As soon as Spring semester was over at the college, I took off for a week to visit my children on the mainland. I’ve posted photos of my daughter Inga’s garden in the past, but for the first time ever, I was there to enjoy it in person!
One morning while she was at work, I walked around her garden with my video camera. Another addition since I was there is the little dry creek and bridge in the photo above. Inga set it up to look like it empties into the pond.
Enjoy this YouTube I created of Inga’s garden in the early days of Spring, even though it was still very cold! You’ll see Quimby the Corgi, Mr. Bill and Spooky Boo her two cats, and a neighboring white cat that wanted to get into the act, too.
Nothing spells the approach of autumn better than a bright orange pumpkin patch. How my daughter manages to get such beautiful pumpkins is beyond me! Many of you have been keeping up with my daughter Inga’s gardening in Boise, Idaho. Here is an update on what’s growing in her yard, including the pumpkin above.
Her yard is full of orange and yellow blossoms, just ready to produce fruit, but beautiful in their own right.
I have an old wooden ladder in my shed. I need to drag it out and use it as a backdrop for some plants (if the drought will let something grow)!
She finds odd bits of metalwork to add a fanciful touch to her garden.
I love the brilliance of sunflowers – another touch of the approaching fall season.
She tells me of all the wonderful fresh veggies she brings in for her supper.
But the biggest envy I have is for her “taters!” Inga and I just love our fingerling potatoes, sliced and fried in butter with fresh eggs!
I promise her (and myself) that I will get to Boise next summer and enjoy the garden with her.
Several weeks ago, I showed Inga’s garden, promising a review of her latest project – a roof to provide shade for her patio. I just received the pictures for your enjoyment. As you can see, her father and brother-in-law pitched in to help. Inga and her sister kept everyone supplied in nourishment and beverage.
There’s something wrong with this picture! While we struggle to get through a drought here in Paradise, my daughter’s Boise patio looks more tropical than our own tropics! Of course, a mister system helps.
I am impressed with her ability to make such a small space hold so much and still look spacious. I can’t seem to get that effect on an entire acre.
Even the necessary utilitarian area is beautiful.
So many beautiful things growing!
I keep trying to get a few tomatillos to grow. She has no problem.
Her fruit trees keep her well supplied.
With so many things growing . . .
. . . it’s a wonder she has a chance to sit here and relax!
As always, I get lots of ideas for my own patio and garden.
Mahalo nui loa, Inga!
As I work in my own garden, I watch some plants thrive while others struggle for survival. So I love to see the gardens other people put together.
In the past, I’ve written about my daughter’s small historic home in Boise, Idaho. I’ve shown her garden as it makes the seasonal transitions through snow and spring. Each time I see her newest pictures I get ideas and inspiration.
When she visited me here in Hawai`i this past spring, she installed the beginnings of a new drip system, which I was able to expand over the following months. Now, even though it might be a lost cause here on my lava field, I’m trying to figure out how I can put in a brick patio!
People talk about edible gardens, but my daughter has taken it to a new level. Without a lot of front yard space, she utilizes the space between her downtown sidewalk and the street to great advantage. How in the world does she keep anyone from helping themselves?
I have a couple of blueberry bushes in my garden that were designed for subtropical climates, but they don’t look nearly as healthy as these.
Every spare inch of space is used for flowers, veggies and herbs.
Looks like she has an eager helper.
Even fruit trees have found their home in her tiny garden!
I really do envy her little lean-to greenhouse.
She recently added a roof overhang for her patio so she can sit in the shade and sip tea while her drip system does the watering for her. I don’t have pictures of that yet, but I’m sure you will see those soon. In the meantime, enjoy this stroll through a small garden in Boise.
My daughter says that seeing everything come to life is what makes it easier to survive the cold, snowy winter months.
No words are needed for this Salute to Spring, although I have to say that I’m envious of her soil. Enjoy and pretend this is the first time you’ve ever seen something like this in your life! Can you imagine how that would feel? A few pictures of her cats ended up being tucked in with the flowers.
Some of you reading this blog live in snow country, and you dream of living in Hawaii. Those of us who do live in Hawaii remember what it was like to live in snow country!
I lived on Kodiak Island in Alaska, where I delivered my fourth child in the middle of a Williwaw. I lived in Rhode Island where one of our biggest snow storms one year came on Easter Sunday. And I spent the first eighteen years of my life in Illinois where the snow was mostly ice.
Then there was the December I spent in Canada, digging out from under the snow. Even in a place where people were more accustomed to it, the television announcer said people were encouraged to stay in their homes rather than try to go to work. It was one of the worst they’d seen in years.
So I’ll simply enjoy my daughter’s pictures from Idaho and be grateful I don’t have to shovel it off my driveway or walk through it to get to work. After being outside, I imagine her cold greenhouse will feel cozy.
We do have snow here in Hawaii, and many families head up to Mauna Kea with sleds and garbage can lids to slide around on the snow there. It’s very strange to be driving along a warm beach front, then look up to see Mauna Kea covered with snow. This happens when we get our heavy winter rains at sea level.
After all of that, I’m very happy to be living in Hawaii, thank you! Remembering all this cold weather and snow is actually making me shiver. I think I need a cup of that hot wassail I wrote about in yesterday’s post.
A hui hou!
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