SOLSC '24 Day Fourteen: Hope found in fourteen

 

This past week, hope materialized in fourteen items costing one hundred twenty-six dollars--and that was with a birthday discount.

*****

The pots had been empty of life for over a year, filled with dried potting soil, clumped dead roots, and rocks.  One of them had a long crack down the side, evidence of being knocked over by a branch.

The branch belonged to our decades-old oak, which split in half vertically and landed on our front porch and roof during the February 2023 ice storm.

It took several days to remove the bulk of the tree off of the house and off of the property; we kept some sections for memory's sake to use as stools on the back porch.  We still haven't had the stump removed.  So many suckers have grown out and up from it that it now looks like a bush.  We know it will never grow back into a tree, but we haven't had the heart to thwart its vain efforts to do so.

Losing that tree changed not only the landscape of our front yard, but the climate of the space. What was once shaded well into the afternoon is now heated by brutal rays of sun.  Our bedroom gets the brunt of it; the brick walls soak up the heat, which can be felt from a foot away outside and just by touching the walls inside.

I was used to buying shade/ part sun plants for the containers on my porch and rocked in area; what was I supposed to do now?  I was in a funk last spring break.  I just didn't have the motivation to research plants and garden while the roof, eaves, and gutters still needed repair.  And when summer arrived...forget it.  It's just too hot here in Central Texas to garden most days.

This spring, I felt the nudge to liven up the porch again.  Surely, there had to be plants that did well in afternoon sun.  I made a mental list of all the containers I wanted to fill, then headed to a nearby garden store.  After talking to one of the employees, I started filling my cart.  Three gerbera daisies, two sedums, a rosemary plant, golden moneywort, golden globe lysimachia, long-leafed grass, and two different kinds of asparagus fern for the front; a Persian shield plant and a coleus for my Italian pots in the back.  A large bag of potting soil finished my list.

And just like that (well, with fourteen purchases and some work)...hope springs eternal once more.