Well, the vines and such have been trimmed off the fence that was supposed to be replaced 2 weeks ago and the cut vines look ragged and dejected unlike their full beauty earlier. The Clematis that was on the fence is lying in a sad pile since I refused to cut that down – I waited too long for it to take flight up the fence trellis and give me blooms in the later winter/early spring! Nuts to that!

I should be out removing the scarlet pimpernel that thrives in the rocky area in the front yard but my knees are suggesting a later time. No irrigation to power the growth, but the wind does send water there from the lawn. An idea: maybe if I decide to grow the pimpernel there it will die! Everything else dies in that corner; perhaps I should try cultivating it.

The clematis awaiting planting when the fence is replaced are blooming extremely well: 1 plant has 14 flowers bursting out in full glory and is only 1-foot high. Others are content to send out 3 and 4 flowers at once – less energy consumption in the long run and a longer bloom season for me.

Out near the gazebo, the snowball bush, Viburnum opulus, is adorned with so many “snowballs” that half the gazebo is missing behind the small clouds of white. When I look at it in bloom I remember the plant my mother had at her home in Santa Rosa. She planted it and a strawberry guava, Psidium cattleianum or P.littorale longipes, along her fence when I was a teen-ager. She had high hopes for those 2 plants and envisioned large shrubs with lots of interest in that area. Years went by – lots of years – and no color on those big shrubs! She finally mentioned to her neighbor that she was taking them out and why; “Oh no” was his reply. It seems that the mulberry tree in the middle of the yard was shading HER side of the bushes and HIS side had wonderful, huge snowballs and wonderful colorful blooms on the guava. Mom has been gone now for 5 years and hadn't lived in that house for the past 30 but the memories linger on.

I think I'll bundle up and go outside and just let the memories surround me. You see, my mother was my main influence in going back to school and getting my degree in ornamental horticulture; she also was the driving force for me entering the Master Gardener Program and sticking with it. I can still hear her: “Your cousin is a Master Gardener in Minnesota, you should do it here!” Competition between sister-in-laws can lead to good things.