When The Secret Garden Gasps For Air!

A few weeks ago, my Secret Garden sat snuggled there in it’s little cozy back yard nest, minding its own business.

Not a care in the world, other than hoping the lady of the house (Me), would remember to give a drink of water to the beautiful hanging and newly planted pots overflowing with an abundance of various flowers.

AND Oh yeah, the ground bushes and trees had their own automatic sprinkler systems, so no worries there…..all was right with the world.

Even so, the Spring brought a drought to SW Florida….

However,  the Secret Garden flourished and was even more beautiful then before Hurricane Irma rushed in with her high winds, taking a few trees down and breaking off large branches.

After much rebuilding and landscaping, this cute little coastal town on the west coast of Florida was beginning to “get back to normal”…if one can specify normal.

And the Secret Garden was the benefactor of a bit of sprucing up.

And it was happy.

Until????

Until the new hurricane season began.

Oh, it was not major hurricanes, YET,  but more like tropical storms, with the only downside being rain.

Lots and lots of rain.

In fact, most of the country was beginning to feel a little water-logged.

At first the Secret Garden drank it all in and the lady of the house smiled and knew she would not have to water daily for a while.

The pentis puffed up its large purple blossoms…

….and the white hydrangea’s mop heads drooped with the heaviness of beads of water. 

The bright pink impatience blooms, perked up their little heads in their stone planters and smiled and waved at the hanging baskets above their heads on the pergola.

The hot pink zinnias dazzled in their flower pots nestled in the creamy white bicycle baskets.

Lovely!

It was like the rain had become the rescue boat for the dry, drought ridden everglades.

She swept in on chiffon, coastal breezes, smelling so fresh and clean with her well scrubbed face, and she spread her gentle showers in and around the garden like a fairy might sprinkle fairy dust.

Yep!

The Secret Garden was like a happy camper, eagerly looking forward to the beautiful raindrops on a daily basis. 

But as with all things, one can have too much of a good thing.

We have all experienced that feeling, haven’t we?

Particularly, when we were younger and saw that large bag of candy loot at Halloween and decided to stash extra in our room for late night gorging only to be miserable the next day.

Not that I ever did such a thing. 🙂

So the rain continued, day after day, evening after evening.

The plants were beginning to droop and the stems lay over with the abundance of water.

The Secret Garden began to look as if it was crying.

Struggling, it was saying between glub-glubs of water…enough please.

The little feet or roots of each plant became water-logged, with no time for drying out because as soon as the sun would come out…another cloud would drift by and deposit another shower of rain.

And now?

And now the Secret Garden is looking a bit sad.

The hanging baskets once over-flowing with petunias, coral bells and flower buttons sport dried stems hanging limply over the iron basket frames.

The zinnias screamed ‘I can’t take any more’ as the hot pink blooms turned to a dull builders beige to match the leaves.

Yes, there can be too much of a good thing as the Secret Garden attests, but all is not lost.

You see, I have a secret weapon.

The sun…

Pruning shears,

And a bottle of Spray And Grow.

At least I hope it works and if it doesn’t?

The garden shops have more plants, although I really want to try to save what I can, now that the tropical rains are over, at least temporarily. 🙁

How has your garden been doing with all the extra rain?

Blessings Always.