My Midlife Crisis

Yes, I'll admit it.  I am in the middle of a midlife crisis.  My kids are older and no longer need me (as much), and certain life events have made me want to step on the brakes and say "Whoa, not so fast!".

Sounds strange, though, doesn't it?  It seems that men are expected to experience midlife crises, but you don't see too many women running out and buying fire-engine-red European sports cars (especially in Europe!).  I, being a simple country girl at heart, have no need for a 500 horsepower Italian convertible, so I settled for the power of just one chestnut 18-hand Holsteiner. 

Isn't he beautiful?

My husband gave me my dream horse, Canterbury, on April 1.  Bliss was mine for 21 days, but on April 22 the horse spooked when an animal moved in the long spring grass, and I was thrown.  I landed on my back and broke several vertebral apophyses in my spine as well as a rib.  After two months of wearing a back brace, including 3 weeks of not being able to lie down in bed, and lots of pilates, my body is now almost healed.  My mind, however, is a different matter.  My horse is gone, and I now have some mental hurdles to deal with.

Thus continues my midlife crisis... 

... although I'm sure some serious rose therapy will do just the trick!

Pruning roses and sage

Although I usually start pruning my roses when the almond trees bloom, this David Austin rose, Benjamin Britten, seemed to want to jump the gun. 




That's a scary thought, considering it was already 10 feet (3 meters) tall.  I have to laugh, because I just saw that the Austin webpage gives a height for this rosebush of only 4 ft (1.2 m).  Yes, that is just how good a gardener I am (ha, ha).    



 This is how much I took off.

Tah-dah!

My supervisor seemed to approve.

I have mentioned before that my favorite non-rose plant is sage, specifically Salvia officinalis.  It stays green all year, is drought-tolerant, has lovely blue-violet flowers in spring, and it's edible (Thanksgiving turkey stuffing wouldn't be the same without it).  What plant can top that?  If you live in my climate, you need sage.

It can, however, get quite big.  It also self-roots if the branches are in contact with the soil.  Last year, I planted daffodils near this sage plant...
         

...and now they're under it!

So, the sage got a good pruning, too, and much of it had already rooted,

so now I have new sage plants!

 Guess who else needs a good "pruning"!