Moon Flowers.

Years back, I received a letter from a friend. She planted Moon Flowers around her apartment in Washington D.C. The way she described the magic blooms at night has caught my imagination and I always wanted to see the blooms up close.
Last year, the spring season was cold and planting season started only in June. My Moon Flower seeds perhaps have rotted. This past spring I was determined to see my flowers grow and bloom. Ten plants have sprouted from the seeds, but only three survived. I anxiously waited for the blooms. Strangely enough, the first blooms appeared only in September.

What a shape, what an amazing “engineering”! Alas, only once I saw the bloom open up and was able to catch the magic scent in the dusk. The magic would end at the dawn. Closed blooms do not emit sweet scent.

The intricate cones of the flowers stayed for a while, but the sneaky early frost killed the plants before they had fully bloomed and bore seeds.

There is another spring to hope for. I pray that my mom will still be around to see and smell the magic Moon Flowers. I’ll plant them again.

Gardening in a Box

Hello, Gardeners!

Two "green thumbs" up to all of you!

Until last year, my mom's "duty" was to take care of gardening in our tiny back yard. Her doctors explicitly forbid her to garden now, due to progressing diabetic retinophaty. I had to take over...

We both enjoyed gardening long ago, across the "pond", in so called "collective garden" lot. I frequently think about what might have happened to the fruit trees that we have planted more than two decades ago.

Now, after so many years, I am re-learning to take care of things that grow, bloom and provide fruits, berries and vegetables. Most importantly, they provide beauty, and serenity to our souls.

I am dedicating this journal to my mom and my grandmother. They both had a "green thumb", and I am running out of time to learn everything they new (my grandma Sofija passed away in 1991, and my mom will soon celebrate 80th birthday.)

Last year, to boost our sinking economy, our government granted us a tax rebate. The suggestion that followed was to spend it. I did just that. I purchased a frame for my raised garden and several bags of fertile soil to fill up the frame and some pots. This journal will describe things that are growing in a raised garden, and in several small patches of garden soil around my home (alongside garage, in front of the house, in pots). Visitors of our garden also have a place in these stories, just as they have a place in our hearts.

Old Seeds

In our household we agree that the most nagging question always is WHY? For instance, why this flower is structured exactly as it is? I find it extraordinarily simple and pretty. What a perfect geometry...

Among some old papers, I found a little package of flower seeds that where shipped to us as a part of some promo years ago. In June, I poured the seeds in to the ground close by our porch. I do not know how many years those seeds where stashed away, but I am sure glad they were still full of secret energy.

What a delightful display of yellow color in our little back yard! It brightened our autumn days. I could not stop jumping all around them with my camera in attempt to capture the richness and beauty of the blooms in the perfect lighting conditions. I found that all lighting conditions (morning, day, evening) where perfect for the perfect bloom display.