The comfortable, sunny weather of May in Maryland’s gardening zone 8 welcomes spring blooms. I’ve enjoyed nurturing my plant babies these past few weeks. Watching them sprout and recently bloom brings a bright smile to my face. The tiny pink dianthus (aka carnations) and large lush peonies bloomed this week while my roses began displaying their vibrant colors within the past two weeks. Eternal Flame (yellow), Ebb Tide (purple/magenta), Bolero (white) boasts vibrant colors and exquisite fragrance! The songbirds have three separate nests hidden throughout this garden full of life. Last year, my lambs ear suffered from die back due to too much rain. It looked rather unsightly for quite some time. This spring, however, the lambs ear resurrected stronger than ever and in the lovely form of a heart (center of the collage photo). Perhaps the lesson of the heart-shaped lambs ear could be sometimes areas of our lives need to die back or be pruned before we can be reborn or renewed with a perfected heart. Glorious spring, without fail, always triumphs over the harsh winter. Renewed hope is the heart of Spring.
I’ve been so busy taking multiple college courses while working full-time as a paralegal that I not only haven’t posted in several weeks, but my everbloomingroses.com domain name registration lapsed and was snapped up by a mysterious organization – probably to sell it back to me for an exorbitant amount. Subsequently, I’ve launched a new and improved gardening site, Bee-Everblooming, with the domain name http://www.bee-everblooming.com. I suppose like nature, even domain names can be reincarnated or reborn as something new!
As you may or may not know, this site was and still is designed to encourage the gardener’s soul. Although I have not been able to post lately, thankfully, my hard work in obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies may be starting to pay off as I was recently invited to bee 😉 a member of the Lambda Epsilon Chi (LEX), a national honor society for paralegal and legal studies students with a high GPA. I suppose there are advantages to finally finishing your degree in your forties – you not only have life experience to assist you, but you actually care about your grades! Ha! After I graduate next spring (2025), I anticipate sharing many more inspirational gardening tips. Nevertheless, I have been able to somewhat keep up with my ever-growing garden, but I confess the weeds are winning in some beds, and the blackspot, beetles, and borers are a thorn in my flesh. More on all that later! In the meantime, pray for me as I am discerning potential next steps to help me grow professionally, and personally.
While lounging on my back porch this past weekend, I discovered minuscule insects crawling on a black patio table as well as on two candles placed on the table. After close inspection of these critters that were no bigger than a dime, I realized they were baby praying mantis! In total, I found five crawling around my patio furniture. Last summer, there was an adult praying mantis crawling on my steps, which lead to the garden from my back porch, but I haven’t seen an adult one since. Needless to say, I have been in awe while observing these little ones. Praying Mantis are considered good bugs in the garden ecosystem, and they will devour plenty of damaging insects.
What is a lesson we can learn from the Praying Mantis? Perhaps the lesson is when we take the time to pray, listen, and be discerning in our movements, we can overcome much!
Within these last couple of weeks of May, my peonies have exploded in hues of pink and divine aroma! Peonies are once-blooming perennials, which seems like a juxtaposition. The luscious, fragrant blooms last a few weeks while the foliage remains a vibrant, shiny green until late fall when they need to be cut down so the plant will rebloom the following year. In my gardening zone of 8a here in Maryland, peonies bloom typically in May.
What can we learn from the peony? Our talents and giftings take time and maintenance to cultivate; moreover, they aren’t necessarily meant to be showcased all year long but rather in an appointed season.
I am processing this unbelievable event of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing while contemplating the physical and spiritual mayday, the physical and spiritual urgent movement to soon follow, and the physical and spiritual shaking that some will experience.
The Book of Job teaches us nothing happens without God’s permission. Some events manifest as a consequence and sometimes events are for a greater divine purpose and many times unexpected events are for our refinement and ultimate benefit. God is the ultimate Harbormaster. Ponder these uncanny facts: The ship’s name that collided with our beloved bridge, means ‘Drawn up of God’. I interpret that to mean designed by God or destined or planned by God. Additionally, the infamous ship’s registered owner is ‘Grace Ocean Private, Limited’. Consider passages in the Bible that teach us tragic events and inconvenient restrictions are often for our benefit as well as a bigger picture beyond our limited perspective. Sometimes devastating events are an unimaginable act of grace, albeit terribly painful – especially for the loved ones of those now abruptly taken. Perhaps this unimaginable event is indeed an act of grace. Perhaps something far sinister had been planned, but this thwarted evil.
Furthermore, I see with this port disaster and the ripple effect to soon follow, Baltimore is being shuffled as people will be relocating. Did you notice President Biden used the phrase we’ll “move heaven and earth” to open the port and rebuild the bridge? Many felt secure, unmovable, in their livelihoods and homes like a steel bridge with concrete piers. Some may have been called to other things but out of fear resisted. They’ve been at the same job or home for years and comfortable as things were but sometimes GOD moves heaven and earth to transport us to where He wants us to be for our benefit. With this event, some will change jobs and homes due to a suddenly inconvenient commute or loss of a job. Others will move because homes will foreclose with the loss of port jobs and the broad economic ripple to follow. Others will move into the Baltimore region to rebuild and some will move out of the region to look for work elsewhere or move out for other reasons. Expect physical and spiritual relocation packages as a result of this collapsed icon.
As challenging as this is for us in Baltimore and the wider region, may we learn to trust not man or our well-intended plans, but trust in God’s plan. Let us learn to go when God says to go and to start anew when God dispatches or as the Baltimore dispatcher declared at the moment the bridge collapsed, “start, start, whoever, everybody!” Physical urgent movement is starting for our spiritual and physical benefit. Selah.
With spring approaching, I’ve been busy preparing my garden for optimal growth. My shed is packed with numerous bags of pine nugget mulch among a variety of garden tools, and I had a small retaining wall recently built in the corner bed to prevent further erosion from the rain. Additionally, tonight, after getting home from work, I quickly pruned and fertilized what I affectionately refer to as ‘The Pink Patch’. The pink patch is a narrow border bed between my home and my neighbor’s property. It hosts several pink rose bushes including ‘Sweet Drift’ and the narrow bed concludes with the hybrid tea, ‘Chicago Peace’ near the garden’s gate. Essentially, I have created a pink hedge – although, at the moment, there is no pink in the pink patch due to the natural effects of winter dormancy. Unfortunately, a stray cat thinks the pink patch is her litter box, which motivated me to prune and fertilize a tad earlier than I normally would because I am hoping the drift roses will unfurl and expand making it difficult for the neighborhood cat to use the rose bed as a restroom. Then again, the stray cat will likely move onto one of my many other flower beds.
‘Sweet Drift’ roses and ‘Chicago Peace’ on the left make up ‘The Pink Patch’ while the wild cane on the right is ‘Earth Angel’.
This bloom of Chicago Peace is past her prime but still a lovely blend of pinks, apricots, and lilac.
The culprit cat.
During this past Sunday’s beautiful sunshine, I created a new garden bed to house a rose bush that I planted last year but I underestimated her size. After seeing ‘Earth Angel’, a fragrant and romantic floribunda, produce long canes during her first year, I recently researched her size in gardening forums (sometimes the size stated on vendor’s websites is not the reality in all gardening zones). Turns out, this rose can get 5′ by 4′ not 3′ by 3′. Similarly, it’s been my observation from past gardens of mine that Sweet Drift’s height and width grow approximately double what the label claims. So, I dug a new hole elsewhere for Earth Angel, pruned her back, dug her up, and transplanted her, gambling that the weather forecast would continue to remain above freezing. Then I made a new bed around her using cardboard to cover the grass, put dirt on top of the cardboard, and spread a layer of mulch to top it all off. Through it all, I noticed the recently erected small retaining wall for the corner bed partially covered the base of two daisies. I subsequently had to transplant them for optimal growth as well, which reminded me that sometimes that is the case for us humans too. Selah.
What’s happening in your garden and the proverbial, spiritual garden of your heart? Is construction, pruning, fertilizing, transplanting, or all of the above needed for optimal growth this spring? Like, subscribe, and comment below.
Be ever-blooming, rose buds!
In March of 2024, a new flower bed and the small retaining wall in the corner bed “bloomed”.
Although this website is designed to encourage the gardener’s soul to be “ever-blooming”, it’s okay to not always be “ever-blooming”. It’s okay to feel wilted, physically, mentally, and or spiritually. It’s okay to hibernate in dormancy to rest, replenish, and process all that’s happened up to this point. We all have days, weeks, seasons, or even years when the elements of this world seem to drown us in “atmospheric rivers” as gardeners in California may be experiencing this week. Should you find yourself in a challenging proverbial winter, just remember spring always arrives. For the gardeners in the Northern Hemisphere, we have just six weeks to wait. New beginnings will bloom… new life will spring forth… as will you and I.
After the terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, I made sachets filled with my homegrown fragrant roses, lavender, and love. I had hoped and prayed that somehow these sachets could reach the hands of those suffering in Israel. There was just one problem: I didn’t know a soul in Israel, nor specific organizations serving those directly impacted. I’ve never even been to Israel. Nevertheless, while pondering sentiments found in Isaiah 35 and listening to the daily news of Israel, I continued to fill the sachets with every last dried petal and lavender bud I harvested in my Maryland rose garden, thinking and praying somehow they could be used for something and someone special.
Many days, many tears, and many prayers pooled while my fragrant sachets awaited purpose in a pink, floral box. Long story short, I learned that a local rabbi would be visiting Israel on a solidarity mission and would be meeting with the families of the hostages. Various donations were welcomed. A smile formed across my face as I realized this could be an answer to my heart’s cry. The rabbi graciously took the remnants of my roses in delicate sachets to Israel. We thought it fitting to deliver my homegrown sachets into the hands of the hurting so that they may be reminded of the promises of God found in Isaiah 35. The promises for the anxious to be strong, to not fear, God is coming for Israel’s eventual requital, recompense, and victory! We talked about how smells and tangible items in our hands help alleviate anxiety and how many of the victims in Israel are from gardening communities (kibbutzim). How fitting to bring them fragrant rose and lavender sachets!
According to news reports, Hamas leaders are calling for a ‘Day of Rage’ / ‘Day of Jihad’ this Shabbat on Friday, October 13, 2023, against all Jews. Authorities worldwide are providing additional security to Jewish communities and synagogues due to heightened tensions.
I photographed this hybrid tea rose known as ‘Love & Peace’ and made this graphic years ago. Indeed, may this Sabbath be full of love and peace.
Despite the oppressive August heat, along fences and trellises throughout my new garden located in Maryland 7b, three different clematis vines bloom. Next year, they, along with my roses, lavender, and other flowers, should pop with vibrant complementary colors!
Here’s a peak…
Jackmanii
Nestled between the purple and pink clematis is Summer Romance, a pink floribunda rose.
Dr. Ruppel
Niobe
The gold in the center of this Niobe will go nicely with the gold of Eternal Flame, a hybrid tea rose.
As the plants prosper and acclimate, there should be plenty of photo opportunities to capture the clematis and roses highlighting each other’s beauty like good friends or perhaps like a summer romance or eternal flame often do. 😉
Bring out the best in others! Highlight beautiful character in those planted near you. Be complementary! Be ever-blooming.
