Happy Halloween!

Blog Action Day

Today many bloggers will be posting about the environment. I hope to read about some good ideas that I can work into my life...there is so much we can all do to help heal the earth. Reducing the amount of our personal contribution to the damage that is being done to the environment should be on everyone's mind. Ideas about cleaning products, garden chemicals, transportation, food choices and other daily activities that should be the result of thoughtful choices will hopefully abound today and I plan to check out as many as possible.
My small contribution is to ask that we consider what it is we want to ultimately leave to the children who are coming behind us. We need to think about the fact that we are teaching these children every moment by our examples...good and bad. We have the perfect opportunity to take these open minds and teach them to be able to see the beauty of nature...to open their eyes to what is around them and to give them the tools to live in the world in a way that is least harmful. All the things that we are thinking about, all the habits that we are working to change, all the choices we are working to make... we can make it easier for the children by having them grow up with the idea that we think about things, we consider the cost to the environment and we make a choice. Everyone who has contact with children...parents, grandparents, extended family, teachers, neighbors... we all need to to think about what example we are giving...it's good for the children, it's good for us, and above all it's good for the earth.

Fiori e Canto

I've been mulling over Carol's idea about naming your garden. None of the names I was coming up with felt right...they didn't cover enough of the ideas/memories/thoughts that I was trying to include. But today while trying to put together my Bloom Day post between some garden work and Italian homework (I have this desire/delusion to learn to speak Italian, the language of my mom's parents, and have been studying it for a couple years) the perfect name just came to me. Therefore, from now on my garden will be known as 'Fiori e Canto' (Flowers and Song). This ties in the Italian with something else important to me. My mom loved to garden, she loved to sing, and she loved poetry. Long before she passed away (which was a little over ten years ago) she found a carved garden rock that said 'Flowers and Song.' Living in California she learned about Mexican history and one thing she found intriguing was that poetry was a combination of two words, flowers and song. It was so perfect for her and whenever I see or hear that phrase it reminds me of her.
For me, personally, flowers have many meanings. There are the actual flowers I love to grow, the flowers on the fruit and veggie plants that become food for the meals at my house, and the flowering/growing of the children in my care. Song also has personal meaning...the song of the birds (an interest I inherited from my dad and his mom), the voices of the children when we sing together (I really enjoy singing so it's a good thing I have kids to sing with since my mom did not pass her talent on to me!) and the enjoyment I get from listening to songs.
I think I'm ready to make a sign!

October Bloom Day 2007

Here is what is in bloom for October Bloom Day in Davis

Wax begonias
Pelargoniums (pink)
Abutilon (pink)
Society Garlic (lavender)
Allysum (mostly white)
Zinnias (mostly orange, sigh)
Chrysanthemum (burgundy)
Blue Marguarite
White potato vine
Plumbago Royal Cape
Rosa Demitasse
Rosa Flower Girl
Nemesia Bluebird
Salvia Victoria Blue
Salvia nemerosa Blue Hill
Salvia nemerosa May Night
Salvia barrelieri
Salvia greggii de Otono
Solanum jasminoides
Portulaca Sundial Mix
Penstemon Apple Blossom
Penstemon Bev Jensen
Penstemon Hidcote Pink
Glossy Abelia
Nepeta Walker’s Low
Geranium Rozanne
Dwarf Carnation Evermore
Lemon verbena
Tomatoes
Peppers
Eggplant
Sunflower Italian White

Of course the tomatoes,peppers and eggplant are just dreaming… I still have a few tomatoes and peppers that are about ready to be picked…but soon the plants will be gone.

And the wisteria has finally completely stopped blooming…we had a long stretch of blooms this year but all good things must come to an end. Soon the leaves will all fall and I can begin to prune it back. Right now I’m waiting for a little bit colder weather at which time I have a few plants to move to sunnier garden spots and a lot of pots to move to more protected areas.