Garden

Pondering My Garden (and King Nebuchadnezzar)

/ Bill Jones / 4 Comments

The Guara – bobs up and down with the weight of bumblebees

Since gardening season is well underway, I thought I would post an article I had published in “Keys for Living Magazine” last summer. Hope you enjoy it:

I marveled at our backyard’s beauty. The phlox beamed beside the weathered picket fence. The hibiscus was nearly eight feet tall and was smothered in pink blooms. Long tendrils of the guara held out their flowers and danced as the bumblebees did touch and go landings. Cardinals and bluebirds were bright spots of color at the feeders.

Several years earlier the yard was just an expanse of pasture. Over time I built the garden’s structure and established the flower beds. The fence came first and defined the back of the yard. I think I actually applauded in satisfaction when the gate’s latch clicked in place and fit perfectly.

A working gate deserved more than a dirt path, so a walkway of red concrete pavers came next. The addition of a pump house with a barn style roof and weathervane on top added a rustic touch to the scene.

The bahia grass in the old pasture was so thick that my tiller just dragged me along as it bounced over the top. I’m sure it was comical to watch, but to me it was frustrating. With that obstacle, it became a struggle to transform sections into flower beds. Many exhausting sessions of hand work were required but the transformation did occur.

The histories of many of the plants also came to mind. The oak leaf hydrangea was 12 inches tall when planted. Now it covered an area twenty five feet across.

I bought the pagoda plant sight-unseen. What a surprise we had when it produced spectacular orange blooms over a foot tall that did look like a Chinese pagoda – with multiple stems and flowers in layers that decreased in circumference from the bottom to the top. And they were like butterfly magnets.

Pagoda Plant with Butterflies

Pagoda Plant with Butterflies

Standing there, remembering the years of work that had been involved, I could have shouted “Look at this great garden I have built!” Thankfully, I thought better of it and didn’t.

I thought of King Nebuchadnezzar who gazed at his city and said: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? (Daniel 4:30 KJV) At that moment God showed him who had the power and majesty. The King spent the next seven years eating grass like an ox.

I didn’t mimic his words. Not from fear of having to eat grass, but from the realization that without God I could have done nothing. I praised Him for the beautiful flowers and birds He created. I thanked Him for the strength to build the fence. I thanked Him for the time, resources and opportunities He had provided.

That day I knew what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that he had planted and Apollos had watered but God gave the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). Paul was writing of spiritual growth, but in my physical garden I understood that while I may have built and planted and watered, it was God alone Who, in His power and majesty, had completed it and made it beautiful!

The Cardinals Hatched!

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments

The Cardinals Hatched

Here’s a picture of the cardinals that hatched last week. They’ve actually grown enough now and left the nest, so I have put the net down over the blueberries. I think the birds have gotten some but it looks like there are still a lot left for the harvest.

I may have fussed a bit in my previous blog about them building the nest, but I actually thought it pretty neat. God’s creation is amazing.

“As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings,” Deuteronomy 32:11 NKJV

The mother eagle stirs up the nest to make it uncomfortable for the young ones to stay. But then she provides  the means and help for them to leave.  Like the mother eagle, God will provide the means for what He is telling us it’s time to do.

Previous Post:  http://iwasthinking.me/2012/05/12/those-crafty-cardinals/

Those Crafty Cardinals

/ Bill Jones / 5 Comments
Cardinal nest with eggs

Cardinal nest with eggs

I’ve never thought of cardinals as crafty and clever birds, but when it comes to something good to eat, I found they will go to great lengths to get it.

Several years ago I planted six blueberry bushes in the backyard. The next year they were large enough to bear fruit, so I kept checking them during the spring days. I was excited during the weeks as the berries turned from green to purple. Finally, one Saturday, I declared that the next weekend would be blueberry picking time. The bushes were still small and there weren’t a lot of berries, but I still looked forward to having some from our own bushes.

I didn’t have time during the week to check them, but, on Saturday morning, I went out in high anticipation with my bowl ready. My jaw dropped and my heart sank when I found the bushes empty. During that week, the birds, (mostly cardinals around our house) had helped themselves and cleaned them out.

The next year and several years after that I put up PVC pipe to make a frame and put netting over the bushes. I used twist ties to put the sections of netting together and attach it to the frame. That would work for a while, but after a week or two I would look out the back door and see a bird in the bushes, about to kill itself trying to get out the netting. I’d open up the entrance way and shoo him out. As the season went on and the birds seemed to get smarter, I would have to let a bird out 2 or 3 times a day.

            Each time I would look around for holes in the netting. Sometimes the pvc had shifted or leaned and left a gap. Sometimes the pins holding the netting to the ground had come loose. I did watch to see how the birds got in. One day I saw one jump off the pvc onto the top netting. The bird’s weight caused a seam to open between two sections and he hopped through it.

Last year, I built a sturdy frame of 4X4’s and 2X4’s to hold the netting, including a 2X4 runner at ground level. I stapled the netting to the wood, and used squeeze-on clips to connect the pieces of netting. That kept them out until the last week or two of harvest season, when I noticed a couple of rabbits inside the netting and found that they had chewed holes in it. The birds followed them through those, but also figured out if they flapped hard enough on the netting in some places they could work their way between two overlapped pieces and get in.

When I built the frame and installed the netting, I set it up to be able to roll the netting up and secure it with cable ties to uncover the bushes (for easier access for me and the bees). After last season, I did that, and the netting has been rolled up since then. (you can see a picture on last week’s blog)

The flowers came and the berries began filling out on the bushes – hopefully for a good crop for this year. So, last Saturday, I decided it was time to lower the netting, staple it to the runner, and put a strip of chicken wire at the bottom to keep the rabbits from chewing holes.

As I neared the bushes, a cardinal flew out. I looked to make sure there weren’t any others there, and let out an “oh, no!” at what I saw. I moved closer and thought “maybe not, maybe not”. But, then I stood on tippy-toe and peered into the nest I had found. There were three cardinal eggs in the nest.

As I said, “crafty and clever” describes a cardinal. This one went so far as to build a nest and lay eggs, knowing that I couldn’t lower the netting and separate them (and the blueberries) from the mother bird. What a devious plan – but, maybe the little ones will hatch and be out of the nest before the berries are completely ripe. We shall see.

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13.

We can learn from the cardinals’ diligence (without the need for any craftiness or cleverness) in finding what they were seeking. As the verse says, if we search for God with all our heart, we will find him. He has always been there and always will be.

Really, Really Bad Spring Fever

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments
Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Spring has been busting out all over for several weeks now, and the season did officially change last week. So, spring fever is rampant. It’s been a struggle to stay inside working while the weather has been so great. I kept eying the postcard that announced the Georgia Southern University Botanical Gardens spring festival and plant sale was at hand. They hold that on a Saturday, but they also have a preview sale the day before for members. Since at the preview you get first pickings, and they usually have a lot of unusual plants, I decided to take the afternoon off and take advantage of that.

The postcard said the preview was from 3 to 6 PM, and I arrived a couple minutes before 3. There were only a few cars in the parking lot and not many people around. I took a hand pulled wagon, and started around the tents and lines of plants for sale. There was one woman there who also had her wagon. She noted we seemed to be playing leap frog as we took turns moving a little and stopping to check out the plants, while the other one went around. There were very few others looking at the plants, so I was thinking it was still early and the crowd would increase as time went on.

The woman stopped her wagon under the checkout tent and told the guy there she needed another one and left to get it. I pulled mine next to hers and looked to the “checkout” guy.

“Are you with Susan?” he asked.

“I guess not, since I don’t know who Susan is.” (I now assume Susan was the woman with the other wagon)

He looked confused and quizzical and asked if I was a member. I replied that I was and asked “It was from 3 to 6 wasn’t it?”

“Well, it will be that time…tomorrow afternoon.”

Wow! Somehow, my spring fever had taken hold enough to make it Friday afternoon in my mind, when it was actually still Thursday.

I apologized and explained that since I had taken the afternoon off, I must have started thinking it was Friday already. We worked it out pleasantly and he was kind enough to allow me to purchase the plants I had loaded in the wagon. As I apologized once more, thanked him and began leaving, he said “Since it’s Friday, don’t forget and go into work tomorrow!” We both laughed and parted ways.

Several things worked together to cause my miscue. I work out of our house, and for some reason, in that situation, it’s easy to forget what day it is (more on that some other time). I also have a one track mind – I had been debating throughout the week whether to take Friday off, and then I decided to take two afternoons off instead of a whole day – but I guess that wasn’t on the track my mind stayed on. However, most of all, I really, really had spring fever, and really, really wanted it to be Friday.

I guess the lesson is that God worked it out for me, even though I wasn’t paying attention. We find that happening often, because our God is so gracious and merciful!

“Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.” Psalms 116:5