dirty talk

I.Must.Get.My.Hands.In.The.Dirt.

Really, I'm in withdrawal. I've been too busy and too stressed and I need to play in the dirt. I keep reminding myself to live in the moment. But I'm way to busy to be Zen right now. Can I please schedule it onto the calendar for another time?

I dropped Bug off at school and went to the Orange Big Box garden center and bought thyme and a Yuletide Camellia. Then I went to Publix and bought four loaves of their fabulous Breakfast Bread, full of dried fruit and nuts. It was still hot and the baker put them in perforated bags so they could "breathe". I went to the dry cleaners. I went for more cough syrup. Then I went to the Red Big Box garden center and found some mint and the Knockout Rose that I hadn't found earlier. Every time I got back in the car that bread breathed on me. I actually restrained myself from ripping into it in the car, although I did do it some damage when I finally got home.

The bread is long gone, but the rose and the camelia? Still in their garden center pots in the garage. I got the mint (which must remain in a pot or it gets crazy) and the thyme planted b/c they didn't require a change of clothes for me. But the other two require a commitment to gardening for a period of time. I've got some underbrush clearing to do to get them in a good spot. I have the spots picked out, just not the time.

The plan is to have a twelve month flowering garden. This is the main perk to living in the south. The way I see it, with pansies growing all winter, even in my relatively shady yard this should be feasible. Here is my average Atlanta year:

January: Winter Daphne blooms.
February: Daffodils come up. Flowering Quince and the new camelia should be blooming.
March: Forsythia and all my bulbs- daffodils, then crocus, then hyacinths. Tulips are considered annuals here and I sometimes plan for them. (This year's are actually coming up and weren't eaten by squirrels after all!)
April: Azaleas and lots of random stuff all over.
May: Lots of stuff including iris and gardenias.
June: Daylillies look nice. Mosquitoes are coming out. I should water.
July: I didn't water much.
August: Most plants are dead.
September: Coneflowers and Black Eyed Susans actually look pretty good.
October: Chrysanthemums blooming better than I deserve.
November: My white camelia usually blooms early.
December: I'm distracted by the holidays and don't notice that I have no flowers. Then I realize that everyone else has pansies in and I snag the last pots at the store as they're putting out the Christmas trees.

So. Gotta make this happen. The camelia will fill the winter dreary days and the Knockout Rose should bloom from spring until frost. Wish me luck. Wish them luck.