There
might be a hiccup in my newest love affair---let me explain. After falling
madly in love with previously scorned Begonias and buying them with abandon I
may have gotten in over my head. I fell in love with Begonias, thinking it
would only be one of those casual, summertime things. I’d love them and care
for them and enjoy their beauty and then the frost would come and it would be
sad but I’d move on with the next seed catalog to hit my mailbox.
Uh,
no.
Seems
Begonias are slightly more tenacious than that. Falling in love with Begonias
isn’t just a casual summer fling; come fall Begonias are going to start making
demands on my time. Just like those manipulative Dahlias.
Dahlias
and I have a history. They’ll seduce me with their beauty, I’ll make certain
promises in May that, come October-November, may be hard to keep. I’ll mean
well---I just won’t mean it when I promise to get up off the sofa and go digging
about the garden in the cold, fall rain, trying to figure out where I planted
those dang Dahlia tubers and missing the Seahawks game.
April will roll around and I will be happily
turning over
garden soil, planning all my plant purchases when—stab!—I’ll stick
my trowel in to a sloppy mess that USED to be a dahlia. Oh, the guilt! Oh, the
shame! Oh the new promises I will swear about either 1) NEVER BUYING Dahlias
AGAIN, or 2) only planting them in pots so I can either A: bring the pots
inside or B: put them in the garage or C: pawn them off on a friend who has both
a greenhouse AND enough self-discipline to actually follow through on the
promise to dig dahlias up every fall.
Dead dahlia blooming... |
Turns
out Begonias can be “saved” over, it you just love them enough to get up off
the sofa and go do it. I’m starting to feel like my Begonia relationship is a
bit more restrictive and controlling than just a “summertime thing” ...
Impatiens never asked for anything more than to just make me happy for a
season. Perhaps---GASP! Begonia Love is Real Love...
Flower
love is a fickle thing.
So true. My parents gardened with simplicity and grace. Used every carefully nurtured morsel of food then saved there own seed. On the other hand,I start with unbridled enthusiam and in the end forage for some return among the weeds. Therefore, thanks to you, I will steer clear of D's and B's. Thank you.
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