Saturday, March 01, 2008

I trudge the wheelbarrow down the garden path, peering over the pile of dried stalks, ubiquitous cutch grass and various invasive roots that travel the underground garden subway. I calculate the height of the pile to reach the proverbial elephant's eye, - at least...... and a large elephant at that... I like that word "ubiquitious" as it pertains to cutch grass, - the SOUND of it seems so relevant to its sly and pushy ways. Ubiquitous, ubiquitous, I mutter, as I prepare to do battle.

These underground travelers I speak of have set up way stations where from they make an ascent to the daylight and the sunshine. For some reason the Yarrow seems to have business wherever the Iris have established themselves, and send emissaries. I look with dismay at the leafy spikes that are pushing their way up through the corms.

The glowing orange lanterns of the Physalis brighten an autumn day, but they too are rampant in their travel habits, and I swear that given time they could turn up half a mile away, - laying their own tracks three feet below as they go!


They must cultivate the Wild Buttercup as traveling companions. They arrived in the New Garden with the Japanese Peony, and before that they journeyed from #2 Son's Penticton garden. In my zeal to dig up the Buttercups I forgot about the Peony, and had to quickly replant their roots with the long ghostly shoots that had been reaching for the sun.



I search in vain for the first Violet, - in the Lost Garden they would be opening their tightly clustered buds under the old apricot tree, amid the lawn and the little apricot seedlings. The Hellebores are the only flowers in bloom, here in the new garden, but I note the golden promise along the branches of the Forsythia, and the shiny stubs of spring bulbs.



It is a soft and tender day, - I am wondering if I can seduce Husband into going for a drive to see what is happening at Ginty's Pond........

6 comments:

rosarebada said...

Hildred,
I am new to your writings, but I happened to drop in on an earlier page when I was book hunting as a Gladys Taber fan, and noticed you compared her writing to Elizabeth Goudge, who was new to me. Would you recommend a beginning reading list of Goudge books for a Stillmeadow fan...City of Bells or Damerosehay? Any particular order? good day, and thank you, rosarebada

Hildred said...

I wish I could help you Rosarebada...Unfortunately the only two Elizabeth Goudge books our Okanagan Valley Regional Library carries are Green Dolphin and The Little White Horse. I have tried in second hand book stores to find more, but in vain. Amazon has a number of copies of various books - however the cost is out of this world, - some over $100.00..... There are a number of Elizabeth Goudge sites online, and on one of them I found reference to a movie that is being made of The Little White Horse. If you find a source for the Goudge books I would really appreciate knowing about it. Good luck. Hildred

Mark Cawston said...

What a suprize. Thank you so much,I stumbled on to your site and was a bit overcome.I'm so glad that you like Ginty's Pond.
Mark Cawston, The youngest son of GINTY

Brenda said...

Hi Hildred. I love your site. It's very interesting, and the poetry and photographs are beautiful. I'm another Cawston lol. Mark's daughter, (Ginty's grand-daughter).

rosarebada said...

Hildred,
About finding Elizabeth Goudge books, I suggest you use the Inter-Library Loan Service. Even very small libraries have access to this government service. Sometimes you have to wait several weeks, but they almost always find what you want. Some times I actually receive a Library of Congress copy or a copy from overseas. You will want to have the title, publisher, edition, date and ISBN. These you can find on the web from the used-book clearing houses like Abes, Alibris, etc.
Again I thank you for the introduction. The important issue is learning that such books exist so we don't lose the treasures of the out-of-print past.
cheers

Hildred said...

Hello Mark and Brenda - I have just found your comment and so glad to hear from you. Charles says to say hi - he would really like to contact you. Where can we find your blog?
Last summer I took pictures of the Pond and blogged them. We regularly go that way. I had a great fondness for Ginty.
Hildred Finch