Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
8/27/99 - Last night we had a lovely rain, and more is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. The garden really needed this moisture, and I appreciate the fact that now I don't have to hand water. Earlier in the week, I spread the remainder of last year's compost (see "Weekly Diary" for 8/20) on the rock garden. The soil is rather poor there, and, since it is slightly elevated, tends to dry out and be washed to the front in heavy rains. This spring, when I dig out the new compost, I am going to spread all of it that I can spare on the rock garden. This was Gertrude's special area in the garden, so that I am going to try to improve it as much as I can beginning with the soil.
The current news on the photographic front is that I have purchased a good camera, with which I should be able to improve considerably the quality of the pictures on the "Weekly Diary." I hope for sharper focus, better colors, and the ability to provide real close-ups of the flowers in "Gertrude's Flower Garden." This should make my reader in San Francisco happy, since she is the one, you may recall, who wanted to see flowers closely enough to decide whether she wanted them in her garden. Of course, all of these wonderful improvements are contingent upon my learning how to take pictures with a camera that is quite different from my present "point-and-shoot" camera.
In the meantime, this week's picture is a side view of our terrace, half of which is taken up by a glass room that looks out on the garden. I eat all of my meals there and have the feeling that I am dining al fresco. On the open half of the terrace (foreground) I have arranged large pots containing red geraniums(Pelargonium) and White Star Zinnias. Although they don't show up clearly (this is the kind of thing I hope to correct with my new camera), the smaller pot in the left foreground and the small pots in the plant stand next to the glass room are filled with lovely blue Browallia speciosa, a flower that, dispite its great beauty and fancy name, belongs to the potato family! I use plastic pots because they are much less expensive than clay pots, considerably lighter to lift, won't break, and don't dry out as quickly as clay pots.
9/3/99 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
8/20/99 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
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