Garden Cuttings

I've lived in Portland for over four years, in four different apartments. Before my current place I never had an outdoor space in this city. Not a backyard nor a balcony. Until November of 2020, while in the thick of the pandemic I braved the cold drizzly day to view a place in Southeast. I thought it was too late in the year to move and secretly hoped I would hate it so, but as I pulled up I parked behind an Audie with a license plate that simply read "SUSHI" (my favorite food) and watched as a black long haired Norwegian forest cat (the same kind of cat I had for 18 years) crossed the street in front my parked car. I took these occurrences as signs from the universe but have not seen either car or cat since. I ended up loving the place with its sunny yellow walls, real fireplace, and private back deck. The deck was simple and wooden, nine feet long and five feet wide. I envisioned it covered in big green leaves and bursting with colorful flowers. After a rainy, icy winter I bought mint and lavender seeds along with two small pots of Erysimum, loving the purple magenta of the flowers that gathered at the tips of long stems. Once it grew warmer I bought two hanging pots of violas, the deep purple, bright yellow and soft white spilling over the edge of the pots. I went to Birds and Bees nursery and chose two small Lilac plants, one french and one common, one small Improved Meyer Lemon tree and the beginnings of a Star Jasmine vine. I saw a honeysuckle vine and was moved to take it home as well, so I did. Last but certainly not least, I bought a planter to hang over my deck banister and filled it with all the colors of the rainbow. Yellow, orange and pinkish red Nemesia intermingle with deep blue Lobelia, loved universally by the bees and hummingbirds. With care and patience I did not learn until the stillness of quarantine taught me, I tended these plants, positioning them to get the proper amount of sun, watering them daily, speaking words of encouragement to all but especially the ones slow to sprout or flower. I felt a happy sense of accomplishment when the lemon tree began to bud, and when the honeysuckle grew and lengthened, six stems upwards of four feet in length winding around my banisters and growing so much I had to take my green scissors and cut lengths of training tape to keep them attached. The Star Jasmine finally bloomed, becoming a favorite of the cat's with its aromatic scent. It is so ideally fragrant it has grown to become my favorite scent in all the world, too. Every flower blooms with such color and vigor I love taking my designated garden scissors and clipping a few stems here and there to create simple but sweet bouquets for myself, my lover, or a friend. The lavender and mint are too young to harvest but a joy to watch grow none the less.

A deep, overwhelming feeling of gratitude often fills me while sitting on the flowering deck oasis of my making. I will be there in one of my blue camping chairs, slanted afternoon sun warming my face, gentle spring breeze playing with my hair, the scent of any and all the flowers filling my nose and reflect on how badly I've wanted this. On how fulfilled it feels to be able to enjoy it by myself or share it with another person. I feel especially content when the cat comes and sits in the other chair while I'm reading a book or drinking a glass of wine. True, its not a deck on the top floor of a wildly tall building or even a fenced in backyard, but it is a small space under the open sky I get to call my own and enjoy whenever I want. Because of this deck I have developed a love for gardening and a better understanding of what it means to nurture and nourish and for that I am incredibly grateful.