Letting go of expectations & other lessons from the garden
I thought I would keep a watercolor journal this summer, capturing each stage of my plants in loose brushstrokes.
I thought I would have a garden bed full of filler flowers, stuffed with snapdragons and billy buttons.
I thought I would have dahlia blooms by now.
I thought I would build a free bouquet stand.
I thought I would pull the weeds in my front yard.
Oops. None of these things have happened, but I am loving my garden anyway. I’m keeping a Google Doc titled “Garden Vignettes” where I play with words and sensory images instead of watercolor paints. I shared this document with my writing group, and they made me brave enough to share two pieces here.
The Red-Bordered Pixie Butterfly
A butterfly spooked me yesterday, and the day before, too. I wore a bright blue shirt and he landed on my shoulder. Oh! I scared him away. I thought he was a bird or a bat (ew), then he flew. As he fluttered, I noted black wings with white spots, a splash of red on his tail. Not a monarch, then. The next day, I wandered around my garden beds and he visited me again. Same shoulder, new shirt. A green striped button down, not a butterfly-friendly pattern, I thought, jumping away from him. I’m sorry, I called. You startled me! Come back again. Tomorrow I won’t be afraid.
The Bumblebee
I wonder if she, before resting her fuzzy little head on the cushioned center of her zinnia bed, revisited every task she completed today. Surely, without checking off her list, pollinate the red flower, pollinate the purple flower, pollinate the bean blossom, she would not buzz herself to sleep, cradled in a pink petal canopy. She must feel accomplished, to snooze so contentedly. She must have made a pollination plan for tomorrow. The zinnias need her, and so she sleeps.
I wasn’t planning on growing pumpkins, but look what happens when you release control, toss some seeds out, and let nature happen! I love how my pumpkin plant hugs the border of this garden bed, and I think my boys will enjoy watching the pumpkins grow (and possibly overtake the rest of the bed, which is fine). I’ll clip the basil and dill in this bed for bouquets while we wait for the pumpkin harvest. I had a couple of pumpkin seed varieties, and the squirrels moved seeds around, so I can’t be sure—but I think we’re waiting for a Turk’s Turban.
Over the last few weeks, the pole beans have climbed up, up, up, and over the trellis and finally, they’ve popped out a few blooms. Aside from a little container tomato plant, these are the only veggies I’m growing, so we are all eagerly anticipating the moment we can walk under the arched trellis and snap off beans for a fresh snack. Green beans sautéed in olive oil and garlic rank pretty high on my list of favorite veggies. With grilled salmon? A few potatoes? Heaven.
Look at my baby dahlia bud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve been tying myself in anxious knots over all of these dahlias I planted, but of course I just needed to be patient.
Gardens have a way of teaching us the same lessons we need to learn over and over again.
Next time, I will have blooms to share—but now I want to know how YOUR garden endeavors are going.
