Today was one of those perfect days that gardeners dream about. Rain early in the morning soaked and softened the soil just enough that it was drained and easy to work by 3. The sun was out and shining by 1. A gardener could not ask for a more perfect scenario.

I was in the evil gas monster SUV this afternoon, hitting my favorite nurseries, wide eyed and drooling like a mad dog. Seats folded back, ready to fill that mothah up with soil and poop and as many plants as I could fit back there.

Stop 1
Uh HELLO...Habersham Gardens to flirt shamlessly with Donnie, one of the plantsmen there. I'm on the email list there and was clutching a print out of the "rain day" coupons they send out. I snagged a bunch of heliotropes that I would have never paid full price for. I saved a shit load of bucks and that cute Donnie followed me around like a puppy the whole time I was there. No wonder I like this place! LOL.

*****Remember that name "heliotrope"...it has MEGA significance for Marc and me. A hint...Heliotrope, LLC is the name of the corporation we set up last year.

Stop 2
Lowes...I get all my poop and amendments and potting soils here. Poop is poop..and Black Kow is ambrosia for plants. There is really no need for chemical plant foods, ya feel me? You can make a tea out of it by bunching a good three cups in an old tee shirt overnight in a bucket of water and that's all you need to feed plants in containers. A little cow poo poo mixed in the soil around the root line feeds plants in the ground all year.

Stop 3
The Urban Gardener...I LOVE these guys! They have come over to the Doghouse on many occasions to lend a helping hand and free design advice, in exchange for a pitcher or two of Bloody Marys on Sunday afternoons. They get as much busines as I can throw their way.

So....I came back with stuff today to fill up all the wacky "found object" containers that I had found at a flea market over near Belle's place, and a bunch of new perinnials and annuals to pack into the Butterfly Garden.

The star of the Butterfly Garden is one of these...A Miss Huff Lantana. This aint the pissy annual Lantana that crawls along the ground and dies back forever at the end of the season. This girl has ATTITUDE. Miss Huff is totally perennial in zones 7 through 9 and comes back every year for a big show by summer. She gets like 5 feet by 5 feet by the fall and throws down some of the most interesting multi colored blooms you have ever seen. It blooms all summer and fall. It's like a freakin magnet to butterflies, too. We see all kinds of butterflies around this plant in the summer and fall.

If you are within the zone range of this plant, I can't suggest it enough for vigor, drought tolerance, fast growth, drama, massive size and interesting flower display. I'm thinking specifically about Angel Sister Mama Belle here. (Belle...you've got to have one of these. If you can't find one around there....I'll send you one) =)



This gives you an idea of how big this girl gets.



This shows all the multi colored blooms that cover this plant.

The mulberries are ripe already here. That's the first batch of wine. A good part of the energy in the Doghouse gardens is devoted to the wine crops now. After all, Spring only lasts about like 72 hours here in the dirty south.

We have devised a lazy method of collecting the mulberries from the trees. We lay sheets on the ground at the base of the trees, and I climb halfway up like a monkey and shake the beejezus about of the trees. The ripe ones let go and fall onto the sheets. We do this once a day for 3 weeks.

The yield will be about 16 bottles of sweet mulberry wine.

The elderberries will be a small, but satisfying yield in August, followed by the major crop of muscadines in September. The Muscadine wine is ready just in time for Thanksgiving dinner, when we uncork the first bottle and taste it with our friends and family. I get a big old kick out of this.

Marc and I are getting a lot more sophisticated each year with the whole process. We are playing around with different brewing yeasts and sugar levels. Some of this stuff is tasting pretty damn good.

I stopped using any chemicals last year. Understanding and nurturing the soil with poop and natural minerals sure paid off last season. A lot of love went into that vintage. We had the biggest crop ever. We had tons of bottles to give for Christmas and plenty left over for us.

Nevermind anything you hear from mis-interpretations of ancient texts or what that fat, sweaty preacher tells ya.

God smiles back when you act right.

My grandpa Joe knew it. He's up there smiling right now.
I know his hand is on every grain of soil I turn, every vine that flourishes, every fruit that ripens, every vat of sweet wine that I ferment, and every bottle that I cork.

He loved unconditionally. He provided, preached, pontificated, provoked and pacified. He nurtured vines and he nurtured people. He never met a stranger. He was color blind.

If I can prove to be half the man Joe Stargel was, I'm good.



Peace, T.

*****Joan Armatrading "Willow"

What's my secret?
It's not Pantene.

Promised me
anything
but
gave me
Fabrege.
I made do.

But I'm not
your
fucking
Toni Twin.

I'd still walk
a
mile for a camel,

but not
yours.

I can't
believe
I ate the whole thing,
but I did.
Hope you
are
happy now.

I'd like
to
buy the world a Coke.

I'd like
to
teach the world to sing.

I could have.
I would have.

Fuck it
I can.
Fuck it
I do.

Pain but no gain
Is
what
you offered.

I can't
believe
I ate the whole thing,
but I did.
Hope you
are
happy now.

I found
the opener
a while back.
Thankyouverymuch

Fizzzzzzzzz

No deposit
No return

*
*
*
*

****I know that I promised no more original poetry a while back. Well...I lied. I needed an exorcism. I feel better now. I just realized that writing can be like coughing up a fur ball. Time now for some catnip and a ball of string. Meow.

****The Go-Gos "Lust To Love"

1) I've worn some kind of goatee for 15 years. It used to be the full blown moustache/chin combo. Then it was a big fat, crazy punk ass, chin only one. Now it is a little short lower chin only deal. There is a dirty name for that style that refers to a part of the female anatomy that escapes me at the moment.

2) My friends know I can keep a secret, mostly because I honestly just forget everything you tell me immediately afterward.

3) I am a huge creature of habit. I eat breakfast from the same deli almost every morning and eat Chinese delivery from the same place almost everyday in the office at lunch.

4) People tell me that I sometimes mouth the words people are saying to me as they are saying them. That's got to be annoying as hell. I don't realize I am doing it apparently.

5) I think I really really overuse the "thumbs up" sign and the word "cool". I am trying to break myself of that.

******Pearl Jam "Come Back"

I didn't know what day it was
When you walked into the room
I said hello unnoticed
You said goodbye too soon
Breezing through the clientele
Spinning yarns that were so lyrical
I really must confess right here
The attraction was purely physical
I took all those habits of yours
That in the beginning were hard to accept
Your fashion sense,
Beardsly prints
I put down to experience
The big bosomed lady with the Dutch accent
Who tried to change my point of view
Her ad lib lines were well rehearsed
But my heart cried out for you
You're in my heart, you're in my soul
You'll be my breath should I grow old
You are my lover, you're my best friend
You're in my soul
My love for you is immeasurable
My respect for you immense
You're ageless,
timeless,
lace and fineness
You're beauty and elegance
You're a rhapsody,
a comedy
You're a symphony
and
a play
You're every love song ever written
But honey what do you see in me?

You're an essay in glamour
Please pardon the grammar,
But you're every schoolboy's dream
You're Celtic,
United,
but baby i've decided
You're the best team i've ever seen
And there have been many affairs
Many times
i've thought to leave (nix this line)
But I bite my lip and turn around
'Cause you're
the
warmest
thing
i've ever
found.

Thank You for the silver.
Thank You for the gold.
Thank You for the platinum.
Thank God for The Gadsden Project.
Thank God for ships in the dark.
Thank God for wallowing in valleys, yet having eyes focused on majestic mountains.
Thank You for dreams fulfilled that were (for reasons unknown to either of us) long deferred.
Thank You for the space and thank you for the closeness.
Thank You for knowing when to go there and when to stand back and watch and wait in amusement.

Howdy,
"partner"!

LOL

"Biggie and Marc, sittin' in a tree....."

oh whatever



Peace, T.