May 8th, 2006
Morning Glories
There is a long narrow area behind the garage that I like to call The Veranda. It’s about 30 feet long and maybe seven feet wide, and last year was the first time we ever attempted to make it a truly useful space. It has the potential to be quite charming.
The garage is on one side and there’s a fence on the other, so my plan is to put pots of morning glories on either side and hopefully they will meet over our heads to provide much needed shade. Of course they will need something to climb on and across - and my genius friend, Wendy, suggested white lights with white cords (to blend better with the garage wall.) Of course the obvious added benefit is that they will provide a much needed lighting solution for summer nights, and a romantic and whimsical one, too - all those leafy vines partially defusing some of the tiny lights! Some of the plants are moonflowers, so we should have some open blossoms around us as we enjoy our time after dark - nicely lit blossoms at that.
In a subsequent stroke of inspiration, I realized we’ve had several strands of never-used outdoor-rated icicle type Christmas lights in the attic for a few years. White cord, white lights, and I can increase the light and climbing options by attaching side by side strands to one another by wiring the longest “icicles” together and leaving the shortest ones “dripping” down over our heads. Ah, lovely!
A couple weeks ago, I bought about 12 packets of seeds (many too many, it turns out.) Tonight I finally planted most of those seeds. Now I have morning glories (in waiting) coming out of my ears. I am so excited for them to grow! I hope I planted them right.
I bet my trepidation in this is just as unfounded as it was with the tulips. I’ve always had the impression that it takes some mysterious giftedness to make things grow. But really, God has built into the seeds all that’s needed for them to grow. And He created Life to heartily seek to renew itself. I’m finding that instead of it being hard to coax growth out of a seed I’d almost have to intentionally get in its way to stop it from sprouting.