Peonies, the Garden, and the Loving Gaze

 It occurs to me that if you were to have just recently started reading this blog you might think it's a gardening or a flower blog, not a blog about the trials and tribulations of my beloved store Passionflower in downtown Eugene.  But flowers are a big part of the store and they always have been.  Al Klute, and Chris, and I are all long time gardeners. We have always supplemented commercially bought flowers with home grown ones at Passionflower

 Truth be told, Chris & Alison are way more devoted gardeners than I and they have the goods to show for it.  Like when Chris comes in with a bucket of full on peonies and tells me she has so many she doesn't know what to do with them all, I know she's in full on flower fantasy world at her place.

So even though I knew the answer, I asked her, "How's your garden looking these days?".  Mostly because I wanted to see what she would say.  And do you know what she said?  She said, "I can't stop looking at it.". 

And those, my friends, are words spoken like a true gardener.

Happy gardening to all during this lovely month of June.
And I promise you there really is a store somewhere here amongst all the flowers and store pics of our summer reset to follow very soon.

Gardening Tips from a Long Time Amateur

A few things I've learned about gardening over the years -

1) Plant where you can see it a lot, everyday, all the time  Because the more you look at your yard, the more engaged you are. Consider the view from your windows in your house. In my case, I can see my garden beds from my kitchen window where I spend a lot of time and since they're right on the side of my driveway, I see them everyday when I come and go. But maybe it's your front steps or back deck that you gaze upon a lot.

2) Pick a theme and stick with it.  In my case, I picked rustic cottage so I outlined the beds with alder logs and I planted lots of herbs and old fashioned flowers. Plus I left some of the grasses in the rest of the yard unmowed to give it a little bit of the wild, overgrown look.

 

3)  Always plant at least a few edibles in your flower beds.  They're just one more reason to get you  out in the yard.  Here's some chamomile growing amongst the peas.  I've been enjoying drinking  fresh chamomile tea these days.

 

4) Resist all voices that tell you gardening is a chore.  Delight in everything, even the weeds.

Happy Gardening.

Scented Geraniums

For me, certain plants are always associated with certain people.  And I can never look at a scented geranium without being reminded of Ted Waston, my friend, the shopowner of Watson Kennedy, the uber fabulous store up in Seattle.  So Teddy, this ones for you.  It's a citronella scented geranium which I just planted on my back deck. I thought the citronella scent might be good for insect control. Plus geraniums do pretty well in pots and can withstand a day or two when I might forget to water.  I'm planning on watching this baby grow all summer and a few sprigs might make it into a bridal bouquet or two!
And if you want to find out more about all things Watson Kennedy, for sure check out Ted's new book Style & Simplicity which we're selling at the store.