That, instead, happens most often with plants that need lots of individual spent flowers cut off at once, without shearing, plants such as this Geranium maculatum,
or Campanula persicifolia. What many would find tedious and repetitive, I find relaxing. It is not strenuous and does not require me to work up a sweat. I can sit on the garden path and mindlessly cut off the faded flowers, being as one with the garden, feeling it breathing, hearing its song (only if I'm not singing something to myself). Time becomes meaningless, worries fade away. Until it's time to go in.
(These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago. The Geranium maculatum is done blooming now.)While there is not much art to deadheading Geraniums, deadheading Phlox pilosa involves some discretion.
The gardener must determine from where the new growth will sprout for rebloom. Sometimes it's obvious, other times it's guess work. In any event, the finished product is a vast improvement.
How do you find your garden Zen?
---------------------------------------------------------
Today is the start of Astronomical Summer.* Summer actually arrived a few weeks ago, and we've been enjoying summer temperatures with highs in the upper 70s to low 80s and lows in the 60s. Perfect weather for Zen deadheading. Happy Midsummer's Day and have a great weekend!
edit. 6/20/08
(VIS has just informed me that it is "Astrological Summer," not "Astronomical Summer." )
(edit. 6/23/08 Have recently learned that Midsummer's Day and the Summer Solstice are not one and the same.)
35 comments:
My Zen has got up and left. Gone, totally disappeared today.
And I even did my first deadheading of the C.persicifolia this afternoon. Didn't do the trick.
I must have been walking around pinching off those little spent flowers on their long strong stalks, as you were writing about them.
That plant repays deadheading more than any plant I know: keeps new flowers coming all summer long.
Geraniums I don't deal with: I am too tall for those.
I think if I had neat brick edges like yours, my Zen would come back. My garden is such a mess, it is really getting me down.
(BTW, I want to be a "flinger
" too. I love that name ;-)
I enjoy common chores in the spring when the weather is beautiful. Later when the temperatures reach the 90's and the bugs are swarming my zen vanishes like a soap bubble.
When I'm hot and cranky and itchy and covered in rose thorn scratches I can never seem to find my happy place:)
Hi MMD, while I do enjoy the deadheading if I can sit down, usually it is done bending over, not a good thing at all. My zen moment is watering with the hose. I have chairs placed in strategic shady spot to sit down and spray stuff, after the non zen job of dragging the hose up the hill. I daydream and enjoy the cool breeze and mist that sprays me when the wind blows. Ahhh.
I get into the zen zone when I weed!
Zen is found in my vegetable garden, where at least once a week you can find me with a hoe in hand, cultivating and weeding and anticipating the harvest.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Joco - I thought I was the only nut, I mean person, who deadheads individual C.persicifolia flowers. It's good to know I'm not alone. The extra blooming time is the only reason I do it, sometimes. Don't pin all your maintenance hopes on a brick walk. You should see me with a little metal pick, digging weed seedlings out of the cracks. Instead of thinking of your garden as a mess, think of it as a wild & exuberant thing. That always makes me feel better.
Roses & Lilacs - I retreat to the house when the temperatures soar. You can't really see the weeds & spent flowers from inside the house.
Frances - watering sounds very relaxing, with the sound of the water nourishing the garden. (I saw your request for something "Zen" on May Dreams while I was working on this. What a coincidence.)
Hi, Sheila - I can also get Zen weeding, but it depends on the weeds & how moist the soil. No Zen with rock hard ground & woody roots.
Lately it's been pulling maple seedlings that gets me into the Zen mode. But weeding does it, watering too, and especially preening and deadheading. I agree - the weather here the last few weeks has been perfect for Zen deadheading, or just about any garden chore.
Deadheading is nice, but deadleafing really gets me going. In the spring, when I feel the urge to clean up all of my heucheras and salvia lyrata, I can solve all the world's problems. But somehow, those solutions leave my head after I lug the last bag of clippings back to the compost pile. :)
Years ago I could weed for hours. I would forget all about time. Now It is hard for me to fold up and even harder to unfold.
I have gone native and wild in my gardens. Watching the bees and butterflies is my zen.
Wonderful post.
Sherry, who dances with the bees
You are welcome to come with your pruning shears anytime to my garden!
I never thought of it as Zen, but I guess I do kind of get into that mode when deadheading--but only the kind where you pick off individual blossoms and don't have to think about what you're doing.
At least every three days I put on my straw hat and go out to pop off the spent blooms on the Platycodon. There are about 9 or 10 different Balloon Flower plants scattered around both front and back, and a few minutes of grooming keeps them in bloom for a long time. The white sap doesn't bother me - it's kind of like being back in school, playing with Elmer's Glue.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Zen in the garden, hmmm...Hadn't thought much about it, but I like planting and any and all that entails. On a cool, sunny day I can mix soil, fill containers,plop in new plants and lose all track of time. Yes, that's my Zen time.
Hi MMD, when you said "Instead of thinking of your garden as a mess, think of it as a wild & exuberant thing. That always makes me feel better." it made me think of how I once described our style of gardening. I replied that "We're kind of savage cottage garden with a prairie native twist and a Woodland chaser." It is wild, and should stay that way to an extent, but I've always thought that total dominance over Nature was generally not a good thing.
Zen gardening moments for me? I hate deadheading, but I resign myself to it. I'm so glad we don't have roses. Weeding gets me into the Zen zone for a few hours, but it's even better when I clear a certain area and then stick in annuals in the cleared space. Now, that's rewarding!
Hello there,
I enjoyed your post very much, and also loved reading the comments.
I too was put to work yesterday in my (temporary) wheelchair, snipping the first spent flowers on the tall campanula. That was Zenlike, with a shared Zen. (Can one share the same Zen state?)
A friend provided the pushing power (I am not automated) and we spent a lovely time chatting and snipping. We counted 157 campanula stalks, so was glad not to do them all on my own.
Best wishes,
Abby in the UK
Garden Girl - the weather has been absolutely delightful! Oh, no, I bet I just cursed us. Actually, it was a little too nice & yesterday's rain was very welcome.
Blackswamp Girl - "solving the world's problems, one leaf at a time" I like that.
Q - bee & butterfly watching is an excellent Zen. I have to wait a few weeks for maximum butterfly visits.
Rose - when I finish deadheading my garden, I'll start in on yours. Expect me around Christmas.
Annie - I love Platycodons. I had a tall blue, but the Forsythia overwhelmed it. I'm hoping it will come back now that it's in sun again.
Beckie - so, you must have a lot of gorgeous containers.
IVG - I agree, total dominance of nature just looks & feels wrong. The weeding Zen is a good one, especially with a purpose.
Abby - thanks for visiting. Shared Zen is the best there is. How great that you had help to get out to enjoy working in the garden. 157 stalks is a huge deadheading job.
If only I could find a zen-like state while weeding *sigh*
Your Geranium maculatum is beautiful. I find my zen state lounging with a glass of sweat tea, I mean as long as it is not horribly humid outside that is.
Laura - maybe you need to repeat to yourself while weeding, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" :^D
Cathy - these photos don't capture the true color of the Geraniums. They're actually much darker pink.
I get into my zen while digging...I just do...there is something about digging a new garden that is a one with the universe experience for me.
gail
Gail - you sound like my son. He also loves to dig.
My zen comes when I allow myself to wander aimlessly weeding here, planting there, pruning this and that, and, of course, deadheading. Unfortunatly, I don't have much to show for my effort when I am finished. Need to learn to wander aimlessly in smaller areas so the work will show.
Lately my gardening Zen has been pulling weeds. I feel like I can get all my frustrations of the world out as I yank each guy out, one by one.
As for pruning, I love to prune and got more into it after reading The Well tended perennial garden (Sabato-somehting??) She's really into pruning and after following her advice, I have plants that look so much better.
MMD, I love getting ready to work outdoors! Old jeans, t-shirt, work shoes, "bug stuff," hat (if necessary), gloves, tools and bucket. "An-ti-ci-pa-tion!" I anticipate prioritizing and setting about doing what first needs to be done.
I enjoy the routine of carrying my bucket & scissors to deadhead and/or cut stalks; generally giving the plants a boost...
I enjoy jumping on my shovel, digging a hole, amending the soil, spreading the roots, planting and watering new babies...
I enjoy pulling weeds, clipping dead and/or spent leaves (generally personalizing the beds)...
I imagine their happiness as the plants are gently sprayed and watered in the early morning...
And I'd love just sitting outdoors with a glass of water, tea, lemonaid, etc. amidst the satisfaction of being outdoors in such lovely company.
It seems, this Spring, I've been unable to enjoy these things as much as I'd like (in the leisurely fashion, at least!)!!
I don't mind dead heading flowers and it makes such a difference in the way the plant takes shape and blooms. Sometimes I find my Zen by simply closing my eyes and running my hands along a soft group of leaves or tiny lobelia blooms. Sounds kooky, I'm sure, but their cool greenness is somehow soothing. :)
I'm with you on the deadheading, although I often leave it until after dark and deadhead to my heart's content under the watchful eye of my dog and a porch lamp. I didn't think anyone else spent the time snipping off the spent blooms of campanula persicifolia - it's heartening to know that I'm not the only one who indulges.
My favourite zen though is digging ... getting my hands into the soil and mucking about. Time passes in a flash.
The zen state is one of gardening's great gifts, I think. You have to pay attention to what you're doing, and it's fairly easy to let go, after a while, of everything else.
Kate
What a lovely post and equally lovely comments. My zen experience happens when looking (up) at and into the trees. It is not productive so I have to limit myself, but it surly is relaxing.
I love it all.
Beautiful post.~~Dee
Zen gardening for me consists of any small fiddly task that nobody but a gardener would consider a pleasure. Like pulling maple seedings out of the lily-of-the-valley patch, which is what I'm headed back outside to do right now.
I apologize for my late response here, my email notification is only intermittent apparently.
Aunt Debbi - Zen doesn't have to be productive. Just relax & enjoy yours.
Rosemarie - you're thinking of Tracy DeSabato Aust. I just learned from English bloggers (Veg Plotting & The Patient Gardener) that her method of cutting back is known in Britain as the "Chelsea Chop."
Shady - it sounds like the whole gardening experience is Zen for you. How fantastic.
Nancy Bond - it's not kooky, you're just a tactile sensory person. I admit that I also love to touch my plants, which is why I have so few with thorns.
Kate - we need to form the "I individually deadhead Campanula persicifolia" club. :^D I bet you liked making mud pies as a kid.
The Maniac Gardener - I so appreciate this aspect of gardening. It's a great stress reliever, especially for someone like me who has trouble turning off the brain otherwise.
Barbee - looking at trees sounds like a great Zen. Mine just happens to be productive because I have a hard time sitting still.
Dee - even weeding the Burmuda Grass out of the Daylilies? ;^}
Entangled - that sounds good to me. I get that way sometimes pulling Buckthorn & Boxelder seedlings.
I too like deadheading. I never understood the big deal people made about having to deadhead because like you I found it relaxing. I guess I'm just a picker. I also like to pull weeds at work.
Vanillalotus - I know how you feel. It's so hard to see a weed seedling somewhere & not pick it.
MMD: Deadheading is usually a back breaker for me. Your description of it though makes me want to do it with new enthusiasm and see if that helps.
It's getting difficult to remember zen since it has gotten so hot and muggy again down here in the tropics. But every other season of the year... My one with God and the earth comes when creating, dividing and transplanting... there's something about moving plants around to make more of them without spending a dime that sends me into tranquility.
For the rest of the summer I'll have to find it watering.
Meems @Hoe&Shovel
I enjoy deadheading. And weeding after a rain. I think my most peaceful moments, though, come when I'm sifting the compost. I love playing in the dirt.
Meems - yeah, it's hard to get Zen when the sweat is trickling down your back. Happy watering!
MSS - yours is the 1st compost Zen. I hate turning the pile, but I might like sifting. There's too many mosquitos by the compost piles right now to do anything with them.
Post a Comment