The forgotten garden

Earlier this Spring I had the notion to create a new garden space with lots of flowers – a space that is visible from the porch so that we can see and enjoy them. My plan was to relocate the plants I had planted last year in a new flower bed which is in an area that isn’t seen very well unless one intentionally walks over there.

I made an attempt at creating the new garden space by digging up some sod and placing a rather large rock for the backdrop but the physical work quickly became more than I was able to do so that was the end of that. After that my focus turned to the vegetable garden and the flowers forgotten.

Meanwhile, despite the lack of attention, the forgotten garden has done quite well …

Of course the weeds are also doing quite well also…

The garden was seeing a lot of action while I was photographing it…

various butterflies on the coneflowers…

bees on the purple flowers…

and the burgundy lilies just opened up…

Since the plants are doing so well in this spot I’m going to leave them there. Some day I may expand this space and add a few more features, such as hardscaping and maybe a focal feature, to make this space more noticeable and inviting. Maybe years down the road it will be more of a secret garden rather than a forgotten garden!

I can’t help but think that there’s some sort of metaphor in the forgotten garden. Maybe there are times when things or situations may flourish when simply left alone rather than constantly being manipulated or forced by man; things or situations that may come into their own when left to their own devices. I know that oftentimes I try too hard to make something happen that probably shouldn’t happen and I wind up with not-so-favorable results. I reckon there are times when I should just leave things alone and see what develops. And how would one know what to leave alone and what to work at? Intuition, gut feeling, prayer? I try and rely on all those but there are times when it’s obvious that I misinterpreted all the above and things or situations go awry. It’s all easier said than done for sure.

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Today was another beautiful day and I couldn’t stand to watch it go by through a window. What times I wasn’t tending to the cabin I spent on the front porch reading and cross-stitching. June has been a pretty stellar month with only a few hot and humid days and the rest very comfortable with just enough rain to keep the gardens watered. I’m hoping the summer months are just as kind with more comfortable days than hot and humid ones. We’ll know soon enough!