Friday, April 15, 2016

out there in the...

... mud and the blood and the beer. Well, no, not really, just wet, and muddy and chilling wind. Cold and damp and clammy weather, intermittent misting rain, blowing in and steadily soaking everything and every body. Just general all purpose miserable weather.

Other than that, it was a really pleasant day.  Every day is a good day when it has blooming things, cheerful, smiling flowers in it. Brightly colored perennials, flats of blossoming annuals, brilliantly colored foliage plants, all begging to be adopted, taken to a good home and planted in the landscape to provide beauty-full blooms all summer long.

Volunteering at the Botanical Gardens Annual Spring Plant Sale. It goes on for three days but just this one was all I was prepared to donate. I wanted to get there well before the crowd, as I expected parking to be a major problem; and arrived fairly early only to discover Me to pretty much be the first worker bee there. I knew my 'assignment'/job would be helping people who wanted to pick out bedding plants and have someone put them together in a pot/planter. As it turned out: no one wanted that all day long. There were several put together with an assortment of pretty bloomers and colorful foliage for demonstration purposes, but not sure any of those samples sold.

And once other volunteers started arriving, and I became aware of the other workers in the shed where we would be making planters, I knew it would not be workable for me. Women who will bulldoze right over anyone with ideas or opinions different from their definition of The Right Way. So I politely suggested a relocation plan, with me being moved into a different area, working with people who are much more amenable, agreeable, and with a cooperative spirit. It turned out to be a good day. Working with a new volunteer, plus someone I have known for years. She may or may not be a Know It All, but one I've worked with before so we get along swimmingly.

Which is what it felt like we were doing, as it had rained so much in the twenty four hours previous to the beginning of the sale. Mud, mud and more mud. Partially from all the feet stomping around on the lawn, and partly due to the members-only party the night before. I expect it was a profitable event, especially with everyone getting their member discount. But there was plenty left to tempt the rest of us who showed up for a day of slogging away in the saturated back yard of the Gardens. Tomorrow will be sunny and hopefully the crowd will buy every last little plant to take away and enjoy.

I accidently bought two native azaleas that I will try to get planted the first of the week. I don't even know what color they will bloom, but will plant them in the leaf mulch out under the trees and hope for the best. I'm guessing they are the pale pink ones I used to see growing out in the woods as a youngster. Living in the highly acidic soil under the pine trees and saw palmetto of south Georgia. I talked to a couple of experts during the course of the day, and hope they will thrive and grow, be showy next spring when they bloom and stick around for years to come.

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