Rain. Rain. I stop short of asking this week’s soaking rains to go away, come again another day.  Here in central North Carolina, severe drought-stricken as we are, it would be imprudent to wish away the relief of water falling from the sky, but I do admit to a tiny bit of impatient foot tapping.

Meditation Garden

This week has been mostly a wash-out for making my meditation garden a reality. Chopping and removing grass from the 20-foot diameter circle are on hold.

Subfreezing lows earlier in the week brought sleet just a few miles up the road, but in this garden the unusually cold temperatures have not been the issue.  The impediment to achieving progress lately has been the rain: thunderstorms yesterday morning, more rain expected today.

Tuesday, chilly but sunny, was an exception to a week of soaking rains. Amazingly, that day the soil was dry enough to be able to work it and I set about to methodically chop up the clumps of fescue.  Originally I had thought I would leave the grass in the bed, but now have decided to remove and compost it.  The work is hard and time-consuming.

Assessing the progress achieved Tuesday after three hours of toiling, it is clear the pace is that of the tortoise, not the hare.  Yet the process, slow as it is, remains extremely satisfying. I have embraced the idea that developing my meditation garden can be taken as an opportunity and a journey. Eventually the digging will continue and one day the garden will be realized.  As with life, itself, it seems more important to notice and enjoy each moment than to simply speed along towards the end.

Elsewhere In the Garden

Meanwhile the rest of the garden is responding well to this week’s rains.

The perennials look fresh and green.

The ‘Irish Eyes’ rudbeckia hirta did poorly last summer but seems to be back on track this year.

Echinacea (purple coneflower), monarda (bee balm), Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan), Lychnis (Rose Campion), Tradescantia (spiderwort) and more are growing enthusiastically.

The nepeta (catmint or catnip) has formed a strong, but gentle mound in front of tall drifts of irises.