Garden Musings
I’m sitting at my desk looking out my window at the riot of color in the front garden. The red red roses provide a gorgeous backdrop for the deep purple spiderwort in the foreground and the multitude of light pink showy evening primroses and tall Penstemon (beardtongue) in the background. Insects flit here and there and a wren sings with full voice her melodious song. Perhaps she is inviting in her friends … telling all who will listen that it is “A beautiful day in the neighborhood!”
I’ve noticed that when I get outside in my garden, I often find my factual brain kicking in and only letting me see that the roses are already struggling with the disease called black spot, and that many of the pink primroses are looking scraggly as their blooms die back. But that is not apparent from here. Sometimes a larger view is better than a close-up. I am so often telling myself what needs to be done instead of just being with my “friends” and telling them how beautiful they are—that they bring me joy!
This spring I have had more time to be in my own garden and have done some major pruning. Some of that has been of the “cutting back” variety, as with azaleas that have not been pruned in a long time, but some has been in the “getting rid of” category, digging out lots of tatarian asters that have brazenly moved in front of their lower growing neighbor Fireworks goldenrod, thereby robbing the bed of its owner’s plan for contrasting heights and colors come fall – yellow flowers along draping stems in the foreground against tall purple spikes in the background. Plants have their way of protesting without the use of words…
Text & Photo by Judy Funderburk