The Home Show PowerPoint presentation went great. ChristineB from the Last Frontier Gardens warned me to watch for technical difficulties, so I made sure to arrive early. Everything went well. I got home from the presentation and had the nicest comment on my previous post from one of the guest who attended the presentation. She said she wished they had given me an hour or two. How sweet is that. I hope sharing the comment isn’t bragging but you all sent me so many best wishes. They must have worked.
Yesterday we had snow. Big fluffy wet flakes.But this afternoon we had sun and were in the 50s . So after the Home Show I felt like gardening. I caught this picture of a tiny ant pulling a fly.
The ant is such a symbol of determination. I picked him up a couple of time to get the right picture. He would not let go of his prize. When I put him down at one point he went in a complete circle. Quickly figured out which way he wanted to go and went on his way. I wished him well. He was on our wonderful pink limestone. So what was I doing when I caught this little ant. I was working with determination. We inherited in our garden Creeping Lady Bells, Campanula rapunculoides This is a terrible weed.
The roots can grow like brittle parsnips. These were young plants. To remove them you have to dig deep. Any bit of root will grow the weed. Also even though the flower is beautiful the seeds will sprout in lawns and everywhere. This batch was growing under a 2 foot stretch of rock wall. I had to take the piece of wall down and dig. So I was like that little ant with a fly..... Conversation with Ted: I said “This one root looks like a frog. He answered “you have an active imagination”, I said " No, look it does look like a frog. Tell me it doesn't look like a frog. So he said, “it doesn’t look like a frog”
Letting the garden grow
3 weeks ago
Oh, I see the frog! It's the root with a bit of green leaf on it.
ReplyDeleteOh I see the frog that Ted could see too!
ReplyDeleteSo glad Gloria that all went well at the presentation and that was a lovely compliment to receive on the blog afterwards - and you're not bragging - you are sharing your joy with us all. I think we can learn quite a few life lessons from ant antics. Just yesterday my friend was blogging about ants and them being able to detect microwaves.
Sorry about that weed - it sounds dreadful and you went to some measures to erradiacate it yesterday.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend as I am sure its a little bit of a relief to have the talk over with yesterday. :) Rosie
Dear Gloria, I am not at all surprised that your presentation went so well. I am sure that you were very well prepared and, in addition, you have such a lot of practical experience to draw on which will have been immediately apparent. I was much amused by the conversation you had with your husband, Ted. He clearly has a very dry sense of humour. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteGloria, so glad to hear your presentation went well, and that your audience wanted more! I'm pleased to report that (knock on wood) our last fortification along the deer fence seems to be holding. The lettuces are unscathed thus far. We'll just hope it holds!
ReplyDeleteSorry you have to deal with such a pervasive weed. We have our share of garden thugs too, but it's so satisfying when you succeed in thinning the population!
Congratulations on the success of your presentation, Gloria! And it's amazing to see an ant dragging a huge fly along like that -- but your task of digging up those horrible taproots does seem to warrant the analogy. :)
ReplyDeleteYour conversation with Ted cracked me up. You can tell him that now three different readers (me, Rosie, and Granny) have seen the frog, and clearly we can't all have overactive imaginations. ;)
Glad your presentation went well!
ReplyDeleteI planted Lady Bells years ago because I thought they were so pretty. I couldn't believe how they grew through everything. They are a lot of work to get rid of for sure. You need the determination of an ant!
Gloria, I'm so glad your presentation was a hit! The ant is a trooper, tried and true! Amazing little creatures, although the fire ant is the absolute thorn in my side! Sorry to hear about your weeds...I'm fighting them tooth and nail right now. Keep up the good fight!! : )
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a frog, sort of, too me to :) I'm so glad Gloria, that your presentation went well. It's wonderful to help celebrate your achievement. Sorry to hear how weedy that Campanula is. It is frustrating to try and keep up with aggressive plants.
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear your presentation went well. And, I love this photo. What a hard working little bugger. It's so nice to see a change of season. I'm sure we're all happy to be playing in the mud again.
ReplyDeleteHello Gloria,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad your presentation went well. I can only imagine how many people wished that your talk lasted longer. I love the determination of ants and how they take on seemingly insurmountable tasks and complete them successfully. I think people could learn some lessons from them, don't you think?
Glad to hear things went smoothly. Hope I didn't scare you with my computer glitch horror stories though. (Getting there early to set up was smart of you.) I have forgotten to make copies of handouts twice now until just before the talk so I have been a bit rushed. Congrats on your compliments from attendees: that's the frosting on the cake, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteChristine in Alaska
Gloria, congratulations! You have the bragging rights! Cute picture of an ant!
ReplyDeleteAnnie , Rosie & Meridith - I told Ted we all see the frog. He agreed he could see it, but said it was a mighty skinny frog:)
ReplyDeleteEdith, yes Ted can be funny! He humors me. Today we went for my pickup load of buffalo poo
Clare, I mentioned your deer battles at my presentation! We also are in deer country.
ReplyDeleteCatherine, oh my - I can only imagine how much Lady Bells must love your wonderful garden. I found 3 other spots where I have to dig it out! ugh!
ReplyDeleteKimberly - We "earn" every bit of land we garden! I think I am really going to like the WOW (corn gluten) I plan to order more. With the Gardens Alive coupon (buy $40 get $20 off) it makes it a good deal
ReplyDeleteKate,I played in the dirt all day today! I got my load of buffalo poo today!
Noelle, Ants are so determined! And, just think, they clean up all the little dead things out there, like that fly!
ReplyDeleteChristine B - Your advice was so good! I linked to you because I want people to see what a fun blog you have and the presentation was a good excuse :)
ReplyDeleteTatyana - Thanks. Before the blog I didn't know what a macro was. I had to look up my cameras user guide on the internet to figure out how to use it! So I wondered if I would get the little guy in action :)
ReplyDeleteHi Gloria~~ Those are some hefty taproots. I like your tenacious similarities. We can learn a lot from those little guys.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I've missed so many of your posts. I'm glad your presentation went well. Your sidebar garden photos are just fabulous!
Grace - thanks for the kind words. I like looking a "full" garden pics like your pictures of your amazing garden. So I decided to make the "Making of the Garden" series easy to find.
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