Occasion For Hope

Day 152: It was writer John Buchan who said of pastimes piscatorial, "The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope." The same can be said of gardening, although the chances of having those hopes realized is arguably somewhat greater in the respect that you get more out than you put in. Even as a good fisherman but poor gardener, I will swear that is true, at least insofar as numbers of hours engaged in each activity. It took me all of fifteen minutes to drag out a seed flat, fill it with finely crumbled soil, sow two packages of gazania seed and cover them with soil and sand. I will reap at least a dozen plants by July as a result, with flowers which may last into the snows of mid-December. In between now and then, there will be watering, bedding and weeding, but in the long term, less hours will be spent on the endeavour than it would take to catch a limit of trout on an average outing.

The gazanias won't be the only seeds I put down, although I've mostly gone to purchasing annuals fron nurseries. Not many carry this showy plant. It forms tidy mounds about 12" in diameter and of equal height, and yields saucer-sized flowers in vivid, banded colours. It is tolerant of poor, dry soil, and I can't explain why it would be less popular than other bedding plants. Perhaps it's because it has a long start time; seed must be sown 8-10 weeks before last frost, maybe not cost-effective for growers. Still, it is easy to grow from seed, and I've seldom had a batch fail (certain brands are less reliable than others - one I avoid entirely). Yes, we could all use some Sunshine in our lives!