What it means

What it means

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Rock Steady















After a couple of months of total immersion into the rigors of hillside brush clearing, I felt like I had things under control. Heartache was sufficiently buried and sublimated into a new addiction and I had a few bucks to spend to indulge and compensate myself for my hard work and lost lover.

With the nasty scrub oak lollipopped and the vinca dug out by my now swollen and thickened fingers, the bare hill was visible and I suddenly had access to a million rocks! I'd always loved rocks and was not even aware of what a treasure trove I had. I had previously been collecting smaller samples like geodes and beach stones but now I became interested in the larger more architecturally useful stones. I started piling them up and their shapes began to suggest how they might fit together to create spaces for the eventual planting. I lifted some big guys that were way too heavy for me and I suffered scraped knuckles, popping patella and a really sore back but in the end I was rather pleased with my efforts. I needed the rocks to be pathways to climb up the hill so I became obsessed with seating them so the rocks wouldn't rock. I became really proficient at digging them in and chinking them together but it was hard servile labor!

I loved the look of naked rock and spent hours scrutinizing, modifying and finally admiring my sense of placement, but it was indeed…time to plant. I decided it would probably be best to keep with common specimens found in my neighborhood as I didn't know anything about cultivated plants, so off to the local nursery I went. I told the nice, avuncular gentleman I met there my story (just the garden story, not the disappointing romance) and he sent me home with lavender, sage, rosemary, mint and some varieties of fescue. I bought way too much and I planted way too close together, as if I were arranging flowers in vases. I was such a neophyte I didn't even consider that plants grow and get larger, duh! When I was finished I thought it was so pretty I wanted to sleep outside in my first little garden and protect my new friends. I just wanted to take care of them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a good way to deal with a broken heart.

Anonymous said...

My name is Roger Gipe I was browsing internet and found your blog. The author did a great job. I will subscribe to your RSS feeds. Thank you for your contribution. I am a web designer myself. And here some examples of the websites that I designed for cash advance payday loan company.