Some of my significant rocks and pots

Although it would be primarily a garden day,
I wasn't very energetic starting out the morning,
so I started with a 2.5 mile hike with Della and
Maya to get me warmed up.

I've been busy getting containers set up, arranged, and ready for planting. Today I made my first hit on the garden centers and brought home five flats of plants. It's not as many as it sounds, really, because quite a few of them were 4" pots, just six to a flat. My container garden sucked them up quickly and the vast majority of the pots are still empty. That's ok, it was just a start, and an early start at that, but it's been such a mild winter and early spring that things are ahead of schedule.

The thing is, it's not just putting plants in pots. It's surveying and arranging a vast array of containers in all shapes and sizes, many with personal, historical significance. And then there's the rocks and various other accouterments, accessories, and go-alongs that fill spaces and add visual interest to the gardens. Here are a few pictures and stories of some of my most prized garden possessions, and there's some dogs too.

The walk got my blood moving and improved my attitude in general.
It was cool starting off, but the sky was clear and it was really a perfect spring day.

This is Della standing near the house between the two rows of
boxwood. Two years ago my container garden formed a third
row down the center. All I kept for this year was what remains
at the far end--heavy concrete pieces that I didn't want to move.

This belonged to my great-grandmother and
has been at my mother's house in Salina for
many years. I brought it back here when she
moved last spring. It will soon be full of
flowers.

It was such a beautiful day that Trooper wanted to come out too.
He finds a spot in the shade to lay where he can at least bark
at cars that go down our road. He doesn't chase them anymore.

I let Max out of the dog yard to hang
around with the Danes and Trooper
while I worked.

This rock is a piece of limestone full of fossils. I'm not sure if
it came from my grandparents' farm or from a roadside up in
Ottowa County, Kansas, where they lived.

Trooper with Max in background.

This is a piece of red sandstone from Kanopolis
Lake in Kansas. Our family spent many weekends
there throughout my childhood, camping,
boating, and water skiing. There are many
wonderful memories embedded in, or 
embodied by, this rock.

These are a more recent addition. They are
granite paving stones that once formed part
of Pratt Street in Baltimore, Maryland.
Bert's (my first partner) grandfather acquired
them when they tore up the old stone streets in
Baltimore and took them to their home in Annapolis.
They were made into a pathway that over time
became almost completely buried. Bert and I
dug them up and took them to Virginia, there's
probably 25-30 or more of them. Clay and I brought
them with us when we moved here. They are very
heavy but made a great garden border.

These two wooden box planters were made by
my father, I don't know when, but they've been
around as long as I can remember. They are made
of redwood, which is incredibly durable. I put a few
new screws in them today and they are showing
some age and wear, but they will probably last
for as long as I'm still wanting to plant them.

This flat rock only has meaning to me, really. I dug it from a trench in Manhattan, Kansas when I was working a summer job for a landscaping company. We were installing an underground watering system for a lawn. The back edge is relatively straight because I chipped through it with a pick axe trying to get it out of the ground so the trench would be at the required depth. This was in a rocky part of town that really had no business having an underground sprinkler system. I put so much work into getting the damn rock out that I brought it home with me. During my college years, I'd lay it on my lap and it made a nice surface for rolling joints. Now it's back to outdoor use, but it's no longer underground.

Arby was out in the yard with us too,
keeping an eye on everything.

Della drinking from what was once and will
be again, a miniature water garden.