A Place to Pause: My Little Garden in the Sky

We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves.
And we’ll also have a lot more joy in living.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Summer in My Little Garden

We are having a beautiful summer. The days have been a mixed bag of everything—sunny mornings, afternoon rain showers, perfect humidity, warm temperatures, deliciously cool evenings (perfect for a good night’s sleep), terrific storm clouds rolling in from the west in the late afternoons, bringing grand displays of lightning and crashing thunder, and quintessential calm summer days with blue skies peppered with soft animal-shaped clouds and a cool gentle breeze. I love it all. And, so, it seems, does my little balcony garden in the sky–it is thriving!

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, artist and photographer, Skylark.

A NewComer

A new addition to this year’s garden is one of my all time favourite flowers, Cosmos. I love Cosmos, not only for their outrageously bright colour, but for their happy, hearty ability to bloom prolifically no matter what the weather. Already, they have proven their ability to withstand gale-force winds, heavy downpours of rain and hail, and spells of hot, dry weather. Up here in the sky, where there is little shelter from the elements, each plant must be very hardy to thrive.

Below: a tightly closed Cosmos bud, still spotted with rain droplets from a pleasant afternoon shower.

Old Standbys

Lavender: a longstanding regular in my yearly summer pots. My garden would not be complete without at least one pot of English Lavender. And, of course, the amazing splashes of brilliant red in my garden are thanks to the ever-hearty, steady and lovable geranium.

 

Other New Arrivals

Below: This year we welcomed another new arrival to the garden, a raspberry bush. Growing a raspberry shrub is an experimental gardening project for me, since I have planted it in a container. Thus far, the raspberry bush is thriving and looking incredibly healthy and lush. The big question is: will it survive a Calgary winter to produce again next year? I hope so, especially since most of the robust raspberry canes that have sprung up this year won’t produce until next year. I’ll fill you in on the success of my raspberry project next summer.

You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Below: White Bacopa, another new annual willing to play up here in the sky, braving the elements to show their pretty white faces.

Below: Million Bells. I love these guys. They are colourful, prolific and non-temperamental. (And they are also non-judgmental.)

 

One of my favourite things to do

One of my great joys is to sit out in my garden in the warm sunshine, enjoy a refreshing glass of water, take a moment to watch the bees and hoverflies buzz about my flower pots, then sit back, put my feet up and relax while I peruse my favourite magazine, LandScape. LandScape is a beautifully edited, incredibly well-photographed British publication celebrating gorgeous gardening, the breathtaking beauty of the British countryside, delicious, simple cooking, and the fine craftsmanship of many skilled artisans. This magazine was introduced to me by my dear Cumbrian friend, artist and photographer, Skylark—thank you!

 

A Chair with a View

 

A Very Small Bowl of Raspberries

Below: This year’s entire raspberry harvest. Well, almost entire—to be completely accurate, I would have to include the three berries eaten earlier and the three berries still ripening on the raspberry canes. I sincerely hope that it survives the winter as I’m quite certain I will get a bumper crop from next year’s canes! We shall see. As always, I remain ever positive.

 

 

Image Credits:

All photos and video by madlyinlovewithlife; © 2016 madlyinlovewithlife