Up On A Roof
Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at 07:20PM 
My garden is a natural sanctuary about now. It is a very beautiful place to me even though I have spent the best part of a month cleaning it up and getting it ready for Hot Season. It is only ten years old but has an ancient feel to it because of the wall, the ivy and the plants that live there. It is an incredibly Southern garden, and everything about it makes me feel at home.
I describe this as an "incredibly Southern" garden because it is planted with many of the old Southern plants my relatives grew when I was a child. The front room of the garden, not pictured here, is primarily planted with white azaleas and blue hydrangea. There are also hostas, wax myrtle, Lenten Roses, ferns and Agapantha (African Lily that is the bluest of blue and the flower of Mary Magdalene). This room is mostly a shade garden, shade provided by Natchez (white) crepe myrtle, a Yoshino Cherry and a Vitex (aka Chaste Tree with very blue blooms). It is the oasis every Southerner needs from the brutal heat and humidity.
The back room of the garden, pictured here, is shaded by dogwoods (one planted on Good Friday 2000) and around the courtyard are pittosporum, azaleas, antique roses and Viburnum. This part of the garden gets more sun in the afternoon, but it is mostly somewhat shaded and comfortable most of the day.
Monday morning before work I had to get on the roof to clear a gutter that was clogged. The view was so spectacular I had to take a couple of photos. This was my rose, and I stopped to smell it, even on a frantic Monday morning. Oh, how I wish there was time to linger and think about the perspective of my world from up on a roof. I remember and hum an old Carol King song remade by James Taylor that always had good memories for me:
"When this old world starts a getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
Ill climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, its peaceful as can be
And there the world below dont bother me, no, no
So when I come home feeling tired and beat
Ill go up where the air is fresh and sweet
Ill get far away from the hustling crowd
And all the rat-race noise down in the street
On the roof, thats the only place I know
Look at the city, baby
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Lets go up on the roof
And at night the stars they put on a show for free
And, darling, you can share it all with me
Thats what I said
Keep on telling you
That right smack dab in the middle of town
I found a paradise thats troubleproof
And if this old world starts a getting you down
Theres room enough for two
Up on the roof..."
I love to sit out in the garden and listen to the fountain around sunset, but nothing compares to the brillance of early morning. Unless I am working there I never stay long because I have way too many things to do. Still, I love to tend this garden and see it develop every Spring into an outdoor room that is an extension of my diningroom and sunroom.
I wish you were here to have a coke float with me and sit out in the garden and chat for a few hours. This is a good time of year for that before it gets so hot. Later this summer some of my friends are planning to come for a fruit party. We'll have loads of fresh fruit like peaches, pineapple, watermelon, grapes and, no doubt, homemade ice-cream out in the garden. That is tentatively set for Memorial Day weekend.
So from Alabama I wish you a lovely Spring full of lessons from the plants about living, dying, returning, resiliance and brilliance. I wish you sunny days, gentle rains and breezes to rustle the leaves of your trees and make them glitter in the sun. I wish you perfect exposure, low humidity and for the deepest part of your garden to quietly grow violets so small you have to get on your knees to examine their perfection. If you don't get those thing, go up on a roof and see if you can find a different perspective to reveal, if only for a moment, a paradise that's trouble free.
Plants
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