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Catch 'em before they're gone garden moments

What a week.

All I did was swat at every need-it-now demand flying out of my cell phone and Inbox.

I awoke Saturday morning with a work hangover.

I pulled in the driveway on the return trip of my daily endorphin recharge ritual -- a 20 oz. Wawa hazelnut coffee and the newspaper - - just in time to catch a hummingbird kissing the lipstick red blossoms of a cardinal flower.
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It hovered in mid-air on wings made invisible by their speed, a contradiction of motion and stillness.

Later, as I went about the patio, hose wand in hand to satisfy the unquenchable late–July thirst of container plantings, I observed a solitary droplet of water morph into a translucent glass bead in the cup of a newborn elephant ear. It was as delicate and perfectly round as anything a Steuben artisan could create. I lifted the leaf and watched with fascination as it rolled intact from side to side in defiance of its liquid temporariness.
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Gardening is the pause button on the never-ending chase scene of my life called career and parenting (Have I mentioned I “commute” to my job in south Florida?).

These catch ‘em before they’re gone moments aren’t scheduled in Outlook Calendar. But the therapeutic value lasts for hours.

Yeah, that’s why I garden.


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At 7 years old, John Holtz got turned on to gardening when he turned under his Dad’s lawn to plant a patch of Jersey tomatoes. He’s been passionate about gardening ever since. John is a Master Gardener with Rutgers Cooperative Research & Extension. He is active in the Garden Writers Association and the American Public Gardens Association. He and his family are planted in South Jersey.


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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on July 29, 2007 7:50 PM.

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