A Moment Of Epiphany – Thanks To Garden Porn
When I moved from the lushness of Virginia to the near-desert climate of California, my heart ached for leaving all that green behind. It was a comforting green, bursting forth each spring and endowing by the humid summer months a sense of the tropical evergreens I'd left behind in the home country.
That was my first impression of California when I moved here last year. Of course, it was in the dog days of summer during a heat wave - and it didn't help to think of the beautiful garden I'd nurtured so dearly back in good old Charlottesville.
My new home wasn't set up for real gardening either, so I languished for a while making do with keeping a few patio plants watered and alive, and planting a few rose cuttings this past spring.
Until my bulb catalogs caught up with me. You know those things from White Flower Farm, Colorblends… In short, Garden Porn. Visions of tulips, daffodils, irises…you name it, they'll ship it.
"Life is too short to resist all its temptations." That's my motto. So, I ordered a bunch of spring bulbs, and they got here last week.
"What the hell, I can't just plant the bulbs in pots that look bare over winter. Let's go the whole hog and get me some real flowers for planting too. "
Several days of hauling in new pots, plants and soil later, flowers are now blooming in my backyard, even this late in the year, each pot brimming with the promise of crocuses, amaryllis, daffodils and hyacinths in winter and through spring.
And so, if you may permit an old fart's moment of pontification…
At last, I see the beauty of California. It is what you make it to be.
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Tags: California, crocus, cyclamen, daffodil, delphinium, garden, hibiscus, hyacinth, rose
