Looking back and forward . . .

Hammock City & the reading respite awaits your visit this summer.

Benchmark data suggests "Blog early, blog often." Marketing gurus suggest that businesses that publish blogs 11+ times per month receive twice, sometimes 3.5x the traffic. Funny thing though — I couldn't find any data that suggests giving your readers a break for, oh... say... 14 months — is good for traffic.

I haven't officially blogged since November of 2015 — you are welcome. I've been writing, studying, gardening, speaking and doing life. Somehow in the midst of not-blogging, I also received the opportunity to help plan the American Hosta Society National Convention in Indianapolis June 7 - 11, 2017 and our gardens will be one of the "What to do Wednesday" open gardens to tour. The Indianapolis Hosta Society had a pre-convention tour last June as a "warm-up" for the big league tours and a few weeks later, we headed to Missouri where we thoroughly enjoyed private St. Louis gardens at the 2016 Convention. (I'll share gorgeous photos of those later.) I also have the blessing of heading to India with a team of student change-makers in March. (More on that later — but hoping to see my two gardening buddies at the Red Fort again!)

Meanwhile, I just wanted to let you know I am Simply Cultivating in all areas of life.

cultivating: to prepare and/or loosen up the soil 
12a:  to foster the growth of b:  to improve by labor, care, or study :  refine: cultivate the mind3c:  further,  encourage — cultivate the arts4d:  to seek the society of: make friends with 
Here's a few photos from 'the yard' — 

Without a wooden bench to ponder, is a garden truly a garden?

That 15-foot fountain, made from smooth river rock . . . we fell in love with it and somehow
dragged it home from the Indiana Home & Patio Show in March 2016.
We have instituted a new garden rule to ask one question when purchasing anything:
"How will we get it home?"

It's simple — the art of arranging words on paper to create something
new and original is quite similar to the art of arranging plants in a garden. 

A well-used wheelbarrow makes a great rock garden for succulents.

Love the texture.

[Insert favorite summer-time song here]

My 4-year old nieces and nephew's favorite path through the Hostas.
Hosta 'So Sweet', H. Guacamole, H. Great Expectations, et. al. 

A well-used garden — so many memories of graduation parties, Easter Egg hunts, 'after the Indy 500'- dips in the pool, Labor Day parties, Birthday celebrations, . . . lots of little footprints in the grass growing larger. 

This summer I said to know one in particular:
"Why did I never straighten this Dogwood when it was growing?"
My daughter Chloe reminded me:
"Ma, that's one of the Indiana trees we received for Arbor Day in third grade and planted."
I love its' crookedness. 

Let me know if you enjoyed these -- if not, I promise I won't bother you for another 14 months.  And if you want to find out more about the American Hostas Society Convention here in Indianapolis click here: Indy Hosta 2017Leaning in, Janet Hommel Mangas 

In the midst of the suffering and ugliness in the world, let us seek and have gratitude for small blessings and beauty.

I have taken quite a fancy in how my 'sea-weed' Girly Steel sculptures complement the rust-orange color of our three staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina,) also known as velvet sumac. Had I known two months ago when we purchased these at Penrod Art Fair at the Indianapolis Museum of Art Gardens, that a big buck would again jump the cow fence and use the sumac on the right as a rub and midnight snack -- I would've bought more to act as a fence. 

In the midst of the pain, suffering and ugliness in the world, let us seek and have gratitude for small blessings and beauty.

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: Haters gonna hate, but creatives gotta' create.

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: Haters gonna hate, but creatives gotta' create.: Haters gonna' hate, but creatives gotta' create. I n the middle of two writing deadlines and an unfinished Bible Study a few week...

Haters gonna hate, but creatives gotta' create.

Haters gonna' hate, but creatives gotta' create.

In the middle of two writing deadlines and an unfinished Bible Study a few weeks ago, I got this urge. Maybe it was the onset of a deep desire to procrastinate — of which I am am considered a master craftsman. But in reality it was a beautiful, 59° autumn day and the sky was radiant with warm sunshine and raining leaves. 

I actually tried to talk myself out of it, but after three attempts bolted out the back door. When my husband curiously questioned, "whatcha' doing" — as he watched me criss-cross around our five-acres of leaves — I could only answer "I don't really know." 

I just had this urge to create a palette of color before these living organisms faded away — and this is the result:

I believe all artists — whether we act, sing, paint, garden, design, cook, draw, tell stories, write, play music or dance — get the urge to do what we're created to do because we were first "created in His image." The Creator created us to create. An no matter how silly it may seem at the time — sometimes you just gotta' open  the closet and grab the Play-doh.

What are you creating today?

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: My Garden Doesn't Sleep at Night

Simply Cultivating . . . A Heartland Garden: My Garden Doesn't Sleep at Night: My garden doesn't sleep at night — I have proof. Last evening on a cooler-than-usual July evening in the Indiana Heartland, I got an u...

My Garden Doesn't Sleep at Night

My garden doesn't sleep at night — I have proof.

Last evening on a cooler-than-usual July evening in the Indiana Heartland, I got an urge right before bedtime to grab my camera and set out into the dark of the night. I should warn fellow gardeners with a disclaimer that this 'extreme garden photography' sport can be dangerous and is not for the faint of heart. I didn't stop to think about the coyotes that roam the 100 acres next to our 5-acres. I didn't even care that I could have easily tripped and fallen face-first, probably bruising a knee from the garden hoses that someone left in the yard (yep, it was me.) Nothing would deter me: no skunks, raccoons, nor horrid voles or slugs that like to taunt me by nibbling on my prized hosts —  I was on a mission to find out what my garden looks like at night.

Here's the proof that my garden doesn't sleep at night.

Echinacea purpurea — purple coneflower that are beginning to attract the the gold finches. 

Hosta "American Icon" — a sport of H. "Choo Choo Train"

Tricolor ornamental pepper plant

Liatris spicata, the prairie gay feather 

Red Salvia seems to light up the night

(clockwise from top left) Hostas
'Great Expectations', "Sleeping Beauty' another 'Great Expectations' and 'Blue Angel'

Temari Red Verbena will continue to flower until frost.

Okay… maybe this one does sleep.

Thanks for stopping by Simply Cultivating —
and thank you for leaving a garden footprint with a comment or just say hello!

It is no wonder so much of gardening is done on one's knees: the practice of horticulture is a wildly humbling way to pass the days on Earth. Even the root of the word "humility" comes from the Latin humus (for "earth" or "ground"), and a good soil is rich in the paritially decayed plant and animal material we call that very thing.   — Margaret Roach

This summer I've been humbled by not only the beauty of the gardens I've had the opportunity to visit, but humbled by the hospitality of the gardeners. Gardeners are a unique breed of people — they are of the earth and grounded.

Last month in my Daily Journal column I wrote about my new friend Andrew Marcinko who had his buddy Tim Alford serve snow cones during their garden tour — best idea ever!
During this same Johnson County Garden Club's annual  ‘Stroll through the Neighborhood” we were invited to tour the phenomenal home and gardens of Indiana artist Raymond and Barbara Turner. 

And today I received my September/October issue of the Indiana Gardening Magazine published by State by State Gardening — I couldn't help smile when I turned to page 52-55 and recalled hanging out with Indiana Hosta Hybridizer Randy Goodwin. He's kind of a big deal and hero— and very involved with the Indiana Hosta Society and American Hosta Society.

Here are a few photos:

One of Randy and Susie Goodwins water features

Goodwins path to hosta heaven — which includes many that he has hybridized.

I love hanging out with gardeners — the good .scent of humility lingers
More to come later...thank you for stopping by!