Lesser Ripening - Silkworms Start Feasting on Mulberry Leaves
One of the feelings I strive to experience often is being outright physically and mentally spent at day’s end, so much so that laying on a hardwood floor is pure bliss. It is a feeling deep and overbearing. Pursuing and permitting it instead of disassociating from it let’s me know I am grateful, simply humbled, and appreciative to be here being. Today I felt it. Most every day in May I feel it, and I have my gardens and loved ones to thank for that.
Mornings before leaving to garden and evenings before turning out the bedside lamp I research, read, and doodle plant communities. Always digging deeper and staying constant with my questions directly correlates with my visible growth as a plantsman. This alone empowers me to relate to others through plants, hoping to increase plant awareness and knowledge as well as increase my understanding of their personal experiences and worldview. Some might scoff or be disinterested in what plants are doing around them, and even then I will try to see where the person is and what they deem to be important. Still driven by the topic of Land Ethics, and never giving up hope of living into a world full of lush gardens.
As my mentor Roy Diblik often says, “there’s not a single plant on earth that cares about your feelings or well being, but if you care for and respect the plants, they will be healthy, happy, and provide for you and others. Soon you will come to know plants beyond their color and bloom time and you will learn the language of plants as they grow. And you will become a ‘Joyful Gardener’, someone who enjoys gardening and shares it’s wonders with others. You will even shock people by how delighted and merry you are from gardening!”
Roy Diblik, co-owner of Northwind Perennial Farm, presenting the opening of their Garden Bar and Northwind’s Perennial Plant Patterns.
Before plants were added, the design felt lacking and without much early spring interest. Some bulbs would also help!
Always happy to have plant passengers in the van.
Yesterday I took some time to care for the small entrance garden at my in-laws. There were some large gaps in the planting that would encourage weed growth and a lack of ground cover underneath some of the taller, later blooming flowers. The Gillenia trifoliata (Bowman’s Root) needed some more companions, so I added Echinacea purpurea ‘prairie splendor’ (Purple Cone Flower), Monarda bradburiana (Eastern Beebalm), and Aruncus ‘misty lace’ (Goat’s Beard). That way there can be diverse supporting features for the Gillenia and additional interest within the garden.
To help cover some bare soil areas I also added Ajuga reptans ‘black scallop’ (Carpet Bugle) and Geum ‘mai tai’ (Avens), as well as some sedge plugs of Carex montana (Mountain Sedge). The carex has a yellow green foliage color that adds much value and contrast to the darker greens already existing in the garden. As an added soft pop of color and texture to the ‘vignette’ layer, I planted Allium schoenoprasum (Chives) to soften the corner of the garden bed.
Eager to see how they will all get along and how the design will change with each day moving forward!
After the additions were planted into the garden and just before giving them a deep drink of water!
Geum ‘mai tai’ with Sprobolus heterolepis.
Close up of Allium schoenoprasum.
-moki-