Popping Wheelies

The empty pots

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It’s a truck load of flowers, and it is delivering a load of pleasure. Or is it? What do we see or feel or smell?

Near our truck are pots of flowers, fragrant and a delight on the patio.

But next to the truck is a planter of pots whose flowers could not take the Florida summer heat. Or maybe I didn’t water them like I should have. IMG_0349.JPG

What do we choose? Do we   dwell on the empty pots, or do we smell the flowers? It is all too easy, and I think maybe even natural, to say, “That bare spot is ugly,” when there is so much to enjoy.

This is something that I am having to tell myself over and over, literally every day as I try to rehab my arm and shoulder. How much can I get back? How much function can I, as a full time wheelie, hope to regain? The point here is that moan and groan while there is beauty and love around us is just not the answer.

I hope y’all are doing well and having a good summer. Thank you for stopping by, and I always appreciate your comments and will try to answer. You are the flowers in my garden.

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Photos: Top is a concrete planter in the shape of an old time truck with a bed of red pentas. Second is a row of circles, each featuring a healthy and attractive plant. Third is a large photo of a concrete planter with three empty pots. Bottom is an explosion of Mexican heather that is loving our hot, humid summer.

32 comments

  1. i love gardening (only have a balcony), and… well, plants will eventually die. some day. so if one dies, plant something else…
    what kind of plants do you have? fragrant flowers? herbs? maybe some lovely tropical plants and cactuses?
    i have 9 different hot pepper plants from a community gardens sale (next to the blind school here), 3 pineapples grown from scraps, a few herbs and i think two cactuses might be alive. oh and a hibiscus from trader joes, sort of getting back to life again i think…

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    • We have a planter in front. Our patio is raised, and we have planters along the sides. We got them in the fall, and they only had annuals. So now we have a mix. It is baking in the sun, and we are going to work toward ornamental grasses. And sunflowers. Waiting for early in the fall.

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      • mm the joys of seasons 🙂 ive noticed some plants grow easily in winter time so usually i grow some garlic and parsley then. pineapples come indoors in wintertime, and on cold nights also the peppers

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      • We need to get organized like that. Thanks for the tips and ideas. We didn’t realize the patio was 14 inches up, and we had to work quickly. The plants get almost no shade. We rarely dip below 40, so we have some leeway that way.

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      • sounds like some lovely succjlent plants could work nicely in those hot spots. check what hardiness zone you have too to prevent too tropical plants dying in those rare nights when it does go to under 40

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      • Yes. The other problems are heat and sun. We need full sun. Succulents are good if not too thorny. There is a picture of some of our crown of thorns. We also need to be mindful of bees so near people. Plants are fun and challenging, which makes us think.

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  2. Beautiful pictures George and your message of gratitude is awesome! It can’t be easy being in constant pain and worrying about the future but getting out of our heads and remaining thankful for what we have is powerful and that’s what I’ve taken from this lovely post. Keeping you in prayer for comfort and healing. Thank you!! 💗

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  4. Wow love that Mexican heather!! Practice seeing yourself regaining complete use of your arm and believe nothing short of that and it will be yours, if you truly believe it. Remember what it felt like and focus on that, let it fill your mind. I know it’s a lot easier said then done, but hey if it works, how great would that be!! Heading to your State soon to visit my parents, I’ll wave as I fly over (I don’t think I really fly over you but I’m going to pretend that I do) 🙂

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    • It is an attitude that is easier to say and read than actually achieve. We’ve had a lot of things go wrong, and I’m trying to look at the things that are right. So many of you are helping me, and I greatly appreciate all of you.

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  6. Pain is not an ideal way to live life, and that is known from a personal perspective. By focusing on the beauty the Joy we feel actually assists us to handle the pain. I wish you so much luck in rehab and crossing fingers that your movement comes fully back!! Much Love, George! 😘

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  7. I’ll be waving goodbye this afternoon. It was a wonderful visit, in fact my parents are travelling back with me to visit for 2 weeks. Have a wonderful weekend George!! ☺

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  8. Hi George. I just want to let you know that I am enjoying your blog immensely. And regarding the flowers, with me living in Charlotte North Carolina the thought of buying annuals in the fall is totally foreign to me. And thinking of sunflowers in the fall. That’s totally foreign to me. In the fall here, annuals that we bought or planted in the spring start to die and I rescue as many geraniums and asparagus ferns and begonias as I can, storing them in our sunroom for the winter. Boston ferns too but boy do they make a mess when you bring them inside. And about those Bougainvillea’s that y’all have, we try every year to keep one alive even if we can’t make it bloom. We have the scraggly little plant that we keep watering. I’m sure we don’t feed it often enough. I amazed at people who are able to take the Florida heat. I have relatives down there in the Naples area and we never visit until fall or winter. And the funny thing is my niece who spent her whole life in Naples has moved to North Carolina and I am thoroughly enjoying teaching her about all plants and flowers and trees that are not palm trees or Pine trees as those were the only thing she really knew the names of. And she’s 30 years old but I’m able to see new plants through her eyes. In the spring I introduced her to azaleas and our state flower, the dogwood which is weird because it’s a tree with flowers. Watching her examine different types of bark to identify a tree is really entertaining. Ps. You have a delightful attitude and way of looking at life. Thanks for the inspiration.

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