While working in my perennial flower bed I had the overwhelming feeling I was working in my children's playground. I always check this bed to see what is coming up and what needs to be pulled up. Rudbeckia is a wonderful flower to have when the hot summer goes on and on. It's joyful to watch as the yellow finch balance on the ends of the flowers to eat the seed. Usually I leave the flowers for the birds to enjoy, but doing so, the seeds that the birds don't eat, means I have hundreds if not thousands of new rudbeckia plants to pluck from the ground in the spring.
This perennial bed has not been a flower bed for the 43 years we have lived in our home. This area used to be an area that was overgrown with small trees and ivy that our children claimed as theirs! Our neighborhood was blessed with a lot of children. Children the same ages as our children. It was great to look out the kitchen window and see the children enjoying themselves in their fantasies. Girls and boys shared times in our back yard. The girls would set up little areas they called their own. They divided the area into rooms for each child. This was their domain. They would play for hours tidying their spaces. Adding rock boundaries and taking very few toys out to aid in their play. Creative play was the order of the day.
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| Last year's blooms |
This perennial bed has not been a flower bed for the 43 years we have lived in our home. This area used to be an area that was overgrown with small trees and ivy that our children claimed as theirs! Our neighborhood was blessed with a lot of children. Children the same ages as our children. It was great to look out the kitchen window and see the children enjoying themselves in their fantasies. Girls and boys shared times in our back yard. The girls would set up little areas they called their own. They divided the area into rooms for each child. This was their domain. They would play for hours tidying their spaces. Adding rock boundaries and taking very few toys out to aid in their play. Creative play was the order of the day.
The swing set that the children have had since they were toddlers was nearby. We had not lived in this home very long so it was not exactly a landscaped yard. I was just learning to love plants and how to pick the right plant for the right place. In this overgrown area the swings were constantly in use and the small trees were taking a beating. Noel was always a very imaginative child, she is still a very smart and imaginative adult. As the children would swing they would click their shoes against the small trees. Beedie bump the sound resonated as they would swing back and forth, back and forth. Noel declared their play area ---Beedie Bump Town. All of the neighborhood children called it Beedie Bump.
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| Noel and Grady |
I hadn't thought about Beedie Bump Town for a while. But as I was working on the flower bed it came to mind. A sweet memory of Noel and Grady and days gone by.
Beedie Bump has evolved over the years into my playground.
I spend many happy hours tending to the plants in our gardens.
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| Climbing Pinkie Rose |
While gardening it is a wonderful time to recall happy memories. Memories spring up about all the years spent living here and raising our two children.
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| Pinkie Rose Blossoms |
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| Red Knockout Rose |
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| Nellie Moser Clematis |
I hope you take time to enjoy the joy of the past and the joy of now.
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| Sarah Bernhardt Peony |
This old swing set has seen it all. All the joys of yesterday and those of today.
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Beedie Bump we've come a long ways!
