On Websites and Gardening

Mandevilla Flowers

It’s that time again, blog time.

You see, I have a wonderful person who is peripherally involved in my company. I met her when I was first starting out in this business. I was working on a garden here in town and she was doing work for the family that owned the home.

At the time, I already had a website which I had done with a local company here in Montclair. The site was okay but it really didn’t work very well and I wasn’t terribly happy with it. When the time came to redo the site and turn it into what it is today, I thought of her. I contacted her and we started working together and the end product is www.twigandvinedesign.com. I guess I would call her my Webmaster.

Anyway, this Webmaster of mine told me early on after the site was up and running that I should blog every month. Something about Search Engine Optimization or SEO as she called it. I had no idea of what any of that meant but she was pretty persistent about the whole thing.

Suffice to say, I am a creative type, not a techie. Unlike my daughters, I did not grow up in the world of technology and it is not second nature to me—not even third or fourth nature. But the Webmaster said I must and I have always been a dutiful person, so I must. Around the 25th of every month I get an automatically generated email from her that goes like this:

Hi Cynthia:)
This is your friendly reminder to send me a draft of your blog post with any attached images. I’ll look forward to receiving it by the first of the month.

I’ll get back to you with a confirmation when the post is uploaded, optimized and ready to view on the site.
Thanks!

Heavens, she even puts a little smiley face after my name, how could I not do as she asks? You see, I am not the biggest fan of blogging. I often think, who wants to hear what I have to say?

But more importantly, at this time of year I am so busy working that by the time the end of the month rolls around (when I’m meant to be blogging about something) I’m just happy I made it through another month.

Particularly these months of spring and summer. Having said that, there are some months I know just want I want to write about and others (like right now) when I haven’t a clue. Maybe because I am just so tired of the heat, rain and the humidity, all I can think about is not thinking!

Twig & Vine Design is a reasonably new business as businesses go.

I am working with someone now on a project who is constantly mentioning how he has been doing this work for 30 years. I’m not sure if he is suggesting that I don’t know what I’m doing (since I have only been doing it professionally for 6 years) or if he is just saying it because he can’t believe it himself.

This year has been so busy. I have done and completed eight projects and have still another six to go before the season is over. In years past, I have generally tried to finish up in July, but not this year. I am booked into October and will probably keep going until it gets too cold to do any more.

So, as I swing in my hammock which was a birthday present from my lovely husband, drinking my afternoon coffee with my laptop raring to go, I find myself wondering what to write about?

It could be this past week’s weather—torrential downpours on and off all week, working on a muddy job site. It could be the weather of the week of July 2nd that was so stinking hot. On that job site I had the feeling that my face was melting off, that my whole body was melting. I came home after two days of that, feeling sick and dizzy. I threw myself in the pool, clothes and all.

It has been a rough summer!

The weather at this moment, 5:30 pm, is finally cooling down though the humidity continues to be high. Or I could just forget about all of that and be grateful for all that we have and all that we are. I could write about what I am looking at right now as I am swinging and searching for words to put down on this page.

I’m looking at Hydrangea Macrophylla, vibrant pink balls of beautifulness. I’m looking at Hydrangea Paniculata ‘Little Limes’ that are just about to bloom. And I see Rudbeckia, Black Eyed Susans ablaze of yellow brightening up the whole garden. And then there is one of my favorites, Rose Mallow or Perennial Hibiscus. I am ever amazed year after year how it starts as the tiniest little growth of leaves barely one inch tall and turns into this beauty.

Ain’t nature grand?

My Elephant Ears are elephanting all over the place. The birds are singing, the squirrels are running about with pears from my tree in their mouths. It’s no wonder we never get to eat any. And all I can think is: ain’t nature grand and how lucky we are to have it, and how worried I am about how we (our President, but I won’t go there ) insists there is no such thing as climate change.

What a wonderful world.

Finally, my thoughts turn to winter and snow and it is hard to believe it will ever come but it will, boy will it ever. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world…

Okay, yes, I am waxing philosophical and this will not be the informative blog that I feel it should be. I should be teaching something, shouldn’t I? But life is short and getting shorter every day, so I think for this month, this is it for the blog, with some pretty photographs attached.

Happy summer, everyone. And many thanks to that Webmaster of mine.

Hydrangea Lime Light and Black Eyed Susans

Hydrangea Macrophylla and Elephant Ears

Phlox and Rose Mallow