My garden sustains me

"Why do you spend so much time out in the heat, playing in the dirt?"  a friend asked me.  I looked around at the gorgeous daylilies, finally blooming after a year of uncertainty and nursing them through the worst drought that Texas has ever seen (in recorded history).  I looked around at the rosebushes (over 80 of them!) that are struggling to survive although covered with snails--yet, are still blooming.  I looked around at the yard filled with crepe myrtles that are blooming with five different colors right now (from watermelon-red to fuchsia-pink) and the stray sunflowers that have been planted by the many birds who call this garden their home.

I hear the songs from at least a dozen different species of birds, the tapping of the woodpecker on the pecan trees, the screeching of mockingbirds warning away the bluejays.

To some, I guess, it's just work that has to be done.  To me, it's an escape from the room inside where I write all my mystery and strange and quirky speculative fiction, and where I live in fantasy worlds filled with elves, and fairies and fictional characters who can't stop talking, in my award-winning plays for young people.  :-)

The garden is a respite, a haven of rest for my weary brain after I've spewed out 30,000 words in a week and can't do. one. more. thing.  The garden restores me.  THAT's why I spend so much time out there, in the heat, playing in the dirt.  You should try it sometime.

Happy Trails!

bobbi c.

P. S. Check out my new Texas historical mystery novel, LONE STAR DEATH.  Available now for only $2.99 on Amazon as a Kindle e-book.  Yeehaw!

How does your garden inspire you?

The Earthly Gardener by Bobbi A. Chukran
March 28, 2007

Mornin’ earthly gardeners!

The theme today is “garden as inspiration.” How does your garden inspire you? While flipping through some photos we took last year in my garden, I ran across this arty shot of my sundial. It sits on an old dead cedar stump and is one of the first things you see when you walk into my front garden gate.



Of course, being silly, I want to plant “thyme” underneath it, or perhaps “four-o-clock” flowers. It could be the beginning of a whole theme garden based on the word “time”.

I love garden ornaments, and have several. Birdbaths, sundials, little gargoyle guys, even a few gnomes, a “Welcome to my Garden” sign that a neighbor/friend gave me, and a great aged-looking cement rabbit with really long ears. Plants are definitely the reason for the garden, but the ornaments add to its inspiration.

How does your garden inspire you? Come on, I wanna know!

dig it!

bobbi c.
All text and photos are copyright ©2007 by Bobbi A. Chukran. All rights reserved.