My Madonna and Her Plants

A few years back, I had planned to have my porch railings repainted so that I could put the planters back onto the railings.  This didn't happen for various reasons.  But what did happen, my neighbor came to me and told me he was painting his mother's Madonna for their yard and he had paint left over and he would paint mine.  What a surprise and what an answer to my prayers.  My Madonna didn't get her crown this year but she is back to looking as beautiful as she should be.

The other toss of the coin was I wasn't happy with one particular wildflower that was taking over my planter and I didn't have the energy it would take to dig it out by the roots.  So I put my porch railing planter right over the main plant.  Some of the leaves from the wildflower extended out around the planter which gave it an appearance of having a border.

That year I filled the planter with red, white and blue petunias.  I'm not really fond of petunias but they do continue to grow over the summer.  I ran into a sale of hanging planters priced at 4/$20.  I bought 3 petunias and hung two of the hanging planters at my deck.  The other petunia I centered in the planter and split the fourth planter that had a small white and blue flower in it.  I placed each half on the side of the petunias.

This year is gardening on a budget due to family medical problems so I'm satisfied with my red star flowers that are growing each year further into the entrance surround.

Asian Lilies budding and ready to pop open

Lily of the Valley new growth in garden

My day lilies are coming back each year a little more profuse than the previous year and I expect them to bloom very shortly.  To My wonder last year the lily of the valley popped up with 3 very strong plants.  I expect these to take over the garden in a few years.  This year produced 3 plants again but I'm sure over time they will show up in the same abundance as my Asian lilies.

My biggest disappointment is that my star flowers are no longer growing in my garden.  They were getting very hardy but got pulled out by mistake last year and now I have a decision to make as to what to plant in their place.

I pulled out all of the wild flowers that grow in my rock garden but they are still coming up in my entrance surround.  It's going to be a chore getting those pulled up without disturbing my Asian Lilies.

So another growing year had started and I had to start over with my surround since all my plants other than the lilies got pulled out last year and I'm left with just the weeds and wild flowers.

My neighbors kindly gave me four Easter Lilies that were done for this year and I planted them hoping that they will come up next year.

That wasn't my biggest challenge this year.  Around the middle of summer my Madonna that my neighbor so kindly painted for me disappeared.  I fussed on facebook and wrote pieces saying that she had gone for a walk.  I was very sad because my Aunt had given her to me many years ago and she has moved with me from house to house.

The story didn't end there.  One Saturday afternoon while I was out working my second job, a very nice neighbor. whom I didn't know, stopped his truck and left a new Madonna on the cement slab that had been my Madonna's place of honor for the past 15 plus years.

This Madonna is very nice and has a pearlized finish.  Another neighbor chained her to the slab so that she couldn't be taken again.  The moral of the story is that there are good people in this world who care about their neighbors.