Friday, September 22, 2006

Changing of the garden

I've got an unexpected boon of free time this morning. Bean slept miserably last night and woke up with a cold, so she's taking a morning nap. We're skipping her little Friday morning music class, too, since I think she'd be too grumpy. No parent there would appreciate her extremely runny nose and sneezing either.

So here I sit in the kitchen at my computer, sipping tea and enjoying this little gift of time. I didn't get much sleep last night either, but I'm not feeling it yet. I feel great, in fact, which just goes to prove how very much I am starved for alone time these days. It trumps napping, which is saying a lot for me!

Earlier this morning I walked the dog past our old house and dropped off lists of plants that I had planted there in 2004 and 2005 plus a fat stack of plastic plant tags that I'd never gotten around to cataloging. The new owners requested them when I mentioned that I had kept records of everything because they're eager to learn about what's there and what kind of care the plants require. This thrills me, of course, since it was so hard to leave them all. But it occurred to me after I walked away that it really isn't my garden anymore. I've still felt possessive when I've walked by the house these last couple of months. I've been mad at them when they didn't water during a whole month of no rain. I've been sad to see things die that I really loved. But when I gave them those plant records I gave them the last of my work there. That's it! For real this time.

Tomorrow, though, Husband and the girls and I are going to a local nursery to choose a good-sized tree to plant in our mostly barren new front yard. I'm thinking about a willow oak or possibly another maple to pair with the one tall maple already out front. It will be the first thing we plant here and I'm so pleased and excited about it.

6 comments:

Suzanne said...

I can imagine that it's hard to see your hard work fall on hard times, so to speak; I guess it's inevitable that whenever a house changes hands, the new owners will dismantle something the previous owners held especially dear. If those changes are made inside the house, at least, you can't tell from the outside. But gardening is so visible!

Good luck with the new plantings at your new house.

Stacie said...

that must be so hard to see! you must want to shout, take care of my babies!

Anonymous said...

'Glad you got a little time to yourself. It sounds like it's been a rough couple of days.

BlondeBrony said...

It is nice to close one chapter and start another.

Have fun with your new garden.

Mall Worker said...

I hope they put all the information you gave them to good use!

Mama D said...

Yeah, even I am mad at them for neglecting your, I mean their, garden.

Yay for a new tree. I need to grab all the tags from my flower bed and put them in the 'garden book' I bought.

I can't wait to see how everything comes up next year!