Serendipity Gardens by Carol Hegel Lang

With the arrival of spring, my mood has risen to one of complete awe at the beauty of Mother Nature in every leaf or bud on a tree or flower and the colorful palette she has given us to enjoy.

The migrating birds are here, and my yard resembles a Christmas tree decorated with bright ornaments with the black and orange of the orioles; the black, white and rose of the rose-breasted grosbeaks; blue jays, hummingbirds, cardinals and oh so many other colorful birds.

Geoffrey B. Charlesworth wrote, “Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of his instruments, not the composer.”

When Mother Nature waves her magic wand the colors are just incredible in everything we see, and there is no way I can begin to do a better job than she has done. I plant flowers, trees and shrubs to add to the beauty, but she seems to do her own thing in my gardens with the flowers that self-seed each year. I am sure if I were to try and replicate her design plan I would fail.

My forsythia and crocuses have finished their colorful display and the daffodils are just beginning to open with their bright, yellow faces waving at me in the breeze. The peonies are budded out and will bloom in about 10 days to two weeks, and my Angelique tulips should open shortly and give me some lovely double pink blooms. I thought these were annual tulips, because I don’t remember seeing them listed as perennial, so I am thrilled to have them again this year.

The expansion on the front garden has begun and I have the brick border done and hopefully the pathway will be done before too long. So far I have planted a dwarf Alberta spruce, three deep yellow daylilies from the oval garden that have large 5-inch blooms, black negligee bugbane and three sedums that I don’t know the variety as they came from my daughter’s garden and she didn’t remember the name of them.

My plan is to sow some seeds along the borders of tithonia and cosmos for added color and to attract butterflies.

I would like to add a few hosta under the branches of the eastern white pine where it is very shady. In the middle of the old border, I have added more lilies since they seem to be the main feature in this partly sunny area of the older section of the garden. It should be colorful, at least this year, and since everyone walking by on the sidewalk will see this garden it should make it more visually pleasing.

In the backyard I have also added many more lilies of several varieties including tiger, Asiatic and oriental for even more color. Along the fence in Garden No. 1 I have planted major wheeler honeysuckle again since the one I planted two years ago didn’t survive the drought.

Throughout all of the gardens I have added colorful columbines for early season color and for the hummingbirds. Parsley and chives have been planted for the butterflies, and I have dill that self-seeds along the driveway every year for them too. I still need to get fennel to plant for the butterflies.

Milkweed abounds in my gardens and it is the only plant the caterpillar of the monarch eats.

My roses didn’t fare very well over the winter, as the Bonica shrub rose that I have had for about 30 years doesn’t appear to have made it. I will wait another week and then start cutting it down to about 6 inches if I don’t see any growth on it, and hopefully it will come back from the roots.

Thank goodness William Baffin, my beautiful climber, looks to have survived the winter. When it blooms in June my garden is breathtaking. This lovely rose stands about 15 feet tall and can be seen covered in blooms from anywhere in my yard. I would dearly miss it if it, too, didn’t make it through winter.

And so my friends, I hope you too enjoy this spring filled with color everywhere.

 

Carol Hegel Lang is a green thumb residing in Albert Lea. Her column appears weekly. Email her at carolhegellang@gmail.com.