Perfection

Several weeks ago, I spied a perfect natural tableau in my neighborhood, occurring without the help of a human gardener.

As I walked with my beautiful dog, Iris, this scene caught my eye, and on my return I stopped to lean on my neighbor’s white board fence to examine it more closely. Sure enough, there it was. It was perfect.

I did not have a camera with me, so I had to observe with my own eye instead of the mechanical one. Here goes!

Just inside the fence, with the midday sun illuminating all its details, was a large, flat limestone slab, dark, with some rubble scattered across the top. It was probably 4 foot by 2 foot in size. Behind it was a gnarled old prickly pear - no blooms, no colorful tunas, just a weathered cactus. Surrounding the slab and the cactus were zexmenia shrubs (Zexmenia hispida). As a result of our ample rains and moderate temperatures, this native is blooming all over my neighborhood.  The combination of light green/dead cactus pads, dark gray rock, and the dark green foliage and cheerful orange blooms of the zexmenia was just lovely.

Lovely groupings like these seem to occur most often by accident of nature. No matter how I try, I cannot pull off such scenes as successfully as Mother Nature does.  But I do keep trying!

Favorite spot in the garden today:


Okay, I did plant this grouping, and it has turned out even better than I hoped! By the stone walkway to the parking area, my husband and father made a bed that circles the bases of a cedar and an oak growing cheek by jowl. With the aforementioned good weather and rain, this bed is lovely right now. It is filled with white cherry sage (Salvia greggii), blue mistflower (Eupatorium coelestinum), and dark blue/purple Salvia ‘indigo spires.’ Queen butterflies (and an occasional monarch) adore the mistflower. As we walk to and from our cars, we disturb them. On a quiet day, we can hear their wings flapping as they flutter around us.

Memorial for Carolyn

Carolyn Owen Thomas died of leukemia September 5.

I met Carolyn about 12 years ago when we both served on the board of directors for the Village Library of Wimberley. At a library fundraiser, we commiserated on how uncomfortable we felt at social gatherings, and we agreed that small talk was not our forte. We could avoid socializing by finding chores to do, so we busied ourselves gathering used glasses and crumpled napkins.

We both loved books and nature.  She was a military spouse, who had worked as a librarian in several schools in Hays County. She was also part of the local quilting group.

Our lives intersected again when my husband and I bought property next door to Carolyn and her husband Marshall. They were happy to have our family as neighbors, and we were thrilled to live next to such wonderful, caring people.

My daughter and I subsequently went to tea at Carolyn’s house. We admired the rock wall that lined the long driveway, rocks gathered and placed by Marshall. The Thomases had trimmed up the many cedar trees, so the land had a woodsy feel, but was not an impenetrable thicket.

Their house was lovely, with rock sidewalks and native plants decorating the entry. On other side of the house, we sat on the patio overlooking a magnificent field of little bluestem. We toured her husband’s raised bed vegetable garden, bursting with veggie plants and flowers. Outside the gate was a Mexican buckeye, which I had never seen in this area. It was gorgeous!

Sadly for us, about six months after we moved in, the Thomases decided it was time to sell their place and move to Austin, to be closer to family. It was a hard decision for them to make, and we were crushed. Their lives were full, as were ours, and we did not keep in touch after they moved.  

My friend Lona and I attended Carolyn’s service last week. It was held, fittingly enough, at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which was very near her Austin home. At the “celebration of her life,” we learned more about her. She was a great mother and cherished spouse, a doting grandmother, a fun-loving friend and sister, a resourceful homemaker. She was indeed a lovely person, and left behind a wonderful family to cherish her memory.

I won’t forget her, either.

 Favorite spot in the garden today:

We have a beautiful patch of morning glory this year covering an eastern porch post. These are beautiful head on, of course, but from inside the house we see them backlit by sunlight. Not only is there a peaceful greenish cast to my living room, but the blue flowers just glow.