Four!

On Saturday, every time I caught a glimpse of the red hibiscus bush, I exclaimed in amazement, “Four!” Four blossoms opened on one day! I’ve never seen so many on this bush at one time—perhaps there’s some beauty queen competition now that there’s a new hibiscus in the garden. I know, I know, plants don’t think. I exclaimed in wonderment so many times that my husband was beginning to think I was losing my memory since each time it sounded like I hadn’t seen them before.☺ Wonder shouldn’t expire with familiarity.

Gardener’s Friend

Look what I found! Can you see it? It’s an earthworm, one of a gardener’s greatest friends—in a pot on a second floor balcony! I found it when turning up the soil for planting (yes, even potting soil can benefit from loosening up) and was glad I didn’t damage it in the process, though they can grow back missing parts—given the right conditions. I hope it hides well so the birds don’t make lunch of it.

I found some interesting facts about earthworms on this site:http://urbanext.illinois.edu/worms/facts/index.html , such as, they eat their weight everyday—I hate to think about the 22 foot long earthworm found in South Africa! Earthworms have to have the right conditions, this site says, or “they’ll go somewhere else” so my garden must measure up. But what do they eat? If they live near the surface they eat fallen leaves and dead grass, especially the bacteria that live on such organic matter but when they live in deeper dirt—they eat dirt! http://www.professorshouse.com/Your-Home/Gardening-Plants/General/Articles/What-Do-Worms-Eat/


Yesterday’s orange hibiscus finally opened—here’s a picture of the colorful orange beauty with it's magenta throat. It’s still open today in the early afternoon though the edges of the petals are curling. Even fleeting beauty is still beauty.

Planting Eden

As an artist I often hear of God being portrayed as the ultimate Artist, the One who created everything. Therefore, since he created us in his image (Genesis 1:27) we too are creative—in one way or another. This morning though, as I continued my rereading of the Old Testament (first in a while), I saw that not only did God create all the plants but he planted the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8)! Before he put Adam there to “work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15), God was The Gardener who arranged particular plants in particular places. I like that a lot. And since we’re all made in his image, we are all, to one degree or another, gardeners—underdeveloped gardeners maybe but gardeners nonetheless.

I also felt affirmed as a visual artist in reading that God made the trees in the garden “pleasing to the eye” (Genesis 2:9)—even the food trees. Making things beautiful matters.

*Oil Painting Glorious Garden