Do you remember this song by Peter, Paul and Mary? I do, it was written by folk singer Pete Seeger.
At the moment I find myself looking at the print I brought home to Struan Farm from California with the Matisse quote: "There are always flowers for those who want to see them." Because I've got a wee bit of a problem, something I discovered when I went out to put together a flower arrangement for farmstay visitors this past weekend.
The hellebores in the roadside wooded garden at the Homestead have almost disappeared. There used to be a virtual forest, each winter I'd gather masses of the droopy, delicate blossoms to put into vases. I'm afraid that when John waged chemical warfare against the Japanese anemone this past summer he either confused hellebores with Japanese anemones or they were collateral damage in his eradication campaign. Either way, it's not good news, since these are/were my winter flowers.
Some remain. But they were also hit in other parts of the garden, I'm assuming by the same culprit, for the same reason. These are flowers that date back to John's mum, delicate "winter roses" that self seed.
I will continue to see the flowers that remain, and rebuild.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.