Condo gardening

I have it pretty easy. No back-breaking landscaping to do. No lawn to mow, mulch to spread, grubs to battle, weeds to pull, etc. Of course I also can’t put a nice little vegetable garden in either. But we do have great local farm stands around here.

Since I have some free time on my hands, I decided to do one productive thing I can do now: my “gardening.” This consists of filling my window boxes and the half-barrel on my stoop, sticking up hanging baskets already in bloom, and transplanting the little pots of herbs I bought into larger containers. I’m a bit early this year – usually wait until Memorial Day to be sure it doesn’t get too cold at night for plants in containers – but it’s warm early this year. I think they’ll be safe.

My annuals this year: mostly impatiens because they’re easy and always do well; a basket of petunias; and some “castle pink” celosia, or cockscomb, just to try something different. Herbs for culinary enjoyment: basil, lots of basil; parsley; cilantro; rosemary; sage; and oregano.

4:54:12 PM      trackback [] 

Fun with assonance and alliteration

An exercise from In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet’s Portable Workshop - playing around with assonance and alliteration. Goofy, but hey it was fun, and instructive.

Petunias

 

Purple petunias blooming

in their hanging basket

an entire battalion trumpeting

spring.

 

As kids we spit it:

pe-TOO-nyahs! missing

their peculiar beauty

silly name

 

Petunias don’t care

but simply blossom

in plummy profuseness

rich.

A better example is today's poem at The Writer's Almanac, May Swenson's "Earth Your Dancing Place".

10:33:30 AM      trackback []