The Sloppy Gardener

I like to look of a wild garden. It's my excuse for allowing weeds to co-exist with all the other plants in the garden. I have a lawn that consists of various green weeds and a little bit of grass. One of the side yards and the backyard has sod, but the rest of it is a huge lawn made of very interesting plants. While trying to find out the name of these flowers here on the right, I found out the name of other "weeds" in my yard. I have Spanish Needles growing all over the yard. But does anyone recognize this little beauty? The flowers are teeny weeny and the photo I took is a close up (and a bit blurry.)

I had a good time planting seed and making a wild nonsensical combination of plants. It's my great experiment. Over the years I've learned that you should have a vegetable garden separate from a flowering garden with the exception of few companion marigolds, onions and garlic perhaps. I made such a hodge podge of plants in one bed.

I have mammoth sunflowers in between the pineapples. I have a thing for sunflowers. I've enjoyed watching butterflies stop for a snack while the flower is in full bloom and cardinals hang out picking out the seeds from the finished flower. This picture on the left isn't a mammoth one. The big ones haven't bloomed yet, they are still growing and getting big with huge leaves. I can't wait to meet my new friends when they bloom!

I've planted a wilder variety of cosmos within the same bed with watermelon, cantaloupe,onions and bush beans. A customer who comes to Tai Chi at The Crystal Garden brought me the seeds. The sunflowers are mixed within the bed with the vegetables as well.

I was happy to find a volunteer today when I was making a slight attempt at weeding. I'm not sure if it's cabbage or broccoli. Perhaps you'll recognize it and let me know. I love volunteers. It makes me feel like God or the fairies are invisibly gardening with me. Or perhaps they are gardening while I sleep. More realistically, I believe it's a result of my sloppy composting. I'm pretty busy so I often throw my organic vegetable kitchen scraps out into the bed. I don't put it in a compost bin and I rarely bury it. I figure the animals can have a snack and it'll decompose. Eventually I cover it with leaves or topsoil.

I do have a compost bin, but it was torn up and mostly blown away with the hurricanes - Frances, Jean and Wilma. I never replaced it. I do have a papaya plant approximately 10 feet tall with a few papayas growing on it. It's a volunteer as well! Gotta love the volunteers.

I thought I'd plant cosmos seeds too. My cousin in Durango always has such beautiful cosmos. I wanted some too. These cosmos are flowering at my front door. What a happy welcome they provide! You can see the geraniums on the right of the photo. I have many geraniums around the front and back yards. Some of them are over 2 years old.

What's growing in your garden?

Gardening for the Soul

I've been enjoying my yard. Seedlings are growing. I've planted marigolds, bush string beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, zinnias, cosmos and sunflowers. My favorite flower is the sunflower. I brought seeds back from Tuscany about 5 years ago. When I first moved into this house I planted them all over my yard. Since then I've made it a tradition to keep them growing. Sunflowers are happy plants and make me smile.

On a metaphysical level, sunflowers are the perfect flower to activate the solar plexus. The yellow color and the happy energy provides a perfect activation for increasing joy and self-esteem. Hmmm . . . perhaps I could assign a flower for each chakra. Let's see

• Crown - white calla lily




• Third Eye - African Violet




• Throat - periwinkle blue plumbago




• Heart - pink roses




• Solar Plexus - sunflowers




• Navel - orange marigolds




• Root - Red Geraniums

Gardening is grounding and yet highly spiritual at the same time. I am grateful I have a yard so I can pull weeds of the past and plant seeds for the future. I enjoy watering the gardening, fertilizing and nurturing each and every plant and tree. I am grateful!

Only a Rose . . .

I love to garden. Gardening is good for my soul, my mind, my heart and my body. As I headed into my garage after a full day of running errands today, my garden called me. I had to see if my newly planted trees needed a drink of water. The roses captured my attention. So I stopped to smell the roses. I ended up trimming the rosebush and picking a few blossoms to place around my home. They graced our table tonight while Vincent and I had dinner. I have another vase of them near me here in my living room as well.

Rose bushes like to be trimmed. I was taught to cut the blossom just above the first set of 5 leaves. It is said to promote healthy growth and more blossoms. It's also important to dead head rose bushes. Dead heading is not related to the Grateful Dead in this case. It means that one should take off the dead blossoms or the rosehips.

It's a similar concept to removing the dead wood or that which is no longer useful. By removing the dead flowers or branches allows for the energy of the plant to go to new growth and creating new blossoms. Likewise, use this gardening tip for your life. Remove what is no longer working or draining of energy so that the new may bloom in your life. There are numerous analogies relating to gardening literally that are lessons in spiritual and personal growth.

A good example of this is the story, The Secret Garden, which is one of my favorite children's novels. Actually it's a novel or story for all ages. This novel has been made into a movie - more than once. The story of The Secret Garden was the inspiration for the name of my store, The Crystal Garden. I wanted to create a place where people could go to heal, to feel safe and to have a magical experience. Take the time to read this book and then visit The Crystal Garden. You'll pick up on the analogy.



It's glorious weather here in South Florida today. I think our high was 71 degrees and sunny. Paradise does exist. If you ever want to have a spiritual vacation, come to Boynton Beach to go to the beach, enjoy the glorious weather and attend all types of classes at The Crystal Garden.

Sending you roses and sunshine,

Margaret

Thoughts on Being . . . . Superwoman!

Mama Mia! I am constantly amazed at how much I get done, how much work I still have yet to do, how much more I accept to do, and how much I want to just sit and read a good book under my favorite quilt.

One of my staff at The Crystal Garden has convinced herself that I don't sleep at night but instead, plug into a wall socket to recharge as I keep on going. My best friend, Melissa Applegate, thinks most humans can do only 20% of what I accomplish. So, now I'm bragging a bit, yet it feels good to pat myself. I can hear my mother from the Other Side saying, "Margaret, SPS! Self Praise Stinks!" The thing is - I'm not so sure it's a compliment to be over-the-top the way I am with working on so many things.

There is a downside. I love to garden and despite my distant admiration, my garden continues to bloom and grow. I know some weeds would like to be pulled. I also know it's time to feed my plants their fertilizer. (For those of you reading who don't know - I live in South Florida. It's good to fertilize when the weather cools down - it's 77 degrees! HA!)

Lately, I have been pausing to attend my yoga classes. I have a great instructor, Mary Rosi, at my store, The Crystal Garden. I like the realignment the class provides to me. My body feels stronger, my mind is clearer, my emtions more balanced and my connection with the spiritual realm is reinforced. It makes for a better yoga practice when Mary suggests to dedicate the practice for that given class to someone or something that is important to you. This is a very effective tool. I've dedicated my practice to my manuscript, Crystal Consciousness, which is soon to be published by Llewellyn Worldwide. You may want to get on my mailing list so you can be in on the first copies that hit the shelves. Sign up at info@thecrystalgarden.com

I've also dedicated my practice to my father, Al Lembo, who is 95 years old. WOW! He's an amazing man and I've learned so much from him. If it wasn't for his generosity, financial support and constant you-can-do-it encouragement, we all wouldn't have The Crystal Garden today. So cheers to Al Lembo and my mother Antoinette. (She's guardian spirit now . . . .) I believe I got my super powers from my family heritage. My father always had many jobs going on at the same time and so does my brother today. It must be coursing through my veins to accomplish all that I do.

Yet I must say, I really love it! I'm very creative and I feel I have a mission. I know I only have a specific time frame in which to achieve it so I have to hurry up and get it done. I am Divinely Guided so I can't ignore the responsibility to serve my fellow humans.

• I know I must continue to publish books, oracle decks, spoken audio CDs and more.
• I know I must assist my fellow retailers, authors, vendors on a national level by serving as President for the Coalition of Visionary Resources.
• I know I must run my father's businesses to ensure the funds to care for him and preserve his work for my sister, my brother and I.
• I know I must be a good friend and partner to my sweetheart Vincent.
• I know I must be a good family member to my cousins, neices, nephews and more.
• I know I must be a good friend to my friends.
• I know I must be a good manager and leader for my staff and the community.

So, I'll stop and plug in for a while, re-charge and revitalize!!! I don't look too bad - actually I look marvelous! I'm smiling at YOU!

Truth be told, I'm off to my chiropractor and then to Macy's. See I do stop and play a bit!

Many Blessings,

Margaret Ann

Connecting with Mother Earth

I've been home for 2 weeks now and have about 3 more weeks before I arrive in Massachusetts to offer the Crystal Healer Certification Level 1 and 2 at Heart to Heart Healing Connection in West Springfield. While I am there I will shop the largest Gem show on the east coast. We'll load up Vincent's car and drive back to Florida after all my events are over. I'm booked with private sessions for Past Life Regressions and Angel Gemstone Oracle Readings as well.

Being home for so long - 5 week - I have been able to reconnect with the land that I live on. I am so grateful for all my beautiful plants and trees. The mangoes are just about getting ripe. I know that when the animals start eating them, they are ready to pick. I brought 4 mangoes in to finish ripening yesterday when I was out dead heading my rose bushes. If I don't take some in to enjoy, the squirrels hang upside down on the branches and munch away on the mango while it's still hanging on the tree! It's a sight to see.

The hurricanes, all 3 of them that hit 2 years in a row, really challenged many trees and plants. This is the first year that we've had our normal tropical weather patterns of torrential rain every day. I can hear the plants and trees singing and doing a happy dance that they can finally heal and grow again. We haven't had any mangoes on the tree since before the hurricanes so I guess it's been about 5 years. Interestingly, only half the tree grew mangoes. The part that was hurt so badly is still healing. At least I didn't lose the tree. I lost a carombola a/k/a star fruit, 3 coconuts, 2 orange and numerous other young trees.

The summer growth in my paradise-like backyard was deep and rich. I did some trimming for the long-term health of the plants, but I love the tropical jungle affect that they create. One Tarzan-like vine grew over 2 of my bougainvillea bushes. Taking the vine off those plants was really good exercise to say the least!

I compost. I save all of my organic material like vegetable cuttings, coffee grounds, egg shells, and old bread in a plastic container on my kitchen counter. Daily, or sometimes more frequently if I cook more often, I place the contents in a pile in section of the garden in my backyard. I am doing a modified version of composting because one should either dig a hole to bury it or put it into a compost bin and layer it with greens and browns. But, my version feeds the neighborhood wild life. I do this with intention to offer them and Mother Earth some food to eat with gratitude for supporting my life.

I read portion of a book in a Cracker Barrel while we were traveling about Lasagna Gardening. It's a way to layer all the organic materials in an area where you don't want to or have the time to dig up and prepare the bed in the normal way. So I've tried it in my yard as traveling has precluded my ability to get my hands in the dirt.

I placed shredded paper from my shredder and newspaper over the weeds and then threw all my compost in one section of a bed. After enough of the area was covered over time, Vincent and I covered it with peat moss, soil and then mulch. It raised the bed and created an area for rich soil. I've added the tops of the pineapples to that part of the garden. I now have 4 pineapple plants started. Do 4 plants qualify as a Pineapple Grove? Well, now I want to eat more pineapple to add to the garden!

I recently realized that little rabbits like pineapple. I wondered which creature kept digging them up and munching on what was left of the pineapple. Then I saw the sweet creature looking innocent in the bed. We have a baby bunny that graces our back yard from time to time to snack on asparagus ends, brussel sprouts debris and obviously the new pineapple plants.

The baby green iguana who also lives in and around our yard wild, like the marigolds. Yesterday I saw him having a little snack. I've also seen them eat sunflower sprouts. It took me a while to realize why my sunflowers never went beyond sprouting until I saw one of the iguanas snacking away.

There is also a young possum that comes by at night. My cat, Gabrielle, who is an indoor cat, enjoys the visit through the glass door. And, of course, Mr. and Mrs. Raccoon enjoy the boudoir of my salt water pool and jacuzzi.

All God's creatures enjoy the land that I get to live on. I've seen wood peckers, osprey, and even an otter! It's a true gift. A reverse zoo! I'm in the cage indoors and they are enjoying the outdoors. Works for me.

Many blessings to all beings of Mother Earth!

Angel Love,
Margaret