Garden Envy

While the calendar may not yet say so, summertime is here in my corner of the world. I'm not surprised, though; I'm a native of the desert.

But I'm a little saddened. Summertime means the end of my gardening for several months. Except for maintaining the lawn, a few heat tolerant plants, and tending the potted plants on the patio, the majority of my time will be spent indoors.

For a while, we'll still enjoy the Mexican Bird of Paradise . . .

. . . and the hummers will too.

There is still plenty of verbena and purple fountain grass, and just a few herbs. It's time to pick up the seeds from the nasturtiums so that they can be planted again next year. It's time to remove all the alyssum. It withered some time ago, but the birds love to eat the seeds off of it, so I left it for them. There are sunflowers to pull that grew when the sparrows and house finches knocked the seed from their feeders.

It's that time when the green in my thumb spreads to the rest of me and I become green with garden envy. As my gardening season comes to a close, it's just beginning in most other places across the country. Over the summer, as I read my Better Homes & Gardens and other magazines, I will ooh and aahh over the glorious cutting gardens pictured there. My mouth will water when I see the pictures of the home grown tomatoes and zucchini and basil. And I will mark pages and plan plots and day dream of the wonderful flower beds and veggie plots I'll plant next year.

In the meantime, I've spent this afternoon inside in the air conditioning, cutting up old gardening magazines and making collages. They may go up above my desk, or on the fridge, or maybe on the mirror in my bathroom. And they will help me get through the summer.

And if, in the meantime, you are so inclined, please share your garden photos with me!

Have a bountiful week!