I've been waiting...

patiently. No, for real. I don't do patient very well. I want it now, exactly the way I want it. And there's no time for dillydally. But...there have been instances of patience in the garden. Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished is not just a phrase I include on my header images. It's what I needed to learn through gardening. On rare occasions, it's possible to see results.

A fig tree. My first ever grown from cuttings taken late one night just after Halloween. I call it the 6th St Fig. Beside it is a one year old hibiscus that's trying to over take it.



The figs have begun to ripen. I've eaten over a dozen so far, picked from the bush and barely chewed.



They really are delicious.



The story of this fig tree is not one of daily checking for roots. This one, I stuck in a wooden frame filled with sand. I put a few other things in there like honeysuckle, grapes, redtwig dogwoods, and a few other things I can't recall. The forsythia rooted. And so did this fig. I ignored it for a few months. I would water them if I remembered once every few weeks. I just didn't pay any attention to them. I was busy wintersowing and planting out that first year. I didn't have time to think about a few sticks. I kept myself and my mind busy, and nature was accomplished. Eventually I potted it up into a one gallon container. Last spring, when I created the Shrub Island, I planted it there. It's going to stay in that spot, even when the bed around it disappears. This winter, I'll take new cuttings to take with me.

Just across the path, I've got a Confederate Rose that has been in the same spot since the day it was planted. Yeah, amazing, I know. I wintersowed these fuzzy, ugly seeds one day in early 2008. I didn't think they were what I was looking for. But it is. Now if it will only bloom this year. It's over 7' tall already and still growing. I didn't water it this summer. I doubt the returning Camellia sasanqua next to it is doing it much good either. But there she is.



It all started by playing with plastic containers and dirt in the basement on cold winter nights. What I didn't know, I learned by doing, asking, and reading. At the store, my bevy of "old ladies" gave me some wonderful knowledge and plants from their gardens. Online, other gracious gardeners shared wisdom and inspired me. I've learned a lot here. I've learned a lot about me, too. I'm still learning patience. It ain't easy.

It's 72 degrees and cloudy. There is a certain chill in the air this morning. The still unmowed grass is wet with dew. The high today will only reach the low 80s. It's time to turn off the A/C and open the windows. Finally.