being complementary ... Blue Tuesdays

Going Blue: Margaret's Hydrangea Blooms Again in 2015 by Wayne Stratz

Margaret has been posting Orange Tuesday blog posts for quite some time, so going Blue at Stratoz is a complementary new route.

When we moved into our Two Studio Row a decade or so ago, there was a hydrangea in the front yard, but it was under the porch roof and got very little water, so I moved it out into the rain. It didn't bloom. As we walked about Lansdale, Margaret expressed her love of their blooms.

We bought a Hydrangea and I placed it in the backyard, where it can be seen from her studio window. It bloomed. 

From 2008 in the garden of nutmeg designs: A violet Hydrangea (clearly showing the fickle nature of the bloom color......) by Wayne Stratz

The winter of 2013-14 was brutal with some extreme lows and I did wonder if the Hydrangeas had died when spring slowly emerged, but they arrived late and from down below the surface of the Earth and took their shape. But 2014 would feature no blooms for Margaret. This past winter had some cold moments, and though stunned, the Hydrangeas came through in better shape. One of the last things I did before leaving for my silent retreat, was to take out the garbage and bring in a Hydrangea.

Orange Vase. Blue Hydrangea. by Wayne Stratz

Our Hydrangeas do not compete well with many that we see as we walk about. I don't feel like a success when I think of Hydrangeas. But I persevere and they persevere. And that is all we can do on these hot and muggy summer days.

Sundays with quilts : Debra Lohman: Houston Blooms; Mechanicsburg PA

Debra Lohman: Houston Blooms; Mechanicsburg PA

Wordlessly celebrating water lily blooms at Longwood Gardens

Reflection of Water lily at Longwood Gardens

Emerging Water lily at Longwood Gardens

Yellow Water lily at Longwood Gardens

 

salvia morning; marigold afternoon. A day at work

Morning sun streaming though Salvia blooms at my school

The air was warm. The soil moist. The sun was low. This was the setting as I walked onto campus this morning. The salvia and yarrow in the garden area that surrounds our flag pole was teeming with life. I booted up my computer and went to photograph the moment.

As the day ended, I left my classroom and as I have for the past several months, I walked by a diverse gathering of marigolds. I sat on the sidewalk and caught that moment as well.

Marigolds in the afternoon. The work day was over.

 

 

Making the best of the present moment

Strawflowers in one of my horticulture gardens

Photographs are a moment in time, but there are times when I feel my camera and my skills have failed that moment. In the past these photographs would be deleted, but now I play.

My toy is an app called Aviary. I often use it on even my best images to adjust the sharpness or brightness. But a less than favored photograph can be transformed into a new take on that moment in time. Just as my mind (at its best) can seek joy and hope in a failed moment, Aviary can do the same with a not to be deleted moment.

 

 

July in my Lansdale garden

Day Lily with coneflowers in the garden of Nutmeg Designs

Back yard sunflower in the garden of Nutmeg Designs

The Honda Fit in the garden of Nutmeg Designs

Anise Hyssop in the garden of Nutmeg Designs

See five more July images on our nutmeg blog

 

My Black Magic Petunia requires no words

 

Scenes from the June Garden

Lemon Thyme in the garden of nutmeg designs

Bee enjoying lavender in the garden of nutmeg designs

See five more June garden images here

Creeping Back to a Well Kept Garden

Creeping thyme overhanging white wall

Summer school has arrived and though I enjoyed the three week break, the garden took advantage of the time to run in its own direction. Weeds. Dead blooms. Plants in need of support.

So it is a good thing that I asked for more horticulture time this summer and that the temps have stayed low enough to get some gardening in at the school. But back to back to back horticulture classes following a pre-school day weeding session, had me a bit tired out. Each class brought a set of fresh legs while mine grew less fresh. When it was over I drank some water and walked up the hill to some creeping thyme.

I'm not sure why but of all the blooms encountered the last two days, these small flowers asked the most for my attention. Saint Ignatius would say God was conversing with me when those blooms caught my eye so deeply. The desire to respond to a garden in need of attention is a much greater call that I find difficult to ignore. It gets me to the school early to rid the flower garden of weeds and helps me to keep going as those fresh legs enter into my classroom.

Horticulture Update: 5.13.14 Spring Blooms

Daffodil Bud exuding yellow

Azalea Blooms

Redbud blooming on tree planted by a student

 

One of my favorite tulips

 

Blue bells never fail to surprise me as the plants arise from under a Dogwood surrounded by azaleas

 

 

Four Moments from my horticulture classroom update 2.26.2014

From the day Pete Seeger died to the blooming of an orchid.

 

The 12 Days of Christmas Shout Outs: Dahlias for day eleven

Searching Dahlia at my Flickr page brought forth many a photo, this is a sampling.

 

 

Thoughts on testing my teaching

My students have many a river to cross and on top of that my PA Dutch grammar can baffle the average student. With that said, I can write tests that all will fail or tests on the same material, which all the same students will get A's. Too often us teachers see tests as indicators only on what students have learned. They are also an indicator on how the students were taught. If a question baffles many, then I need to try to teach the material differently or as a friend told me recently ~> ask the question differently.

My students would not be in my classroom if their only problem was test taking. I see this as my goal - to show them that a classroom can be a place that is not traumatic. So why fail them and have them leave feeling the same way about school. The other day in my bio class, I joined them at our communal table. I sat down at their level. I looked at them and said, "You have had a marvelous quarter. You have completed everything I have asked of you in and outside this room." It was the truth, however, I couldn't have said it to all my chemistry students.

"So now I need to see what you have learned in the past nine weeks. I really don't care if you have learned everything. I do care that you allow me to see what you have learned so I know how well I have taught you. You all have earned a fine grade from me. Don't fear this test." Then we reviewed.

The cool thing is this ~> when they are proud of themselves, I can be proud of myself.

Today my horticulture students were given a boatload of flowers and told to create something beautiful. They passed.

 

Bee Balming ~ making the circuit in the garden of Nutmeg Designs

Hope ~ found at the top of a sunflower

 

No need for words ~ Seven Blooms from the garden of our two studio row

 

Streaks ~ doing what I want to do, in this case cleaning up the herb garden

Mosaic Woman found an app called streaks. Simple thing. Enter an activity. Choose how often you want to perform it. At the end of each day, check off what was accomplished. Gardening was not the first activity in my list (that was blog commenting, a forgotten habit) but I am glad I made the decision to place it there.

The backyard had reached embarrassment stage. I made it four straight days before visiting family, excessive heat, a need to prepare to teach today, and a thunderstorm kept me away from the garden yesterday. But I got a new streak going today and the perennial herb garden is happy indeed.

Does anyone use yarrow as an herb? I am curious.

 

Becky Eldredge, the person who inspired the sunflower

I do not need 1000's of more followers, what I need to do is make wonderful connections with a few of the ones I have on twitter. Becky Eldredge seemed like a fine person to get connected with. I had fanned her page on Facebook, followed her on Twitter, and read her thoughts at her website.

Then one day she sent out a tweet asking for prayer requests. I asked for some directed towards my students. She asked about my job. A connection had been made. Yes, it is across state lines and we may never meet, but I will keep an eye out for chances. My hope is that she leads a retreat at the Jesuit Center. She does things like that. My hope is that I will one day read the book she is writing.

Yes, it is ours. She recently wrote to me responding to the word collaboration. She mentioned synergy. People saw this as one of MY best pieces, but truth be told, it would not be in this world without Becky.

First ~ she desired a piece of art celebrating sunflowers

Second ~ she shared some photos she had taken of sunflowers and when I fell in love with a flower emerging into fullness... we realized that we both love the word, unfolding

Third ~ she wrote to me about why sunflowers are important to her.

Fourth ~ she agreed with me that the design should emerge while I was on a retreat and patiently waited for that retreat to come along. I took Becky's photo and words on that retreat.

If it is one of my best pieces, it is because of the spiritual connection between plant and human, which led to this photo.

Thanks, for helping me to be a better artist.

 

My Garden drives A Hard Bargain

My garden has told me to back off with any camera, unless I have come to take care of it. So there I was coming home from DC to plenty of new blooms, but it told me to stay away. A painful thumb was my excuse (though it didn't seem to keep me out of the studio).

Today I went out. So it seems best to do it this way. Garden for a bit, grab the iPad take several photos of one plant, sit on the porch. garden, photo, garden...

These photos were taken before vacation. Spiderwort greeted you, below is Yarrow, Begonia, Echinacea, and the annual Rose with Buddha moment.