Green thumbs

It was not until I arrived in Ohio nearly 11 years ago (can't believe it'll be that long in March!) that I began to explore the rewards and vicissitudes of gardening, something that, as a born and bred "city girl," I'd never really had the chance to learn about as I was growing up.

Although my first attempts at planting were not very successful, especially with regard to my beloved peonies, because I didn't know much about how to garden, I slowly learned (replanted all the peonies I had mis-planted so they faced the sun) and now can say that I have inherited at least part of the famous green thumb of my abuela, whose roses and potted plants were gorgeous and whose plantain and lemon trees were famously bountiful. I am not quite that successful but at least I do a lot better than when I first started.

One of the features my husband and I love best about this old house is its garden, which my papi used to call the jardín mágico because of all the birds, squirrels, rabbits, and even an opossum, that lived in it and because of the flowering trees and many flowers that we planted in it over the years we were here.

Today, I spent a couple of hours doing some weeding and cutting back of overgrown plants in the small garden that has been basically abandoned for the years we were not here. Everything needed a good trimming and the dessicated weeds needed to be pulled and cut back. I haven't worked that hard in the garden since we moved out of here so it was a nice feeling to see the fruit of my labor and to look forward to spring (winter is more than halfway done, as my husband keeps pointing out) when we can restore this magical garden to its former glory.

One of the major components of the garden, a water feature, was taken out because our tenants were afraid of the potential hazard to their toddler. My husband built it many years ago in the shape of a rock bath for birds. Though it will not function as a water feature ever again, I do love the labor that he put into creating the "natural" rock formation and today I placed a small ceramic dish where the plastic tub used to be and cleared the rock feature of weeds and years of accumulated debris, hoping that the birds will want to start using it again as it accumulates rain water.

Lizzy came to see what I was doing and I snapped this picture of her, almost posing, in her new backyard. We don't think she misses the country estate's rambling yard where she could run at full speed down the nearly acre-long expanse to catch her ball. She seems pretty content here though she can't get up to those speeds to chase her ball or toy because here she sees a lot more squirrels and people and even other dogs walking down the back alley.

As people who don't like anything about winter, we both look forward to spring. But this year's change of season will be even more special because we're both excited about making this the jardín mágico that so enchanted us long ago.