Wednesday Morning

This fellow is standing guard at my font steps. I've had him for quite a while. He once stood in one of my bird baths. That was in the days before I knew to put bricks in the bath to keep his feet out of the water. Because I didn't know, he lost part of his feet. I called around to ask what to do. I finally stood him in a box of cement and let it set. He now has a very heavy base and stands at the end of my front sidewalk. This is also where I put my bird feeders on shepard hooks in the winter. He gets decorated from time to time with bird droppings, but being the ever faithful soldier he takes it and never flinches. (Those are volunteer impatiens that have come up behind him.)

Impatiens Return

Pretty soon after we moved into our home in 1971, a neighbor of my mom's asked her if she wanted some impatiens. She didn't, but told me about it. So I called the neighbor, Tom Norris, and he told me to come get all I wanted. They volunteered and came back each year under some cedar trees he had along his back yard. He sat out in the yard and talked with me as I dug up what I wanted. I planted those and watered them well until they got a start. Every year since, these little impatiens come back . Over the years I have moved some of them around in my yard. These are under and around a rose bush at the end of the covered porch in back of our house. I have them in a line along the Azaleas next to the driveway. They come up everywhere. I find them in cracks of my steps, flower pots, birdbaths, anywhere the seeds have gone. You can have impatiens earlier by going to the nursey to buy plants, but I am content to wait until June for my babies to return. Since the weatherman is predicting rain for us tonight and tomorrow, I think this evening would be a good time to thin some out and start some in new places.