ROSES the SIZE of my HAND...

 "A garden isn't meant to be useful. It's meant for JOY!"
                           -Rumer Godden

 Roses the size of my hand. Without even trying. How did that happen? I didn't do anything to them. Just water and some fertilizer early in the season.Some Bobbexx, non toxic, to keep the deer at bay. Some sun. 

 And the bees. they came back this year. Happily working away  from morning to night.

 The roses are heady and dark with scent.  I planted 14 new varieties. The new ones are just beginning to bloom.I planted Dahlias all around them. They are not quite ready to bloom.

 Last year I was so careful with what I planted. I counted out how many marigolds, how many petunias, and got the flowers that were supposed to be good for hot hot weather.I was organized last year. 

 It was boring. They died by the end of June, early July. So much for heat tolerant flowers.This year. This year I went with what appealed to me. I  chose with abandon. I planted with abandon. I chose what I loved.

 And this year, the roses, so many new ones, are the size of my hand.

 "It's a Flutterby....." said Winnie the Pooh. The Flutterbies are everywhere. Their wings dusted with pollen. they dance and surge on the wind.

 Last year I measured dirt in pots. Made sure that each one had three petunias. Two of something else, and three of something  else. BORING. This year, I stuffed in as many Cosmos as I could muster.I picked flowers from the grocery store. Whatever what available. I didn't plan.

 And my greenhouse I let go free , to grow wild ferns amongst the tomaotes and geraniums . For the first time in years, I have tomatoes growing crazily in their cages. they want to be let out I think.

 “Going out to the garden is to go on a holiday; when you travel amongst the flowers, your  touch heaven and your mind tastes the secrets of ataraxia!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

*Ataraxia is the ancient Greek term for "tranquility"....first used by Pyrrho, and the Stoics.

 Last year I only planted sweet peas in the troughs and they died. Withered alongside everything else. This year I stuffed seeds all up the hill, and in the massive garden planters in the sun. This year, I have sweet peas that are starting to look like sweet peas. That noticeable sweet scent that means it is summer.

 Every space I could fill. I have filled. An old bench, not for sitting. Well. to be truthful I have a number of benches  and most of them are filled with pots. And Dahlias in pots. Something new.Just waiting to pop. (Only one bench is for sitting, and even it has a couple of small pots of carnations.)

 Sweet peas grow in the garden. I tossed leftover seeds there. thought they would just disappear. Guess not.

 Plums. The deer love  plums. Can't spray Bobbexx on them. Bobbexx is made with meat meal, bone meal, mint, and other smelly stuff. Stinks. Not for  fruit trees. So the deer are welcome to the plums.  I watch them tug at the branches. Their cheeks stuffed full of  green fruit.

 And I have done nothing special. Just watered, weeded, pruned and planted. Without thinking. Without organizing. Just watched it grow. And grow. Till the Roses are the size of my Hand.....

 "Gardens are made of darkness and light entwined...."
                                   ― F.T. McKinstry, Crowharrow

 The breeze sweeps by.  Definitely ataraxia.....tranquil, peaceful, a moment away....

Photographs 2019