Embrace your eccentricity!

I posted today on Facebook that Spiro has declared me to be eccentric.  This came about because I showed him a new pair of sandals I purchased from Zappos.  http://www.zappos.com/keen-venice-h2-cactus-seafoam  OK...I know they're heinous, but my motives were pure.  I take Ares to the dog park and we have to cross a little stream- aka a creek if you're from Pittsburgh. Last week I crossed said "crick" wearing tennis shoes and socks and proceeded on a little hike in squishy, wet shoes.  That little hike motivated me to purchase these practical shoes.  I could have chosen a nice, safe brown, but I thought "why not pick a fun color...like green!".  

While weeding today I continued to dwell on the fact that I was labelled eccentric.  Am I ashamed? Nope.  I am embracing eccentric as many of my friends did in commenting on my post.  Life would be much too short if the name of the game was being normal or conformist or unimaginative or uninspired.  Yes- I am a "doctor's wife".  I can rock St. John's knits if I absolutely have to, but I am so much happier wearing gym shorts and a tee-shirt.  My garden is my place to express my artistic side.  It is a place where I can play with color, dig until I'm dripping with sweat, spend hours without knowing that they've passed and emerge dirty and triumphant at the end of the day- weeds pulled, plants in their places and a space so much prettier than when I began.

My garden simply makes me happy.  I have achieved a certain accomplishment in this space...to the point that numerous tours have come to check out my creation.  Attached is a picture of a visit from the Hardy Plant Society, Mid-Atlantic Region that swung my house (the little yellow place in the background) in their BUS a couple years ago.  When I told my children about the tour their immediate response was that a bunch of "loser gardeners" and their "really bad outfits" were coming by.  Turns out my kids were right...check out these sad wardrobe choices!

I LOVE the fact that my gardener friends don't give a crap about their outfits.  All of these fine people were so smart and so interested in my garden it made all of the bad polyester seem utterly irrelevant.  It was a truly eccentric group of people.  A group that I am proud to identify with... although a great pair of J Brand Jeans really would improve their quality of life!

Springtime in Pittsburgh

So, I've been digging a few of the dandelions that have germinated from the 50 zillion plants my lovely neighbor is growing across the street.  Tonight he took the unprecedented action of using a line trimmer to his little hillside, effectively spattering the pretty little white puffs and their bazillion seedlings over the entire neighborhood.  I keep telling myself that I'd rather have him and his lovely family + their dandelion field ("job security" as the Scott's Lawncare guy called it) than an anal retentive jerk and a perfect lawn across the street. I repeat this again to myself  when looking down at a 14 inch taproot I've spent 5 minutes of my life extracting from my flowerbeds!

But I digress...Once again we've gone straight from crappy, cold, rainy March weather to pre-summer, dry, almost 80 degree days.  Whatever happened to a normal April- or May?  This would be kinda OK if every year the long awaited opening of my gorgeous Tree Peony (Kamada Nishiki) wasn't accompanied by the knowledge that it's gorgeous 6 inch silken flowers would last only 3 or 4 days with the sudden onset of hot weather. I am attaching a photo of the Tree Peony so I'm not the only one who gets to enjoy it.  It will be a memory in a couple of days!

Welcome to Viridis- a touch of green!

Should I start a blog?  Do I have something to say?  I hope so.  I'm opinionated and passionate about gardening.   I grow many plants.  But what really gets me excited is combining plants in a beautiful way. I am NOT the "garden police"- everyone should grow plants and put them together in a way that makes them happy.  However, it does help to have a little experience, and maybe a good "eye" in order to make the garden in your imagination become reality.  I would love for this blog to help a new gardener find their own vision...with a bit of direction of course!