether to toss it or plant it, two weeks ago, I opted for planting and put it into a corner of one of my raised beds.  I figured the pop of color would be nice, if it survived.  To my surprise, it actually came back from the dead very quickly and is already producing new flowers!  My daughter has claimed it as her plant, although I'm not really sure what that means since I know it doesn't involve taking care of it in any way, lol.

When I went out to snap a picture of the daisy, I ran across a cute brown bunny in my backyard.  I quickly called the kids out to come see it and we stood there, watching the bunny watch us and eat grass, for a good five minutes.  Evidently this bunny isn't too scared of humans.  Even when departing, it was more of a slow hop into the woods and not the normal bunny zig zag frenzy hop.  I've never had trouble with the bunnies eating my garden, but I might want to put up the bed fences soon, just in case.  Maybe all the talk of planting carrots yesterday got them excited!

Even though this is my sanctuary, I love when my kids come out and enjoy it with me.  During spring planting, my son was out there every day.  Sometimes he planted seeds, sometimes he dug holes for transplants but, mostly, he just made dirt tracks in the pathways for his hot wheels.  Every so often he'd say "I love hanging out with you, Mommy".  It melted my heart!  I hope, someday, my kids have their own gardens and bring my grandchildren out with them just to "hang out".  Regardless, they will always have a place to play and a flower to plant in the Sanctuary Garden.

Well, that's about it for me this morning.  Time to pack for my trip and nurse this cold.  

Thanks for reading!

Jen