Posts Tagged: moon

Feeling the Blues

You've probably seen a blue moon, which happens every two to three years. That's when a second full moon occurs in a single calendar month. You've...

A blue honey bee on a coneflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A blue honey bee on a coneflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Blue bee scaling the coneflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Blue bee scaling the coneflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Glow in the Dark White Garden

It’s a pleasure to look out my upstairs bedroom window on dark summer nights.   I look down on two beautiful white rose bushes growing in my neighbor’s garden across the street.  Any time there’s a moon they become luminous.  They truly glow in the dark! 

Anyone who has access to the UCD Arboretum on a moonlit summer night can share my neighborhood experience on a much larger scale.  A walk through the “ Carolee Shields White Garden” near the west end of the arboretum is a magical experience, made more so when there’s a full moon.  Designed in the style of a Japanese Moon Garden it’s also the location of a lovely gazebo, popular for weddings.

White flowers of many varieties bloom in all seasons.  They’re beautiful in the daylight too, of course, but moonlight sets the White Garden apart from all the other themed Arboretum landscapes.  Its ethereal loveliness is worth the trip to the UCD campus.

It’s a bit of a walk out there, depending on where you leave your car, and somewhat remote from main campus areas.  A flashlight and a companion are necessities, and selecting a night when the moon is expected to be especially bright is a plus!

UC Davis Arboretum White Flower Garden sign. (photo by Marime Burton)

Thoughts While Pruning Roses

Thoughts while pruning roses against the fence:

I'm trying to remember why on Earth I ever planted these roses on this side fence.  Here I stand, attempting to dead-head, removing the last flush of bloom this one rose (actually large green rose hips) and trying to think of a good reason to sacrifice my flesh in the pursuit of ornamental horticulture.  Was it the promise of large, silvery white blossoms glistening in the sun after a dark during a dismal rainy winter?  Or was it the promise of bragging about the sheer mass of dark green leaves hidden among blossoms?  Or did I just fall prey to flower catalog "madness "as I and others do each winter and early spring?

At this time, bloodied and with even more tears in a favorite gardening shirt -- all shirts seem to end up as marked for gardening after the first tears and stains-- I'm convinced that this large, overgrown rambler (Rosa 'Silver Moon') hates me to touch it!  It's proud that it grew 20 feet this year -- again, and wants no loving sniping from me,  just admiration for another year of blooming and growing!  I know I'll heal again just as I have in the past.  Darn that "prickle-bush" as Bruce calls it!!  It knows as do the other rambling roses in my yard that I adore them and will continue to risk flesh and clothing to make them look their best.  I'm trapped in my backyard and I can't stop sniping!

 

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