God's Gardening

Wild flowers have been a passion of mine for years, and about 7 years ago I had the side yard where grass has never grown well tilled up and went to the local farm store for seeds that were normal for the wild flowers found in the West Michigan area.  The first spring of my new garden I had a bevy of annuals and the beginnings of a few cone flowers which are perennials wildflowers known here along the roadsides and highways.  Each year, I attempted to plant more seeds.  And each fall after that I especially gathered along the wooded areas two of my favorites, the milkweed and Queen Anne's Lace, and each spring after that I looked for any signs of either flower in the beginnings of each new spring.  Nothing happened.  Needless to say I was frustrated and repeated the action each fall.   It seemed like each spring though the garden grew and throve with each new wild flower I found and added the two I longed for never seemed to set foot among the the others in this garden.

And then last summer two plants I did not recognize surfaced among the many cone flowers and yellow daisies.  As I watched they slowly grew into milkweed and flowered profusely and that year my special garden's aroma was heavenly because of those two additions.

Of course I was please to have the milkweed, but I kept trying with the seeding and this spring was finally rewarded in abundance with the stately Queen Anne's Lace.  They started slowly, and I really needed to water there to keep this dry summer from taking these prizes to help establish these beauties, as well as keep the rest blooming.

In July the flowers bloomed, and are blooming still.  Though the milkweed isn't right now I did have them doing so in early July and now have the most glorious crop of milkweed pods that I hope to share with some of my friends for their gardens.  My special addition to the yard has had a bonus as well.  All kinds of birds from the surrounding neighborhoods come here to ride the long flower stalks, and I also have the monarch caterpillars here and the butterflies, too.


I really feel quite blessed to have been able to watch this small piece of earth develop like this, and though the efforts may have seemed to be all mine, I know that these wonders we call wildflowers are not of my making in this small space I call my wildflower garden.  This summer despite everything it has become a little miracle in our urban setting for me.

The First Signs of Spring

Our first rain of spring hit rather suddenly today - and quite heavily at least in the beginning. I was sitting at the computer and it really caught me off guard. We had been told it was coming, but I figured the first rain would be that typically gentle spring time rain. I was certainly not expecting a downpour!

As I sat and listening to the rain and enjoying the sounds of it running off the roof I began to feel that green envy that comes after a winter of white. I had forgotten how lovely it sounds. Winter's precipitation is mostly soft and the only sounds that occur is that which comes from the gales of the season.

Rain holds a special meaning for those of us who love gardening. Rain is the predictor of lovely growth that comes from the ground and trees. My daffodils by the backdoor are up about 3 inches and I'm starting to see those first buds. The crocuses have not begun to surface in the garden yet. That will be a time to celebrate when they first give color to the world again. That is when it really means springtime!

Beating Back the Cold

The cold that is creeping in again this week could well kill many a new plant in yards across the county. I've covered my tender annuals, but even that doesn't help sometimes. Funny how the plants are out there in area garden centers all over and it usually is way too early to plant them safely so we spend days sometimes weeks covering them or shuttling them in and out of building for warmth when they're really not ready to make any kind of appearance in our communities.

That kind of playing around with nature is called frustration for those of us who need warmth and color after nothing but whites and grays for months. So instead of thinking we buy to see and touch those tender petals once more, and in the process we are tempting fate. Will we beat the cold, or will the cold win out?

Each year those annuals are so beautiful, and that temptation often ends up being the loss of all that you've bought - or maybe, if you're lucky a reprieve for another summer of gorgeous flowers or veggies.

Growing Spring

I can almost touch spring through the icy gauze of winter that still has a hold on our part of the world. Our crocuses survived the nasty bit of weather we experienced yesterday and I am so anxious for warmer breezes that will bring with it the greens that mean new beginnings. Like all new starts those first greens are so tentative and often terribly pale in those first small shoots. Almost like they won't survive another moment...but they do and they grow in strength with each new sunrise.

Like what seems like a death today in the loss of so many things for so many families, we are in need of some new growth where there is browns and grays.

I hope that a new spring comes to all of our lives, one that grows beautiful and strong in the one thing we really all need - hope.

Garden Life

Today was a lovely one - warm but not hot with little humidity which made for an almost perfect day. I walked around the garden and enjoyed something that was a pale imitation to my last year's flower plot. Very little rain last summer caused the flowers to rely only on my pump and that did not give enough apparently since there were few blooms and only pale yellow-green foliage throughout my triangle of soil.

This year I'm reaping the benefits of plenty of rain and perfect weather with lovely flowers and picture perfect blooms. Sitting in the garden is a wonder that I will continue to enjoy throughout this season and on into the winter in my memories. That's just one reason to be truly thankful.