Friday, July 1, 2011

Dead Zone...

A peon working for environment and conservation...a peon environmentalist working for environment and conservation...in a roundabout way...one of the little people that in my own small way keeps the wheels of everyday management at this park well oiled and moving smoothly.

I'm one of those people who alters the environment, you know, A GARDENER.  I try to cram everything that grows around me into mini ecosystems, so I can enjoy it all in my one fourth acre suburban lot.  No one alters the environment more than loggers, builders, farmers and gardeners...no one.

I'm sensible in my approach.  I use only what is already here.   I'm a native lover through and through.  No herbicides, no pesticides, no fertilizers - nature's the overseer of my domain, the controller of the good and the evil, and I'm her assistant; but still...I'm a gardener, and I alter the environment.

In my office, staring out my window...yes...I actually do have a park office with windows on two sides...I'm watching the maintenance worker, or what this state calls a "conservation worker".  He's finished weed whacking around the pond area...the dead zone.  It's a dead zone because...well...it's void of all permanent life.

Higher powers thought nature looked trashy, and ordered the removal of every single pond plant and the butterfly garden surrounding the pond.  If you enjoy dreamily gazing at green tinted murky waters surrounded by nothing until your eyes glaze over, then you're in paradise.  If you would rather see blossoms, butterflies, dragonflies, and tadpoles then you're in hell.

I'm watching this worker pull out his three gallon pressurized sprayer, and proceed to empty the herbicidal suicidal contents on every green speck of life remaining in his surroundings, including the rocks that contain the pond.  He blankets it all, spraying in front of him, walking across the wet surface as he goes...dolt.

I'm pining away, anxiously waiting that magical moment I transport myself over the horizon towards real paradise...my gardens.






Daylily 'Green Eyes Wink'







Spider Daylily 'Fellow' 



Daylily 'Red Autumn'



Phlox paniculata 'Laura'





At base of American Hornbeam Tree




Daylily 'Orange Vols'





American Beautyberry



Giant Coneflower - Rudbeckia maxima





Wild Petuna Ruellia humilis







Lily speciosum 'Album'







Clematis glaucophylla



Daylily 'Yesterdays Memories'



Daylily 'Magic Dawn'



Clematis pitcheri



After the rains



Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan' with friend







Hot Diggitty Dog...it's that time of the year when all the noise deprived residents have an equal opportunity to blast off a few fork, knife, and spoon clasping digits; and reduce a few of the neighboring rooftops to cinders...wahooooo.  Tents popping up like weeds on corners of outer suburbia, encouraging the spending of money for noise.  Pets will be cringing, crawling under beds, whimpering and whining.  I will be spending the day after with a noggin slightly sleep deprived, those noise craving munchkins don't sleep; and collecting burned out debris from gardens and pond, because their junk never ever no way in any lifetime now or in the future ever ever ever breathes its last spark and gives up its ghost on their property...never.

All you sweethearts who have actually made it this far into my post, thank you.  I'm doing my happy dance, tippy toe tap tap!  I'll be escaping from blog land for the holiday to find out if there is actually a carpet still underneath all this clutter that has mysteriously appeared out of nowhere throughout the place I rush to when escaping THE JOB; and weed whacking my way through that jungle outside to see if the stone pathways are still somewhere underneath it all.

May you have magical skies bursting forth in endless shimmering colors twinkling softly towards the earth.  There's something truly awesome in those magnificent explosions coloring the sky.  Fireworks every 4th of each month sounds like a plan to me.

  HAPPY 4th!!!   



24 comments:

  1. Happy 4th to you too... and yes I "made it that far" into your post - easily :) Thanks for the read and happy gardening! BTW, how tall is that giant coneflower?

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  2. So many beautiful blooms - a truly great flower flaunt. Especially loved the Phlox!
    Laura (UK)

    p.s. Happy Independence Day!

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  3. Happy 4th of July to you from across the weed and life infested pond! LOL!

    LOVE LOVE LOVE your pictures and am particularly impressed by your giant coneflower. I ADORE coneflowers!

    Hugs, Sandra

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  4. Beautiful garden you have there, Clipped Wings and beautiful photos! It seems that we are not only what we eat but also what is sprayed! 100 residence on the outskirts of my town, where it is half rural and on the edge of a forest were tested, all POSITIVE, for herbacides and pesticides! More than the green things are dying!

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  5. Such lovely blooms!!!

    I'm a new follower from Boost My Blog Bloghop =)

    http://anoterote.blogspot.com/

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  6. All that work has paid off! Your flowers are gorgeous! Thanks for posting all the beautiful photos!

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  7. Hello, You have a lovely garden and your pets are fabulous! Organic eating and gardening is indeed the healthy choice.
    Blessings, Beth

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  8. I love your garden. That cone flower is amazing! My husband is big on planting only things that are native to the area. We just started composting this year which I like. I posted a funny story about my cat today! I know you like cats too.

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  9. I also love to get lost in my garden...it is a true respite from the worries of the world. Love all the blooms...and the tribute to your loved ones on the side. I am a kitty lover and really like your tribute to them. Happy 4th!

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  10. Love the pathway! It looks like a nice retreat for a hot day!

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  11. Oh how your garden does grow :) Makes me so wish I lived closer. Love you Mom and happy 4th!

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  12. New follower from Boost My Blog! I hope you'll follow me back at www.weidknecht.com. Enjoy your weekend.

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  13. Scoop - my giant coneflowers are between 6 to 6 1/2 feet in height. The cone part is 3 to 4 inches long. The leaves are a silver green. They always stay upright, never flop, and the goldfinch LOVE the seed heads.

    stonepost - Every time it rains the run off from yards contains poisons and chemicals, if poisons and chemicals are used in the gardens or lawn. It migrates to other yards or may drain into a lake or river. Truly scary when we realize we have no control over how others poison our environment and food.

    Kristy - I love all your posts, but I am extremely biased about cats, lol.

    Sew Knot Normal - Thank you, sweetie. Wish you lived closer, too ;)

    Lisa - I know you have told me before you are following me, but you're nowhere on my list. Try again. I'll check you out again also.

    Thank you all for your compliments. I do enjoy my gardens, but sometimes it seems like I work in them more than I relax; although even the work helps me relax in a way, unless I'm trying to drag around a new 90 lb. concrete statue of a dragon. Then I have to take a lie down on my bed with a neckroll for 20 minutes to relax my neck, lol.

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  14. Your gardens are beautiful!! Love all your photos. I made it all the wat to the end with ease, silly! your coneflowers are something else! Amazing. I love, love, love your path. Paths are alwyas so intriguing to me.
    Happy 4th!
    *hugs*deb

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  15. Happy Fourth to you! I hope my yard will someday look like yours, although I fear the neighborhood association would then give me a warning. Everything here is so perfect, so not me. I will definitely have to add giant coneflowers... wow is all I can say.
    Hugs
    "GB"

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  16. What beautiful pictures!
    Mrs. Penwasser wants to go more organic with our vegetable garden next year. She says we need to put a lot of manure down. But I told her, "I'm just one man!"
    OK, I lifted that from that great TV philosopher, Homer Simpson.

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  17. I had trouble posting comments on all blogs last night.. we were in the middle of one of our tropical downpours.. so maybe it's still out there in cyberspace ! and to answer your question, been a long time,, but shareD was the right word, and thank you for asking. It was the phone call every mother dreads..... hugs, BJ

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  18. You have a beautiful collection of flowering plants. So many pretty pictures! Thanks for sharing! We love daylilies, too. It's always fun to see which ones other gardeners have. ~~Rhonda :)

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  19. Thanks for the garden tour! Your flowers are beautiful. Are all your lilies continuous bloomers? I'm a gardener and just recovered from a pinched sciatic nerve. Gardening is not for wimps!

    Have a happy 4th!

    Deborah

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  20. I still need to find a good spot for flowers to grow well in my yard. I have a veggie garden and I am going more organic all the time. I hate the farmers that spray their fields and don't seem to care one bit their crap drifts onto my property and coats my plants.

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  21. Happy 4th to you too! And i'm glad gardening makes you happy!

    Leontien

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  22. I'm also a nature lover - no chemicals in my garden (it's actually against the law to use pesticides on our lawns here) so I understand how it must have felt to watch the worker spray the herbicide.

    Looking at your beautiful photos, I was surprised to see that my plants have caught up with yours and the same plants are blooming here.

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  23. Thank you for your comments on my Woman in Oak Park faces 93 day jail term for growing vegetables in her front yard. I am happy to hear that all worked out for you regarding a similar situation. Thank you for sharing. :)

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