Every year my flower garden is different. So many things go into defining what the garden will be; what volunteers, what we plant, where we plant it, and most significantly, the weather.
This year we were spared the long stretch of over 100 degree days that interrupted the pollination of many of last year’s plants. We also had a mostly smoke free season. Last summer, while the garden struggled under the suffocating heat, the plants were also at times coated with ash.
Also this year we welcomed a cool, wet spring, and a garden that defined itself and evolved over the summer. Perennials rose up, and bachelor buttons, poppies, and delphiniums volunteered from where their seeds had dropped the year before. As these early flowers started to wane, coreopsis, calendulas, nasturtiums, and scabiosa stole the scene. Towards the end, the morning glories and sunflowers ruled. My biggest job was to weed, thin, and transplant the volunteers so they didn’t take over.
I dedicated a small space in the middle of the garden to a peace garden, with blue and yellow flowers for Ukraine, a solar-powered water fountain, and lots of heart rocks.
Another frequent visitor to our garden, as you can see, was our grandson, Koda, who would make a beeline for the backyard whenever he was at our home. His delight in the dirt, the colors, the pathways, added even more magic and joy to our garden this year!
