Free Thyme and The Secret Garden
I haven’t had as much gardening to do lately. At least not of the build something beautiful variety. I’ve continued to pull weeds and plant a few things. I keep watch over my existing plant projects. My biggest surprise this week was seeing two of the Nasturtium seeds I had planted coming up. I wasn’t even sure they survived all the transplanting of flowers from faerie garden to faerie garden. I did a lot of switching around for the desired container garden effect. Some trial and error has taught me which plants thrive in sun and which ones find her rays a bit much, even though they appreciate her from a distance. So I have fulfilled their requests at relocation. I know what it is to need a change in climate for the sake of thriving.
My latest edition is a couple of thyme plants. I visited a local nursery and it’s kind of an off-season for them for a lot of things. As I chatted with one of the associates I was told that this time of year they use for clearing, maintenance and repair. Once the fall starts they will have more merchandise. I thought they had plenty. At least enough to fill a full hour of wandering among the plants and exclaiming over everything.
It was a truly enchanted place. I guess it has been around for a while or they chose some magical grounds to build around. There are some massive, ancient trees with exquisite roots and gracefully gnarled branches. A walkway of aged crepe myrtle, taller than I’ve ever seen, led into a small grove. I felt certain I’d been transported to none other than the mysterious and irresistible Secret Garden of children's books fantasy. I walked slowly through, savoring each discovery, until finally I came to the end of the path and had to turn around. As I exited, I found a bench near the checkout and waited for the associate to return. I had a mission: get a job at this place! (Not there yet, but we shall see!)
I struck up a conversation about the Japanese maples standing tall in their nearby containers. As we talked over all things plants: sunlight, shade, faerie gardens (which oddly, I was not the first to bring up,) the care and grooming of different kinds of trees, and their lovely property, I felt restoration flooding in on my being- because you see, the pressure of unemployment does tend to get deep: being persons of faith is not the same as immunity to circumstances, you know? But the trees had spoken deep truths to me as they almost always do. And even the spiderwebs sang about beauty in unlikely places and how they like to create their masterpieces in unvisited spaces.
As I said my farewells, not forgetting to inquire about job availability, (not yet but maybe next month!) I was given a parting gift: Free thyme plants. Beautiful herbs with a lovely scent- most of the time I’m used to smelling thyme oil in household cleaning supplies, but the scent was much more fresh and open and light, which is exactly the way I hope to feel throughout the days to come as we continue faithfully doing what we can to make a beautiful life in the time we have. The gift was a lovely goodwill gesture and I am so grateful. I will be back, for sure.