Pasque Flower Progression - Missoula, Montana -

Our neighbourhood pasque flower's 'before and after' are both charming! 

Faithful Seedling Starts - Cosmos and Zinnias - Missoula, Montana

"Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.

The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest." - Psalm 85:11,12

(BTW, cosmos seed starts were especially gratifying, startlingly sprouting above the soil in 24 hours!) 

Fully Present In Spring Garden - Missoula, Montana

“The best way to prepare for what’s ahead is to be present to what is now.” 

- Ann Voskamp, in her post “4 Secrets (in Grad Season), At The End of Seasons, When You’re Not Ready for All the Changes”

Mother’s Day Garden Bouquet - Missoula, Montana

Happy Mother’s Day to me - and you! - from our very own little Missoula spring garden! (Even a few of those persistent carrotty frondy weeds came in handy as lovely filler!)  

May our hearts seek to find pieces toward a veritable bouquet of gratitude, even as we walk through struggle, and are waiting for strength again.

See Change - Missoula, Montana

“We've also grown to believe in the theory: when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”  -Bob Arrington, in his article Accept & Adapt, POWER & MOTORYACHT / NOVEMBER 2023

Setting Sun-filled (Flower) Smile - Missoula, Montana

“It was a transporting thing, that smile, as it had probably been all her long life, and I felt its power to fix you where you stood (or sat, or fell); it lifted her beyond age, in a way that the other women present, with their more effortful looks, were not lifted.” -The Poet’s House by Jean Thompson, p. 35

Corker Upcycle - Missoula, Montana

New life for old wine corks - a clever upcycle feature in this herb container garden Horticulture entry at Missoula’s Western Montana Fair. (Still plenty to see and do - and eat! - through Sunday 8/13!)

(Bonus material: Clean Cork jokes I found looking for cork puns - totally irrelevant to this post but they’re funny so who cares? Enjoy!)

Summer Rain On Peony Stem - Missoula, Montana

“And finally, spring's offspring. Summer.” 

- Jick McCaskill in English Creek by Ivan Doig, p. 34

Have Patience, Gardeners! - Spring Snow - Missoula MT

Just a little reminder why last frost/safe planting dates in Western Montana are typically late May…

Springing Hope - Missoula, Montana

Just when I’d given up on any chance of seed starts in my windowsill, hope springs anew! (I’d ‘bean’ hoping - hah!) This humble garden bean reminds us to persevere, even when 2 weeks of dutiful watering seems a bust. In the broader sphere (no broad bean puns, you garden people!), we often are not privileged to see in this life the deep work begun in other’s heart-soil by our seemingly simple daily kindnesses. Just keep planting or watering or whatever you’re supposed to be doing, and trust God to honour your faithfulness to painting in your little part of the big picture.

Winter Garden Dreaming - Missoula, Montana

A brisk 2 degrees F driving to work this morning, and even colder with windchill...some southern somebody pretty please enjoy some sunshine for me!

“Anyone who thinks that gardening begins in the Spring and ends in the Fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream.”

 - Josephine Nuese

Closer Clematis - Missoula, Montana

My blue-blue non-vining clematis (I call her Clemmy...) continues to amaze with the detail of beauty! Observe how the tiny, twisty centre resembles a thick head of hair a la 1980's crimper! Who thinks of these things?! (Hmmmmm...let's sit on the porch awhile and ponder such things...)

 

Coneflower Close Up - Missoula, Montana

“At first, he talked about the flowers in the garden behind his country house in Surrey. His voice still had its Midlands accent but was soft now and barely audible. He knew the plants by name and took a few minutes with each of them: ageratum, coreopsis, echinacea, rudbeckia…”  -from Teller: A Novel, by Frederick Weisel

Sunbeam and Shadow - Missoula, Montana

“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.”

-St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

Seen And Not Seen - Missoula, Montana

“All I have seen
 teaches me 
to trust the Creator 
 for all I have not seen.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), from XI.Immortality, 
  p. 338, The complete works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Letters and social aims [Vol. 8]