I have been trying to deal with some difficult truths lately. It has me angry and weepy and I really don’t want to be either. So I’ve been trying to work through them but meanwhile I can’t get much else done. I kind of want to write about it, but I also don’t want to bleed all over the internet. So I’ll talk about Spring instead.
The days are getting warmer and I’m hoping we are past the frost. I have so many seedlings to put out, plus I have plants coming in that I ordered online. Gardening is great therapy. Digging in the dirt and growing things is something that has always brought me peace. I love to grow heirloom veggies and flowers from seed. This year is much harder than usual because my legs are giving me such difficulty but I’m determined. I feel like things keep getting taken away, and I’m trying to fight it.
I garden for pollinators as much as possible. I cultivate host plants for butterflies, and flowers that will feed the bees. If I were able to I’d dig up my entire yard and make it one big garden. When I moved into this house, it was completely circled with hostas. Ok, I like hostas but this was ridiculous. They were jungle thick and nothing else would grow. I had my brother dig them up along the front of the house so I could put flower beds in and I’ve been working on them ever since. Last Autumn I planted a line of viburnums along my border that should provide privacy, pollen and then berries for the birds. I planted native honeysuckles along a partial fence and I have a passionflower plant coming by mail order. I have a few flowering shrubs coming, as well as a crab apple and serviceberry trees. Last year a small tree out front was struck by lightning so I had it removed and the stump ground. The trees were circled with hostas too, btw, so I had him get rid of those too. Now I have an empty circle, where I’m planning to plant the crabapple when it comes in. Below I’m planting a variety of shade tolerant natives. Today I planted trilliums and lily of the valley, and tomorrow I hope to plant Virginia Bluebells and Sweetspire. I have some coral bells and foam flowers coming and I’m growing new columbines from seed. I want to plant a bleeding heart under there too. I’ll fill in with annual flowers until the bed gets big enough.
On the side of the house I have a small boggy area. I planted some milkweed out there already, and will plant wildflowers and maybe a button bush. I grow veggies in raised beds out back, and in the flower beds out front I have a variety of things. I have coneflower, rudbeckia, coreopsis of all types, snapdragons, salvia, asters, false sunflower, catmint, purple liatris, marigolds, beebalm, and more. I planted a few native grasses last Autumn but I don’t think they made it through the winter. I’m growing purple love grass from seed, and have my little seedlings out in the bed. I have so so many more things to plant but I keep wanting to order more seeds. I think I have a problem. 😉
I’m afraid this is it for now. I need to turn my brain off for a bit and veg out. I hope it’s getting to nicer weather wherever you are. xo
Julie Shiel 