Flower Power

I am not sure when I first experienced the power of flowers, and the soothing effect their incredible colors and delicate shapes produce.
Maybe it was 30 years ago when I spent a bit of time tied down to a hospital bed with a broken neck. A friend brought in a purple Mum plant and I found myself staring deep into the beautiful purple petals. I found myself in a very relaxed state of mind when my eyes absorbed those intense colors. Or maybe that relaxed state of mind came from the 3 months of maximum allowable dose of Demerol they injected into my body every 3 hours.

There are very few things I would rather do than to work on and in my flower gardens, and this year I have started to build the flower gardens I have always wanted. Sort of my version of a cottage garden style.


Piece by piece I am slowly filling in my first perennial flower bed in front of the house and yesterday I was very excited when I found this stunning Cone Flower called,"Harvest Moon", I think peaches and cream when I look at it.

But one thing I am quickly realising, gardening with free ranging geese and chickens has become a giant challenge. I built a couple of large flower boxes at ground level and every plant I planted has been sat on, pulled out by the roots, eaten, and destroyed.

Because I enjoy free ranging poultry, I now find myself wracking my brain to come up with a solution to the problem. One way was to build and install flower boxes up and out of the reach of my flock of fat geese.


I have moved a couple of tons of rocks, many loads of soil, built and hung flower boxes, carefully planted some beautiful specimens, watered and dead headed the spent flowers, negotiated (begged) "Little Miss we are on a budget" for just one more plant this week. So it is very rewarding when a passerby stops and takes the time to tell me to tell Jeanne is doing a great job with the flower beds.