Stopping to Smell the Roses

Mother's Day weekend is usually the best time to plant on Long Island but now that I moved to Virginia, I took the cue from my neighbors and planted earlier. Some of my herbs and flowers were hardy enough to endure the changes in temperature. Some did not so as Mother's Day approached, landscaping our new patio with beautiful beds of herbs and perennials became my focus. It was time to stop and smell the roses and not fret about unpacked boxes inside the home.

The builder's landscaping team arrived a few days before Mother's Day weekend and swapped out plants that were not on my wish list for beautiful flowering azaleas, a young holly bush, budding knock-out roses, and a cherry tree. The challenges of my family's life move started to turn to joy as I watched the plants enter the ground. 

Next on the agenda was a visit to the wholesale nursery with my gardener to choose a beautiful combination of perennials and herbs for my new gardens. While the weather felt more like a cool end-of-winter day rather than a spring one, I layered up and took off to the nursery with my husband. The first task was to find the weeping cherry tree for the back lawn that my husband had on his wish list. Who wouldn't want such a tree? After all, we now live in Virginia, well-noted for their blossoming cherry trees. Following that, we roamed rows of perennials to choose an assortment that would bring color to either side of the patio. The trip proved to be delightful. 

Early on Mother's Day, the gardeners arrived with truckloads of river rocks, large stones for decorative edging, and my tree and plants. The team diligently despite the coldish weather. When they finished planting and edging all the beds with large stones, I realized that Mother's Day will be celebrated in joy from the fruit of their labors. 

Welcome to my gardens,

A delightful Mother's Day gift to

Stop to smell the roses.

Walk through. 

Let nature bring happiness

Filling life with blossoming joy.

©CV, 2021

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I hope everyone's Mother's Day was filled with Blossoms ofJoy! (To hear more about this topic click on the link above to read other slicers' thoughts on this topic.)

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"The lesson I have thorougly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love a garden gives."

-Gertrude Stein

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I am strolling over to a garden of blossoming slices of life at Two Writing Teachers. 

A Taste of Chocolate

In honor of the last two days of National Poetry Month, I created a pair of poems about the word chocolate. Being a third generation baker, my love for creating tasty confections, especially with chocolate, reaches far back into my childhood. I was my Italian grandmother's baking assistant, a sales clerk in a bakery during high school, a confection taster for my creative mother who was a celebrated baker, an educator/mother of two with a penchant for baking, and now a consultant/blogger who writes about literacy, learning, and life with a couple of posts reflecting my love of baking: Food for Thought and Are You Open to the Word Change? 

Chocolate Cake

Layers

of dense chocolate

Cascade in richly laden 

morseled memories,

Each taste tracing frosted images:

timeless traditions

decades of time-wrapped thoughts

baking implements, worn with years

hands, swollen by age, full of love

carefully crafted confections.

Each taste eliciting feelings

 and a lingering lick or two.

        

Here is a found poem, crafted from advertisement readings:

Chocolate in My Garden

Fine, fibrous texture
Elegant,
Rich in dark brown tone,
Color-enhanced dyes,
Environmentally-safe,
Consistently sized
But not morsels 
Tasty to eat.
Still a chocolate layer
Of delight,
Holding fresh color
For beds of plantings. 

Chocolate in my garden-
Accenting my landscape,
Giving vibrance,
Lasting longer than a year.
Providing nutrients,
As the protector of roots
While maintaining moisture,
Chocolate in my garden
Adds a beautiful touch
To garden hues.

Have you guessed
Its identity?
Clues for you:
Made from natural hardwoods,
Not cocoa beans
Keeps weeds at bay.
Are you surprised to learn
That my garden could have
Chocolate-Colored Mulch
to luxuriate in?

And now both my garden and I can be indulged with chocolate all year long!

Chocolate in My Garden

I fancy myself a lover of chocolate, all shapes, sizes, and tastes. It is my passion, my go to dessert, melting and swirling so easily in the mouth. It is my comfort at times and my forbidden fixation. Chocolate, rich in color and taste, is a treat to be savored so when I was introduced to chocolate in my garden by a landscaping adviser, I was immediately intrigued. 

Fischetti Landscaping

Preparing for spring renewal and the end of a bitter winter on Long Island, I followed my landscaper/gardener's advice and traveled to a local nursery to view various plantings for a fresh garden look. The day was sunny and bright, so my husband, friend, and I took advantage of the warm weather to enjoy a spring day. Being in the midst of healthy, lush green shrubs, flowering trees, standing tall or serpentined in shape, brought smiles to our faces and a feeling of exuberance for what spring could bring. It was like being in an arboretum with multiple rows of beautiful sights. Not only did I find the just right shrubbery and plants for my gardens but a rich chocolate brown mulch. I was so delighted with my finds that I immediately called my landscaper, Matthew, to work his magic and bring my weather-beaten property back to life. 

Happy Earth Day!

It was on Earth Day that Matt and his gardening crew came to revitalize my gardens, a symbolic gesture of renewal that not only revitalized my property but my spirits. The final product made me smile but better yet it beautified my corner property to make it visually appealing. The chocolate mulch added another layer of delight, just as chocolate icing would brighten a cake so did the mulch enhance my gardens. 

Celebrating Earth Day in such a festive fashion this year made me appreciate the beauty of nature and the gift of landscaping. The earth is a wondrous place. Looking at the several gardens on my property each day makes me grateful for springtime, plantings, and the landscaping-gardening crew who lovingly tend my gardens. 

Earth Day should be an Everyday Celebration!