Gardening Downs and Ups

Most of the time, I garden with a smile on my face -- and mud on my hands. Dodging the bubblebees can be a challenge but I appreciate their work and their aerodynamic challenge.

But there are times when gardening can break your heart. Today I discovered that all the mature leaves have been stripped off my hibiscus. I've had that bush since '93 when I had my eye surgery, and I have babied it through a move from Florida to Tennessee, and through summer and winter.

Then I discovered that all the leaves had been broken or eaten off a Bleeding Heart I had just gotten last year. It hasn't had a chance to show what it can do.

I've had to console myself today with looking eye-to-eye into a dark blue delphinium, and planting a huge (by my standards but I know where there's a bigger one) Elephant Ear bulb in a big pot so that it can grow in the perennial garden. I think the Elephant Ear is going to be dark purple because the growing points on it are pink.

The joy of gardening is in the anticipation.