WQ #16: April 19: EARTH/NATIONAL GARDENING DAY
“Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockleshells And pretty maids all in a row.”
— Mother Goose (aka Prince Charming)
Happy Wednesday, and welcome to #WQ Here’s your chance to showcase your garden. What are your favorite plants to grow? How will you celebrate Earth Day? What are the best gardens you have visited? Tell us with a quote and a photo, story, poem, or combination.
Defining a Garden
Gardens are so varied and unique, it’s hard to define what makes something a garden or what should be in one. Garden benches are a must. We enjoy sitting in the garden having a cool drink and watching the garden grow. You can grab a sample to munch in a fruit or vegetable garden. You can pick a bouquet for the dining room table in a flower garden.
Memorials, ceremonies and celebrations take place in gardens. It’s fun to wander through a garden and sniff and look at what is growing or what an artist has placed along the path to enjoy. For them to look nice, toiling in the soil usually proceeds beauty and abundant harvests.
I am dreaming about what I’m going to plant this year. What about you?
Life Long Learning
“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.”
— Gertrude Jekyll (2011)
Vince and I moved away from these California pastel beauties and their insect friends two and a half years ago. I had the fortune of knowing Dr. Manuel Jimenez who planted the rose garden in 2004. Kiwanis of Woodlake joined the City of Woodlake in maintaining them, including the cacti, in 2017.
Maintaining even the three-acre garden required constant upkeep and many hands with knowledge and brawn. With the addition of the Master Gardeners, the high school students in the agricultural program, and the Kiwanis team, we had it all. Recently work screeched to a halt as the city installs a pipe through the garden to transport water to a new reservoir.
“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments. ”
– Janet Kilburn Phillips
“God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.”
– Francis Bacon
Gardens: Indoors and Out
I’ve seen some gardens that look like they came straight from the Garden of Eden. These pastel beauties in Longwood Gardens in PA might have come from the original garden.
“It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
To be honest with you, I don’t agree with Stevenson. I love the colors. I also love the creativity of statues, paths, and other items that make a garden special and different than weeds that grow cheerfully along the side of the road like the superblooms we saw last week.
In the case of the Underground Gardens the smell of orange blossoms and later the fruit is heavenly. The fact that the trees grow underground in hard pan out of the reach of the sweltering sun makes them amazing. Further, the gardens are part of the internal decor of the home that Baldassare Forestiere built from the early 1900s until his death in 1946.
The Garden State
I think probably God relocated the Garden of Eden to Hawaii. The natives claim that Kauai is the Garden State. Everywhere you look is a garden.
Prescott Walk
“A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.”
– Doug Larson
This week Vince and I looked for gardens in Prescott. I’ve been very disappointed in the number of flowers growing along side of the roads. There are no superblooms here. However, I had to change my perspective about what a garden is. This next garden is a rock garden in the Granite Gardens Park. Address: 2523-2695 E Granite Gardens Dr, Prescott, AZ 86301
Last Week’s Featured Bloggers on Tour Guide
- A FRESH CUP OF COFFEE – POSITIVE MOVER – GREAT GUIDE
- DEB’S WORLD – VISIT TUMBARUMBA
- KEEP IT ALIVE – VISIT PLACES IN YOUR IMAGINATION
- LADY LEE – BEAUTIFUL MUNICH
- LOVING LIFE – TRAVELER OR TOURIST?
- MINDFILLS – GRANDMA’S PERFECT CHRYSANTHEMUM
- PICTURES IMPERFECT – SPRINGTIME ON THE RHINE
- SUNDAY STILLS – PERFECT PASTELS ON HER TOUR
- TRAVELS AND TRIFLES – TOURS OF TINA’S FAVORITE PLACES AROUND THE WORLD
Your Post Goes Here
- FOLLOWING MY MUSE – WHAT IS A WEED?
- FRESH CUP OF COFFEE – EVEN WHEN YOUR GARDEN DOES NOT GROW – GARDENS REFLECT BEAUTY!
- KEEP IT ALIVE – GARDENS “NURTURE THE NURTURER”
- LADY LEE – LOTS OF FLOWERS
- LOVING LIFE – THINK ABOUT THE MOSQUITO!
- PICTURES IMPERFECT – TULIPS AND FAIRIES
- SECOND WIND LEISURE – RIPARIAN HIKE
- SECOND WIND LEISURE – POPPIES, DAISIES, AND HOODOOS
Or use Mr. Linky to link your post, or to read other posts. 🙂
WQ #15 Inspired by
- Lens Artist Photo Challenge #245 – Environments
- FOTD
- Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – anything large
- Cell Pic Sunday
- Sunday Stills – Pastels
- Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share & PPAC
Upcoming and Ongoing on Always Write
Lots of love to all of you and best wishes for a wonderful week.
- WQ Page
- WQ #17: April 26: ABSTRACT/WRITER’S CHOICE/DOUBLE DIP CHALLENGES
- WQ #18: May 3: GROWING
- WQ #19: May 10: MOTHER’S DAY/ROYAL PURPLE
- WQ #20: May 17: HERITAGE/INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM DAY
- WQ #21: May 24: HONORABLE
- WQ #22: May 31: MIDPOINT/WRITER’S CHOICE/DOUBLE DIP CHALLENGES
- #DICKENSCHALLENGE started February 7th. Join Yvette Prior, Trent McDonald, and me in reading ONE – not THREE Dickens’ novellas by June 9th. Donna from Retirement Reflections posted an excellent review on her challenge, What’s On Your Bookshelf this month.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
78 responses to “#WQ #16: How Does YOUR Garden Grow?”
Prescott seems like a challenging area for gardening (all those rocks!), but then so was Flagstaff, and it was still possible. Thanks for sharing such lovely photos! They’re inspiring me to get out of my chair and go spread some compost.
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Yay! Your garden is amazing!
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Beautiful gardens, in all their shapes and forms, Marsha. I love the pink lupines!
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Thanks. I just found out again what they are thanks to reading someone’s blog.
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Beautiful gardens & flowers. Thanks for sharing. #Weekendcoffeeshare
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Thank you, Karen. 🙂
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A truly delight to read and feast for the eyes.
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Thank you so much, Donna. 🙂
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Lol when I think of Garden State, I think of New Jersey — I believe that’s the nickname. I’ve never been to NJ and I’ve never been to Hawaii either.
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I don’t know if you’ve started a bucket list. I really don’t have one mostly because the opportunities that happen randomly are so much better than anything I could think up or imagine. But if you have a list, I’d do NJ in the fall and Hawaii anytime because the weather is great no matter when you go. I never thought I get there, but once we started, we went several times and I loved it.
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Beautiful garden pictures! I enjoy gardening here in AZ AND Pennsylvania. Here, I have many roses, lantana and bougainvillea. In Pennsylvania I have inherited many of the flowers my Mother planted some 50+ years ago. Gardening is therapy for me. A time of quiet and a time to be with nature. Happy Tuesday!
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Nancy, what a beautiful tradition you have. My mother’s mother had the green thumb in our family. Mom was basically allergic to the outdoors. I dug up weeds in my tiny garden area two days ago. I’ll plant in a couple of weeks when there is no more chance of snow. I’d love to see pictures of both of your gardens. Have you written any posts. Feel free to drop me a link.
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I shall do so… I have many many many pictures of our garden!
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Awesome!
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Hi Marsha,
Lovely photos. My wife and I, just this past week were chatting about starting a wild-flower garden in a particular spot in our backyard. Water is a problem here you know, so we have to proceed with some caution.
But now, the yard looks wonderful – except it needs some poppies – the more the better.
Blessings. . .
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Poppies are super easy to grow there. Once you get them started, they are self-germinating, and they take over a space. I had to clear out mine in Prescott at our last place because they tried to overtake all the bushes. They get really ugly when they are done blooming.
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Hm. May have to reconsider.
Ugly and hard to control are not endearing qualities for flowers 💐
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Hi Marsha,
Here’s my post
http://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2023/04/23/inspiring-garden/
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“A garden
A refuge
A safe haven
Calming and relaxing
Nurturing the nurturer” SADJE
My response
Worked the soil
Creating a refuge
Color, smells, sounds
Lawn chairs, table
Breezes and lemonade
Watch bees work
Marsha Ingrao
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Thanks Marsha for responding with this scenic poem. It sets the right tone to venture out in the garden
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Definitely. I loved your poem. It inspired me!
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💝💝💝
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[…] Marsha’s Wednesday Quotes: Gardens and Earth Day […]
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Oooo la la. Gorgeous post, Terri! 🙂
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Marsha, Your flower photos are stunning. I love all the flowers in your Life Long Learning gallery, the white rose at Portland Rose gardens and the lupines. I don’t plan to grow a garden this summer due to my travels. I’ll just admire public gardens. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.
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I am about at your point, Natalie. Travels don’t keep me from traveling quite as much as the area itself. Though, I do seem to be doing a lot of traveling. I’m going to CA in May to help a friend move from her ancestral home built in 1890. She still has all the furniture and decor from that period, too.
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Hi Marsha, a gorgeous post, I love the flowers. I really like the quote by Gertrude Jekyll. There are all sorts of gardens and not all of them are manicured English gardens. My garden at home as a cacti mini garden and we also have an English garden piece with roses and all sorts of other flowers. Our local park is unmanicured and full of wild flowers, crab apple and other trees, and wild birds.
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Stunning pictures Marsha! 💗
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Thanks, Cindy!!
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always Marsha! ❣️
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My first thought was a one-word response… Rarely.
But, of course, that isn’t true. The weeds are always with us. At the moment our back garden has a thriving dandelion crop and the grass is waiting for himself to fix the ride-on mower. As I type, I look out of my window across a field. Between us is a dyke, which gets gradually wider as our drive gets narrower. The roses along the dyke were here before we moved in fifteen years ago. I suspect that fifteen years hence they will have fallen into the dyke, but meanwhile they do us proud every summer. I’ve already pulled up the first crop of nettles, and somewhere under there is mint and parsley, when they get around to growing. The chives are already up and budding, but so interspersed with grass that there is no point trying to separate them until I’ve cut what I want to use. To be honest, I don’t use them often for cooking, but they have spread like… well, like dandelions. And the flowers are cheerful for most of the summer.
True, the maintenance of a large plot and two ponds is getting away from us in our dotage, but I never did favour manicured lawns and geometric borders. The patch at the front is mostly old roses and wildflowers bordering as much grass a hand-mower can cope with. I’m not one of life’s gardeners.
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I bet it looks lovely, Cathy! I’ve had mint in my garden-that’s invasive! My parsley grew into a bush as did the basil. That all happened in CA. I can’t get anything to grow here in Prescott. The weather is so unpredictable and wild animals always come along to glean. 😝 Thanks for your longer than one-word response! It’s always good to hear from you.
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masterful post, Marsha – and I need to come back again to enjoy some of the photos a bit more – but really liked the theme and also Dr. Manuel Jiminez sounds talented
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Thanks, Yvette. I’m honored by the word masterful! Dr. Jimenez is truly masterful! We have a lot of talented gardeners in Woodlake, but he has vision.
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☀️🤍
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A lovely post filled with life Terri. That Grasshopper is a beauty as is the abundant flowers. Beautiful 🙂
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Actually, I’m Marsha, BB unless you were talking to Terri on a different plane, or is it plain? 🙂
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Oh dear, where is my brain this morning. Too much crap in there which needs a good clean out. I am so so sorry Marsha.
Why do I seem to do that to you and to Terri. You both are interchangeable in my head at time. I guess you two being besties doesn’t help me either. Don’t get me started on which one owns Hans and who has Vince 😂😂
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LOL! You are so funny, Brian. There’s no one like you, so it’s not a problem for us. You are right, though. I’ve heard others say the same thing. We are a lot alike – even in real life, but I’m the older and she’s got the bushy red hair. We’ll all have to figure out a way to get together!!! It’s easy once we meet someone in person. We should do a group zoom. We are both on the same time, so it would be easy.
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That sounds like a good idea. I would like to do a zoom if it can be arranged. I zoom with Cee in my mornings, her afternoons. I do know you are so different. I think that it is when you post and they appear in my Reader together…….spooky or what 😲
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Cee and I are the same until fall. It is weird that our posts appear at the same time!!! I take being called Terri as a compliment, BTW. 🤪
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I planted jonquil bulbs last week in the hope that they make a nice display in my rose garden in spring. 🙂 All your garden photos are gorgeous, Marsha.
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They will be beautiful next to roses. Nothing more showy than roses and dahlias. I’ve always loved roses best, but after visiting Oregon in Sept., I’ve become very fond of dahlias. 🙂
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I love dahlias too. This year our dahlias are just going on and on. Usually by April they would be finished but there’s no sign of them dying off yet. They are just beautiful. I have a big vase full of red and white ones next to the TV.
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Take some pictures and show me. I adore dahlias! 🙂
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Look in your Messenger Inbox!
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I’ll unbury my phone tomorrow. I’m just about to head to bed. So sleepy! Have a great weekend. 🙂
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You too 😀
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You seldom disappoint, but you would probably be disappointed if you saw my garden. It’s small, and wayward, and second to the view from the roof terrace, but I do love visiting gardens. Thanks for some lovely pics, Marsha.
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Thank you Jo. My gardens are less than disappointing. I thought about including some of my best garden pictures, but they pale next to professional gardens. My gardens here don’t even get a photo! 🙂
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Love all these garden pictures! Longwood Gardens is one of my favorite ones to visit, and I hope I can go back sometime. Thanks for featuring my blog too!
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I love Longwood Gardens. Thanks for joining in with WQ. It’s my pleasure to feature bloggers. 🙂
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I’m always surprised at how much of your terrain looks so much like outs that I could have taken that picture. Maybe it’s just the whole “north” thing. We usually have a lot more wildflowers — or flowers that became wild — but last year’s drough did an awful lot of damage. No super-blooms here, either.
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Bummer! I’m going to CA in a couple of weeks. I wonder if their superbloom will still be there. I hope so. 🙂
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We are having anti-blooms. Things that should be blooming aren’t. I’m not even sure all the trees will leaf. That was some killer drought we had. I hope the flowers bloom for you!
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That’s really scary, Marilyn. Here in AZ and CA we know what it is like to have killer droughts. Killer floods is what if unusual for us – once every 100 years. It’s so weird that we have floods when you have droughts. I wish we could share!
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love your post, Marsha 🙂 flowers, garden, all so colourful ❤
https://ladyleemanilablog.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/to-plant-a-garden-is-to-believe-in-tomorrow/
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Thank you Lady Lee. Color is fun!
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What a delight your post is today! The grashopper (hayhorse!) cannot be overlooked!
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Thanks, Elke. There’s nothing like a pretty flower to stop us in our tracks and make us smile. Not to mention a feeding grasshopper enjoying his meal. 🙂
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👍🏽
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[…] Wednesday Quotes […]
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Lovely post, so many great images
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Thank you so much, Sue!
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😄😄
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So many beautiful flowers! I’m with you – color matters. Kauai is definitely lush. (I had the good luck to have a brief stay there.) So is south Florida, but there are a lot more people there. Having lived a long time in Nevada, I agree that you need to broaden your perspective on gardens and beauty.
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Nevada is definitely a challenge. I love the red rocks near Las Vegas, though. South Florida is beautiful, too – very muggy especially after living in near desert areas for 40 years.
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I tried to comment on your website, and it threw me off telling me I was unacceptable. I’m not sure what I said. 🙂
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We used to make ironwork for gardens, arches, gazebos, rose tunnels, obelisks, bowers, and more. Some of our ironwork is the English Garden in Tokyo, Cambridge University Botanical Gardens amongst others.
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How impressive, Phil. Having your work displayed there is quite an honor. Who is “we?”
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It was Fenland Ironworks Ltd, Marsha we sold the business in 2016 to another metalworking company, when I retired. Writing is the activity that occupies most of my time now.
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It sounds like you are masterful at both!
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I wouldn’t say that but thanks for suggesting it.
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So many lovely garden shots, Marsha! Kaui looks amazing. Not a single flower to be seen in these parts although I heard a rumor that some wildflowers might have popped up nearby. The sun went behind the clouds and we just got 5 minutes of graupel/hail. Jeez. Your pastel gardens are so pretty so I will live vicariously through your lovely shots for a while! Gardens are a great theme for the upcoming Earth Day!
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Thanks, Terri. It took me a while to sort through all my garden pictures to find just what I wanted. I had to choose the most compelling! 🙂
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[…] for Marsha’s WQ: Be a Tour Guide and Earth Day, Denzil Nature’s NPC long-legged birds, Don’t Hold Your Breath’s Bird of the […]
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Riparian hike – watch out for birds! Awesome hike!
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