A Case of the Uglies

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted. I've been busy with all the things that keep us busy at this time of year: Shopping, cleaning and decorating the house, visiting family. Time just really got away from me. And it appears, so did my garden. It has contracted a terrible case of the Uglies. Typically, December comes around and I just try to forget the garden even exists. In Florida, I don't get the nice fresh blanket of white snow, wiping the slate clean. Instead, plants linger around a bit, little bits of life in amongst the decay.

This blog has made me stick with the garden this year, or least venture out into it once a week. That has been one of the benefits. Usually I avoid the uglies and try to focus on the beautiful things. But this week the uglies were just overwelming and the beautiful things were far and few between. So I decided to photograph the uglies just like they were the beautiful things.

And the became beautiful, in their own way.

What I found surprising was how hard it was to photograph and equally hard to write about the uglies. They smack of failure and dread. My crepe myrtle in the butterfly garden has something that looks a lot like the black spot that is so lethal on roses. The canna is obviously being chewed up by some kind of bug, but who knows what it is. The butterfly ginger and knockout rose need to be deadheaded. The bananas are already gone as far as I'm concerned. It is a visual To-Do list, and when there are so many other things to do for the holidays, it all starts to seem like too much. I get a headache and want to crawl back onto the couch, watch Shrek the Third again, siphot chocolate, and wish for spring.