Thursday, July 12, 2018

Perennials

It always amazes me—this succession of life, flowering, blooms and demise of the Perennials… this sequence of one plant following the next and the next, as if obeying some secret code in a pattern of respect, and gallantry among each other.

Some of them may coincide with each other, but because this is a small garden, it seems to me as if each plant waits for the other to be done blooming, before they can start putting on their own demonstration of beauty and expression and glory all of their own.  And thus, there’s never more than one variety of perennial blooming at one same time around here, never more than one color; one scent wafting through the sleepy summer garden.  


  

It’ll always be the peonies and irises, the viburnum and snowball bushes, then the June roses, followed by the Asiatic lilies, Columbines and lupines, and as summer draws near and becomes old in one same day (so it seems), there will be the Stella de Oro daylilies and Shasta Daisy almost flowering at once.





The phlox are ones of the last ones, followed by the butterfly bushes and rose of Sharon.  Life is an imitation of the garden; or rather the garden is an imitation of the garden… the same succession same births and rebirths, same finale… and there’s a secret here, as I see it.  So much like the garden we pass by this country road called life putting on our own little show in the soil-prints of our seasons… until we’re done. 





July---I don’t like July.  I have always despised this month in the garden.  July is misery and it is the sizzling sound of heat and distress on every blade of grass.  The garden floor has turned yellow, and cakey no matter how much I water it throughout the day.  The grass withers, the flower fades, skin crinkles and wrinkles forms, and then… this is when the universe gently places her hands upon your shoulders, pulls you close, and whispers in your ear: “It’s time. Don’t fight them… you are growing into your gifts”. 



2 comments:

  1. I despise the month of July. I feel the climate change happening because we never have these hot, humid days like we have now. Over the years, maybe a couple of days in a row, but this year--7 days in a row with temps in the 90's, a few days break and now another 5 days in a row. I don't water my perennials. A Japanese gardener told me years and years ago, once the perennials are set well, not to water, or their roots grow shallow, coming "up" to the surface water, instead of growing deep to find water. My perennial gardens are full and lush and beautiful this year. My annuals have to have a deep watering every 3 days or they get droopy.

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    1. How true... the idea of the shallow roots. And that's why practically almost all of our trees have roots that grow outside the ground, some of these roots are so long that our lawn is almost covered with them. We just have to mown over it and a lot of cutting off to do from my part... particularly true of the quaking aspen. These trees grow in clones that reproduce primarily by sending up sprouts from their root, they are everywhere... it is terrible, but when you want privacy ASAP, they are it. They grow so big in merely a winter!

      Cielo

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