Thursday, December 8, 2016

Wednesday Vignette: Snow Monster

Our first snowfall of the season in southern Oregon melted away quickly, leaving this terrifying mouth of the giant snow monster from ‘Frozen’ in my new-this-year tigertail spruce tree.   If I can shed the radiation fatigue* like my garden easily shed yesterday’s four inches of snow this sturdy little tree will hold strings of Xmas lights.  My cancer monster is dead.
*This entire year I let blogging slide as my breast cancer diagnosis took over everything.  Let the blogging begin anew: once the ground freezes,   my photos are rightfully placed in the new computer, and I have abundant energy.

More on scary monsters over on Anna's  blog where she hosts Wednesday Vignette.  

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Wednesday Vignette: How to move a rock garden

Thyme is running out for my rock garden.  Ouch.  Sorry about that pun.  I must take another garden area apart.  Ouch.  How will I be able to put the puzzle back together?  I have no idea.  While my latest toe surgery heals, ouch, I need to come up with a plan.  Where can i put it?  I have no idea.  The stone clashes with the basalt and granite that we have in abundance. 
 
 It survived an array of attempts to remove the silver maple tree that anchored it visually and greedily took all the soil, water and light.   On a day with frozen soil three weeks ago the maple was reduced to firewood and sawdust.  Rock garden was covered in a sort of armor I made for it.

 There was one glorious spring.  Species tulips spared by the squirrels. 


Fourteen months ago I spent six days arranging limestone that the neighbors cast off.  Limestone that formed the original foundation of Southern Oregon University in the 1890's.  

 Intricately fitted puzzle.
Puzzle complete.   Plantings complete. 
There was one summer with the three Agastache 'blue boa' hyssop dominating. 


After the only time I have ever used the leaf blower: mostly dormant, bits of winter beauty, and less damage than the mole did last summer. Dave is digging a trench all around the stump in his epic chore of removing the maple tree roots.   Rock garden is absolutely in the way.  The stone clashes with the basalt and granite that we have in abundance.   

It cannot return after the maple roots are gone.  

How do you move a rock garden?


Euphorbia 'mini martini'

Anna hosts Wednesday Vignette.  You can find it here.