Angels In My Garden - A Hobbies Hub on Gardening and Poetry
75I believe there are Angels among us...
That song, so beautifully performed by Alabama, brings a picture to my mind of a smiling face lined with age, and sparkling blue eyes wise with years of life and love. My Great Aunt Sadie has been gone many years, but I can hear her voice as clearly as if she were in the room with me. She was a very special and courageous lady, and if I ever were to choose someone to be my guardian angel, she would be at the top of my list.
Her garden was a magical place, wound through with shaded walks and hidden delights, and the girl I was still roams there in my memory. Gardens, to her, were as necessary as breathing, and her love of gardening seems to have rubbed off on all of us girls to some extent. No garden of mine has ever achieved the same magic, but whether I am digging the foundations of a new bed, or uprooting the seeming ever-present quack-grass from amongst the irises, I always feel very close to her there.
My seasons as a gardener here are coming to an end, and with sadness as we divide the contents of our hearth and home, so, too, the pots and shovels, the plant stands and tools all must be catalogued and claimed - some few to come away with me, most to remain. Some of the angels that inhabit this garden must stay, for they are of this place, but some are mine - my angels and my memories - and they shall depart this place with me.
So here is my hub, combining two of my favorite things, gardening and writing verse, in tribute to the many garden and guardian Angels I have known.
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Shariane's Spring Flowers Craft Book
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Best of L.A.G.Q.
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Flower of Love Guest Book - Spring Green (Set of 1) - by Weddingstar
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Rebecca's Garden, Vol. 3: Spring Gardening
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Gathering of Angels
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Questions About Angels: Poems (Pitt Poetry Series)
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And the Ass Saw the Angel
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The Wedding Angel Gifts from the Heart Poetry Card (Set of 1) - by Weddingstar
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Spring
The angels of this season seem a tad timid this year. They have been flirting with us for months now, holding out the promise of warmth and unfolding buds only to blow cold again on our hopes.
The sparrows have returned to the apple tree. The grass has shed its blanket of chilly white. The Sand Hill cranes have serenaded us from dizzying heights as they soared overhead on their way north.
Still, the winds chill and bite. Still, the nights bring Jack Frost nipping and pinching any tender shoot foolish enough to show its head. We are more than ready for winter to end. There, I have said the dreaded "W" word - as if saying it would curse us with it for another long month.
Only the lowly violas, hardy perennial visitors that they are, have dared to show their faces. The asparagus sulks just below the surface, unwilling to climb into the light, and the leaves on the burr oak at the bottom of the garden are yet tight-furled in their buds.
"Soon," whispers the errant breeze as it sighs past my door. "Have faith," its warm breath seems to murmur as it caresses the still bare branches of the currant bushes. The large-eared rabbit that shares our yard pauses in his search for new shoots. His coat has more than half turned to his summer camouflage. He flicks one ear as if to say, "Patience, gardener. There will soon be work enough for you."
Well, if my angels are content to wait, so must I be too, but it has been a long winter this year, and I so want to be out in my garden.
Cruel Winter's blast has shook the trees,
And seared the ground with icy breath;
Now yearning long for respite, I
See Angels dancing down the path.
Sweet kiss of Spring - they print the soil
And where they step the crocus blooms;
Soon, swaying gently, stem and leaf
Coaxed out to play...
A sea-foam froth in wind-tossed the trees
Makes promise of a fruitful year,
And songsters' nests in sheltering bough
Announce returning summer's near.
- Canadian Gardening - Your Source for Gardening Information
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Mark Cullen the gardening expert shares his knowledge of horticulture including garden design, growing plants, flowers, lawns, trees, shrubs, garden pests and diseases, indoor gardening, planting, roses, vegetable gardens, garden plans, Canada.
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The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions
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The New York Times 1000 Gardening Questions and Answers: Based on the New York Times Column "Garden Q & A."
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The Big Book of Flower Gardening: A Guide to Growing Beautiful Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Roses
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Gardening All-in-One for Dummies
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Summer
This summer is particularly sad for I must say goodbye to many friends. The sparrows chatter busily in the old apple tree and keep us busy supplying seed to the bird feeders. I see two roses have not survived the winter's tyranny, and must be removed to make way for their hopefully sturdier replacements.
Actually, it is the garden that must make its goodbyes to me, as I am the one who will be soon gone. Oh, I have stored up pictures and memories in plenty - enough to last me several lifetimes were I to recall them one by one.
I need my garden angels more than ever this summer. I have moved away and left many places and many friends behind before now. This move should be no different from any other time I closed the door on one chapter of my life to begin anew...but no. This time it is different. This time I am leaving so much more than a place. This time I am leaving my home.
I cannot take my garden with me and so, some angels must remain, and part of my self will remain with them. Together they and that part of me that stays will watch over this home and all who dwell herein.
Some shall go with me, though - those gentler folk from former days, old friends now. I shall turn my footsteps down another path, not knowing what lies farther on, but always knowing i am not alone. Wherever a flower breathes its scent upon the breeze, wherever there is cool grass to lie on or a tree to lend its shade, I will find my angels there.
The rose that should have breathed your name,
The winter's harshness, thoughtless, claimed;
And my own heart once lodged within
Now frozen too, must soon away;
No angels beckon from the paths;
Though verdant, all seems sere and bare;
The songbirds' chorus silent falls
And rapture drowns in silent tears
My garden angels softly weep
For love undone and fancy flown;
No careful hands the soil to tend,
No careful hearts the breach can mend
But onward then, to unknown shores
Shall I and they together ply;
And storms now weathered, there abide,
And gardens find...and Gardens find.
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Men and Angels: The Art of James C. Christensen
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Full-Color Angels CD-ROM and Book (Dover Pictorial Archives)
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48" Lighted Seraphim Christmas Angel Yard Art Decoration
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The Heavenly Plan: A Tale of Angelic Events
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Your Guardian Angel's Gift
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Abaddon And Mahanaim: Or Demons And Guardian Angels (1855)
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Are you moving home? A beautiful hub which reminds me of our winter and spring now past. We have had a mini heatwave this week and the coolness of your hub is very welcome
Beautiful hub RedElf -
May your new home be filled with guardian angels to watch over and protect you. Soon enough you will again find solace in your beloved garden. Remember, a home is what YOU make of it - so wherever the place you claim as your own will be, it will be your haven against the shadows of uncertanty and lonliness. For how could you possibly be lonely with such wonderful friends and family who love you.
Beautiful and sad hub. Having moved quite a lot it makes me realise that the garden is you. Many beautiful gardens I have left behind have been neglected and are a shadow of their former self. Maybe we take our garden angels with us?
Hawkesdream, no, not unless I can't figure out how to name my hubs any better, lol. I was out in what will soon be not my garden anymore (moving out, moving on) rejoicing over the amazing blooms on my Winnipeg Parks rose. I suddenly realized how very, very much I shall miss this lovely little old house and gardens, and everything we had so lovingly built. That's what happens when I write at 3 in the morning - the feelings just all spill out. Thanks so much.
Yes, ethel, I am moving yet again - not my choice this time, but I guess these things happen...and thanks for you kind words.
Oh, Enelle...you are so kind and loving. Thank you so much for reminding me of all the love I do have. Blessings, my dear.
You caught my allusion, GW. I do believe we are the garden, and are in the garden at the same time, and that one day we will all find our true Garden in the best C. S. Lewis manner. I, too, think we do take our angels with us - sad for those who have none of their own to bring to the gardens we leave behind.
Well my friend, you have hit the heart of it! That's why we tend out gardens, life at it's finest and the seasons ebb and flow, we move and start a new garden with different flowers and friends.
Thanks so much, Candie. It is sad to leave, but leave we must, and begin again. I am so lucky to have found so many new firends here.
Simply delightful. Thank you.
You are full of passion and wisdom. Thumbs up! Blessings to you.
Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting, Nancy. I am so glad you enjoyed it.
Blessings accepted with gratitude, dayzeebee...and thanks, though I must admit I don't feel wise - just hanging on, lol.
A wonderfully and beatufully written hub. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks so much, Princessa. I am so glad you enjoyed it. It is easy to write on such great topics.


















Hawkesdream says:
4 months ago
Are you leaving us ,RedElf, this hub is beautiful and sad all at the same time. Terrific thoughts on paper.