I recently spent a Friday morning watering my friend Natalie's garden before bringing her dog back with me to the refuge for a weekend of babysitting. Natalie lives in Galveston, which is heading for one of the hottest and driest summers of record, so I planed to thoroughly water all of her garden to hold it until she finished helping her college daughter change apartments.
 |
| Part of Natalie's front yard. |
I started watering at dawn and was in the side yard and almost finished when a little Mexican lady came to the fence and called "Lady". I thought she was one of the tamale ladies I've met while working in Natalie's front yard (
they drive around the neighborhood in a beat-up car and honk and stop where they see people outside) so went to see what she wanted. She said "I no English". Then she started talking in Spanish and gesturing that she wanted one of each color of zinnea - red, yellow, and white - from Natalie's garden. I told her one momento - I'll get some scissors - and mimed cutting. She nodded and I gathered up scissors and added water to a plastic gi'me cup and went back out and cut her a bouquet of flowers with her exclaiming all the while. She immediately picked up a spent head. I told her "no I'd give her better ones". But she mimed picking the seeds and planting them so she looked for heads with seeds while I finished picking the fresh zinnias.
 |
| Two varieties of red zinnias with yellow bells in the background |
Then I cut a branch of lantana and pulled most of the leaves of of it and mimed planting it. She eagerly said "yes, yes", and we added it to her cup of water and flowers. I also gave her a cutting of Turk's cap which I again mimed planting.
 |
| Yellow double zinnia |
She thanked me profusely in two languages and walked away, leaving me with a happy feeling from getting to share my love of plants with another person who also loves them.
 |
| I love the yellow centers in this zinnia |
It's been awhile since I've been able to share plants. But when I first lived in Houston, my neighbor and I decided to garden the median strip between our two driveways together. Whenever I needed to wack something back, she made me make cuttings of the prunings because otherwise she felt like the cuttings were dying babies. Then whenever someone stopped to admire our gardens, we would offer them rooted cuttings. It was a great way to get to know our neighbors in a city where people mostly drive in and out of their neighborhoods and don't know the people who live around them.
 |
| A blue salvia that is a beautiful conterpoint to Natalie's apricot house |
Sorry that I'm so far behind on posting. But my tour is coming to a close here and I'm busy making arrangements to visit friends and relatives before starting another tour. I'll have a lot to write about soon. And I'm busy trying to get the new trees at Anahuac NWR in a state such that the next watering person can find them. I'm spending a few hours each day cutting baccharis from near them and hauling a mulch to the ones that still need it so they can survive longer between waterings. Pray for a tropical storm or small hurricane to come our way. We could use about twenty or more inches of water right now.
What a great way to share your love for flowers! A memorable encounter as well. If she were selling tamales, I think I would have bought one since I've never tasted one. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm anxious to get back to Anahuac, but not until it cools down a bit! I'd also rather not weather a hurricane when I'm there. Has the dry weather decreased the mosquitoes at all?
I'll be interested to hear where you are off to next. Malheur NWR in Oregon has housing for volunteers...
Given the beautiful flowers in her yard I can only assume Galveston has no deer. :)
ReplyDeleteThe heat and drought have taken their toll here in the Hill Country. Only the salvias seem unfazed. I'm thinking a yard of salvias, rosemary, lavender, and clump grasses is the new garden plan.
Thanks for the post and the pics. Glad to hear you're surviving the heat.
Absolutely none. Just possums, squirrels, and birds. Amazing,no?
ReplyDeleteAnd you can go to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center web site and get a list of plants that do well in the hill country. And you can add plants from further west that need even less water.
And I think I left you a book on how to deal with deer. There are lots of plants that you can use to confuse them and keep them off the stuff they want to eat - surround your yard and target plants with stinky ones.
And that Texas sedge that grows naturally in the back yard makes a good "grass".
Hi Judy,
ReplyDeleteI THINK it will be Sacramento NWR.
We still have a very few mosquitos. But all our bug populations are down. It's so bad, all the grackles have left. We only have English starlings, mockingbirds,the shrike, and a barn owl around, along with periodic visits from cattle egrets.
But the flies are doing great- the biting ones that is. And I've found out they are much more nocturnal than diurnal. Really bad just before dawn when I'm on my first watering run. They also get worst right after sunset. This morning I could hear them, they were so thick.
Hopefully they are feeding the numerous nighthawks in the butterfly garden.
What a sweet gesture. It doesn't take much, really, to put a smile on someone's face. I am hoping you'll be back on the TX front when I am there in the late winter, early spring. In the meantime, enjoy your next tour. ~karen
ReplyDelete