I didn’t mean to. I swear!
I was visiting my parents from Saturday to Monday this Whitsun weekend, and on Sunday a guy from down the road stopped by for a cold beer in the sun and to offer my Mum to get some shrubs from an area of his garden that he needs to clear.
I went over there with my Mum to see what she might find room for, and she will be getting my younger brother to dig her up some rather large, white spirea shrubs (he’s a contractor and has the heavy machinery to dig up large shrubs…), and of course I couldn’t help falling in love with this:
- So I borrowed a spade and a garden fork and began digging up saplings! I got 5-6 good saplings (1-2ft high) which where then stored in a bucked of water before I put them in a plastic carrier bag this afternoon and brought them as hand luggage on the coach across the country.
I think they will end up in The Hedgerow, but I might change my mind. I think I will keep them in a holding pattern until I can get the Flâneur Husband’s input on the matter when he moved back to Denmark – permanently – on Friday.
My Mum also promised she’d get my brother to dig up a medium-sized spirea for me and plant it temporarily until she comes to visit by car later this summer, as and when my Dad’s illness will allow it. She’s now on care leave from her job so she can be there for him to the end, and to be quite frank there isn’t much reason to hope – or fear? – that it will last too much longer. We all know what’s coming, and that it will come sooner, rather than later. When it does happen, I think it will be good to drag my Mum away from the house for a long weekend shortly after the funeral, just to mark that it’s not the end of anything, really; it’s just a fact of Life, and Life goes on.
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Anyway, the aquatic plants were delivered to my office on Friday, so I stopped by on Saturday and picked them up on my way home from the garden and before going to my parents’. The water lily and the frogbits are currently licing in a bucket in the bathroom and doing much better – I’m so glad I didn’t wait until tomorrow to bring them home, since the water lily in particular was in a bit of a state after the trip with the postal service. The frogbit had fared better, as it is a floating plant and just got a bit entangled with itself, but the water lily is planted in aquatic clay, and the clay had sort of squashed the plant and needed some rearranging before I could see the actual plant properly.
Left in the bucket for a few days, though, it seems to have gotten back on its feet quite nicely, and it’s now looking quite cheerful, three leaves floating on the surface amongst the smaller frogbit leaves.
I think the plants are happy to be in my care. At least, I hope so. And I hope they will enjoy their new home once they see it.
I’m sorry to hear about your dad. Long illnesses are hard for everyone to cope with, the only bright side is that at least it gives everyone the chance to say things and do things before the inevitable, rather than the shock of someone passing away suddenly and being left with regrets. I’m a great believer in the power of plants and gardens to heal the mind and body.
I love lilac. I don’t have any space for one in my garden but there is a huge bush in the hedgerow on the way to the allotment which I deliberately stop by so I can have a whiff of its amazing scent. I may well have to have a sneaky look next time to see if there are any offshoots I could get my hands on.
The last time I visited we thought it would be my last, so all’s been said and done. I told him I value his practical help, he gave me his cuff-links. That’s as far as we can get to saying “I love you”, I guess…
And I remember when I was a child my parents had a lilac which was the “beginner climbing tree”; not too tall and with loads of branches. Later we took on the 30ft cherry and the 50ft pines, but we started out climbing the lilac.
How lovely to have the lilacs…mine did not bloom with the cold weather this year…I know how it is to have a parent go through a long illness knowing what is to come…I have been thinking of you.
My white lilac hasn’t bloomed, either, but it was only planted last year so that’s probably the reason.
And no matter how old you get, you’re never ready to loose a parent. Still, my mother’s a trooper, and she’s really all that matters right now. If we keep her on keel she’ll keep my dad on keel. And the Flâneur Husband keeps me on keel.
Your lilacs will be gorgeous, and how nice that the gentleman offered some plants. Sorry to hear about your Dad. I hope he is not in any pain, and that the his last days spent with your Mum will be peaceful, and ones she can look back upon with fond memories.
There is pain, though the morphine more or less takes care of that. But there is also love and support from my Mum and the family that is geographically closer than myself (my younger brother and his family live a mile from my parents’ new home). My Mum will be relieved when this is all over, both for her self and for my Dad, and she will cherish the fact that the new house is THEIR home, even when he is gone.
As for the lilacs they will just need a couple of years to grow on and eventually I’ll have flowers like in the picture. (A bouquet of lilacs that the “gentleman” – actually he’s more like a pothead, but still a nice guy – cut for my mother when we visited his garden.)
I so enjoy your stories of carting plants home from faraway places.Such a true gardener you are Søren. And I am so happy to read that your love is coming home. Celebrate!
Well, I need to actually PLANT the plants to be a gardener… I currently have a project: Rid the apartment of plants that are not house plants! No more seed trays, no more buckets of cuttings, no more pots of small shrubs…
And today really feels like a holiday; I have the day off work, I’m running in circles with excitement and it is very odd to turn on the telly and realise that the rest of the world is not as excited about this day as I am!
Soren, I’m finally getting caught up with your blog and just loving your plans for The Puddles. (That red water lily is gorgeous!) I also love the lilac in this post; I can almost smell the hedgerow you could make of these; wonderful!
After my father’s funeral in 2003, I took my mother home with me to Maine for a week. It was exactly what she needed. I hope your father is as comfortable as possible in this last part of his illness. -Jean
A bad back has delayed The Puddles quite a bit, but they are now in place, though there is no planting around them yet. That will be for next weekend, and then they will finally begin to look like a garden feature, rather than three holes int he ground with plastic tubs in them… And the lilac is a God-sent; I have always loved lilacs, and this is a great shade.
My Dad is a well as he can be, circumstances considered. The new house is perfect for them, and he can enjoy the house and the view, even if he doesn’t get around much. I think we’re at the point where we are hoping for a speedy resolution so he doesn’t have to be in too much pain.