So it’s the night before we head up to Buffalo for ‘The Fling’! and of course I’m unprepared. Naturally you would think I could focus on something like finding a phone charger or making sure the car has gas, but instead, after weeks of neglecting this blog my priority is to put a post up. Perhaps it’s the peer pressure of peers I have yet to meet? They’re all fellow bloggers or garden writers or videographers or who knows what else, but they all have a thing in common, and that’s a regular online presence so I think I should dust off my presence real quick before I go.
These cannas have been sitting in a black garbage bag on the driveway for two months… but suddenly it’s a priority to get them planted, and a weed a bed that’s been covered in weeds all spring…
So why am I not ready? There were good intentions when I went through the laundry to see if I had a few stain-free shirts to pack, but then I ended up cleaning out the whole closet, the car needed air in a tire so out came the vacuum, towels and windex to detail the whole interior, there were a few coleus cuttings to plant so I fertilized everything in the garden before spraying all the daylilies with deer repellant… they haven’t been sprayed at all this year… and that takes me to the cannas. I took a look at my nails and realized the dogs had better manicures than I did so there I sat with soap and a brush, clippers and a file, and cleaned them all up, but then went outside for “one last” look at the garden and ended up ripping out tons of daisies to make room for the cannas. Don’t even ask if I wore the gloves which were sitting just a few feet away.
The cannas did not go into the tropical bed. That’s become a mess of self-sown wildflowers and a few neglected daylilies even though tropicals are what should really line this path to the pool.
I will claim that it’s not my fault, and I’m sure my nails will clean right up now that they’ve been warned, so might as well mow the lawn quick.
The daylilies are very nice now that we had some rain. Here they are alongside the Queen of the Pairie who is looking more tired each year.
Truth is I really don’t want to leave the garden. I rarely say this but after enduring the heat, and choosing the path of watering, and then a day and night of steady rain, the garden looks good. Not REALLY good as in there are no weeds in sight and the mulch is fresh and it looks like someone gave thought to design, but it looks like a riot of color, all flowery on top of green on top of plants which seem happy to be there and I’m loving it this week.
Ending on a houseplant? Philodendron maybe ‘White Princess’ out for her summer vacation and loving the heat and humidity.
So I want to enjoy it but sometimes time away is good as well. I could use some adult supervision and maybe another point of view will steer me away from obsessing about houseplants which also just happened. They look so happy with all the rain and warmth and maybe I bought a new palm to see if it would stop my obsessing over that palm for the last two weeks, but for now I need reasons why I shouldn’t go any further. Just because my philodendron has roots searching for some kind of support doesn’t mean I should just build something for it and repot it and start growing big leaved things on moss poles… no that’s a bad idea. This is why I need to get away. I’m sure being with a group of garden-crazy plant people for four days is just what I need to come back to reality.
But I’m keeping the palm no matter what anyone says. Have a great week!
sorta like suburbia 
I saw your name tag in the FB Fling post. I would love to meet you in person but I’m not going.
However, I grew up in Buffalo and it is the best city for architecture after Chicago. So if you’re an architectural buff and have time go visit FLW’s Darwin Martin complex or Louis Sullivan’s Guaranty Building.
Also skip “Buffalo wings” and get a “beef on weck” which was famous locally long before “wings”.
Have fun.
Linda B.
Oh that would have been excellent to meet you after all the years! I guess that was the original intention of the first fling and it still works today. I saw the FLW house as our Sunday lunch spot for Sunday! I’m looking forward to seeing it, and I hope we get an evening to wander the nearby city… unless my feet are too sore which is a distinct possibility…
we are off to a good start, I think it will be an excellent time.
Have a great time!
Thanks Kathy. Your name has come up a few times already, you will be missed!
Oh, I think your garden does look really good! I understand not wanting to leave, I always worry about plants especially new ones when I’m gone. Have a wonderful Fling!
I’m double finger crossing because the look on my daughter’s face as I explained the idea of watering two plants and just two plants did not give me much faith in either plant making it… but maybe. Last time I was away she surprised me with a mown lawn and the boy took care of the garbage. I suspect he was heavily ‘coached’ lol
I guess we can’t worry too much about leaving. Sometimes the biggest disasters happen when I’m right there, so we will just have to see!
“Do I stay or do I go?” Sounds like your theme song, Frank. 😉 I’m sure you’re having a blast on your trip away viewing gardens galore, and will come back with a ton of garden ideas that will make the palm and philodendron saga a mere trifle! Enjoy and don’t forget to give us a report. 😉
haha, now that I’ve left I’m quite fine with ‘the go’ part! I think it will be a lot of fun and I’ve already met a bunch of great people, many with much better gardens and better blogging habits, and none have been the least bit judgemental 🙂
maybe I can combine new ideas and inspiration into the new palm parlor or new philodendron conservatory! Hmmmm
It will look so very good when you return!
It was a treat coming home to an under-control garden, but of course you start to see other things so….
Hope you have a fabulous time. Look forward to hearing all about it! Your garden looks wonderful right now and I’m sure it will survive a few days without you!
The garden didn’t even miss me, and I think that was somewhat insulting! But all the garden tours had me thinking about what else I needed to do, so things have been busy 🙂
How does it look now that you’re back? Mine is a little rugged with the heat and lack of rain, but I’m sure it will recover…for the most part. It was great to meet you at the Fling! Enjoy the rest of the summer in your garden. 🙂
Great meeting you as well!
Hope everything there is well-watered and back under control. We had a tiny bit of rain during the Fling and that was enough to get the complainers through the worst of it until the guy with the watering can got home 😉
Now I’ve been busy doing all the things I didn’t even realize needed doing until I was away and saw how nice other gardeners do it!
Ha! Yes, I’m feeling a little of that gardener challenge stuff, too. No rain yet, but folks north of us in central/eastern Wisconsin had bad tornado damage today, so I can’t really complain. It would be nice to have some gentle rain without the violent storms.
Your garden is maximum lusciousness! No wonder you didn’t want to leave it!