It is the twelfth year for this native garden. Plants transplanted from the fields, just after a rain with a cloudy day ahead to help get them started, have multiplied. It is just teeming with layers of growth. There are blues and purples in the spring. Midsummer brings yellows and pinks. I have yet to get a red Indian Paint Brush to stay in the garden, the wild hare eat them as soon as they arrive.
Finally after a year of trial and error the four sister garden is in full growth. The corn had the hardest time until the beans provided the cover for its roots, they just did not like getting too hot. The squash is running around under the beans with the sunflowers starting to peak out. That little mouse that was collecting the seeds as soon as I would plant them, did not win out. I learned that if the garden was wet at night with a good soaking, that little mouse would leave it alone. It did not like to get it's feet wet!
These are my favorites, fairy lanterns. I think the birds brought them into the native garden. As a maker of fairies, lanterns are a treasure. When I came to the land I had hopes to plant Chinese lanterns that are orange and a bit larger, then these just showed up, such a gift, from the birds. . .
Mixed into this wild tumble of bushes, wild geraniums and wild sunflowers, is a bed of wild roses that I have been nurturing along. Another year or two and they will stand out on their own.
The real star of the native garden this year are the wild geraniums, they have just filled in everywhere, and are making the most wonderful ground cover. It is hard to believe they were started with just a few plants. After many years this garden is about ready to provide plants that next spring, can be transplanted into another garden on the side of the house.
To the marvel of how one things leads to another. . .
~ Deb
*Last time in Barn Stories: Preening and Watching