My peonies peacefully co-existing with wild self planted mugwort and milkweed.
I love Spring in the garden, when everything bursts into bloom and the air is fragrant with scents of intermingling blossoms — peonies, roses, mint…all of it. But the truth is in the past this time of year also made me grouchy because it was so much work! My hands and nails would be crusted with dirt from weeding, and a feeling of doom that I would never get everything done loomed in the blue skies above me.
For perspective, I grew up with a mother who used the Indy 500 as the deadline to get her garden “put in” for the summer — that vroom vroom of race cars very much personified her energy about everything, especially gardening. She was the Queen of the tyranny of tidiness I wrote about in my book.
No more! Writing and researching my book Love Nature Magic shifted my whole perspective on gardening, for which I am incredibly grateful. And now I have two springs under my belt to observe the changes and they are transformative — for both my garden and me. Here’s how:
1. I’ve become more forgiving. The new expert guidance, which I approve of, is to not clean up your garden until it gets to about 50 degrees at night (and absolutely don’t cut things back in the fall). That way all the beneficial insects that have laid their eggs or hibernated have a chance to hatch. It used to bother me to look out and see a “mess” of dead stalks and leaves. Now I see a safe warm habitat. In addition, as I am cleaning up this spring, when I see a plant that I used to consider a weed — like Boneset, for instance — I remember that it’s a great medicinal plant that attracts beneficial insects. Plus it provides nice white flowers in the fall when not much else is blooming.
2. It’s made me more curious and open to experimentation. I always have cut dead stalks back in the Spring to neaten things up. But this year I am asking myself what would happen if I leave some of them? Take Peonies, for example. I love them. Their last years branches fall flat on the ground and have to be cut to be removed. I wonder what happens if I leave them? Is there a reason they are there? I don’t know but this year I’m willing to experiment to find out. Maybe they make the best mulch!? I also am careful to check my plant finder app for any plant I don’t recognize before I pick it as a weed. Who knows, I might want to keep it! Almost always I do.
All I did this year was cut back a few dead branches. I’ve also made peace with sea oates, which is that green grass infront of the peonies. By making peace, I mean I have given up and that’s ok.
3. I’m so much more relaxed. The world will not end if I don’t get everything all tidied up by a certain date. Well, unless someone important is coming over. But I’ve also changed my definition of tidiness. For example, we have an “invasive” plant here called stilt grass, which was used as a packing material to ship porcelain from Japan in the early 1900’s. It’s kind of pretty, if you ask me. So last year I let it grow in one of my newer garden spaces. Over the winter it died back and now makes the loveliest mulch while the other things I planted there gain their footing. (When I googled stilt grass of course right up at the top was “buy stilt grass killer at Amazon” which is, you guessed it, Roundup. Boo hiss!) And that bunch of thistles? I’m just growing bird seed! In my pre Love Nature Magic gardening life I would hire guys to come and rake away all the leaves and dead branches and then bring in a truckload of mulch to cover the soil and keep the weeds down. Sorry guys, but my garden is so much happier when I leave the leaves.
4. Chattiness has a new purpose. If you happen to see or hear me muttering while I’m in my garden it’s because I’m doing a few things: Thanking the plants. Asking permission to pick them. Apologizing for killing some of them. Complimenting others. But more importantly, I am exhaling carbon dioxide, which is what plants breathe in. Sure, there is enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for these plants if I keep my mouth shut, but my exhale is like a breath of fresh air for them. We are in a symbiotic relationship together of mutual appreciation. You can make fun of me if you want to, but that’s more a reflection of you than me. It reminds me that my purpose to gardening is more than just creating a visually beautiful landscape, but to help heal the earth and contribute to biodiversity.
5. Wildness is welcome. Instead of feeling like I’m in a battle for control of my yard, I now realize that wildness has a purpose greater than my own sense of order. I know now that “invasives” are simply fulfilling their purpose, often after being brought here unwillingly. It’s the equivalent of white people bringing Chinese people here as slaves to harvest bird feces (see Organic Manifesto for the Peruvian Guano War story), build our railroads and pick our fruits and vegetables and then we tell them to go back to where they came from or go away, even though we still enjoy Chinese food and they were born here. Everything migrates - sometimes by force and sometimes by choice. Everything has a need to be wild. Everything and everybody has value and a right to be here! Who made all those stupid rules anyway? Wildness is much more fun.
I have no idea where these ferns came from or even what kind they are. And those purple flowers migrated from another part of my garden. But isn’t it perfect?
6. The wildlife is much more entertaining. When you welcome in the wildness, the wildlife come bounding in as well and it’s fun to watch. I can’t help laughing every time I see a rabbit. The deer in my front yard romp around. The baby foxes wrestle and explore and nap in my driveway on the warm surface. The squirrels chatter and dash around. The chipmunks and groundhogs emerge from their winter forts and a new generation of pups and chucklings learn the terrain. Birds are everywhere — even giant hawks that try to eat my chickens and sometimes succeed. Hummingbirds, bats, butterflies, bees, wasps and other bugs, all are welcome to this garden party. And the baby deer? Adorable!
Baby foxes napping on my warm driveway (that’s my bee hives in the background). For videos of the foxes and the baby deer, check out my instagram.
But here’s a screen shot from the baby deer video on instagram that Elvin took in my yard (outside the deer fence, of course).
7. Setting boundaries is easier. Just because there is more wildlife doesn’t mean I don’t protect my space. I’ve got a deer fence. My vegetable beds are raised high enough (three feet) that rabbits haven’t discovered them yet. I have a heavy weight on top of my compost bucket so the racoon’s don’t keep knocking it over and messing up my porch. My trash cans are bear proof even though I have yet to see a bear (but I can dream!). I still catch and kill mice in my house (sorry). Everything eats. Nature is in a constant state of birthing and deathing and consuming. It’s our job to protect our spaces so that we all can thrive and no one goes hungry.
8. I’m more careful about what I bring in and more grateful about what’s already here. I used to spend spring going from nursery to nursery looking for pretty or fragrant things and bringing things home in plastic pots and planting them. Or having things shipped from other places. Recently I ordered some organic banana plants in from someplace far away, and shortly thereafter noticed a cockroach! (It’s dead now.) I remembered how nature travels where it can. Meanwhile, I am noticing that lots of plants travel within my yard, so I don’t always have to buy new things. Now I try to buy all my new plants from local and organic sources, or start them from seed. I’ve even created a nursery to foster all the baby Japanese Maples that have sprouted up.
9. I’ve learned how to let nature do most of the work. I recently heard Dr. Doug Tallamy speak about the importance of creating a Homegrown National Park. I learned a whole bunch listening to him, such as birds like to eat worms the least, and prefer catarpillars. But catarpillars need special plants to feed and live on, many of which are plants I used to consider weeds, such as virginia creeper (which turns vibrant red in the fall) and evening primrose (which has lovely yellow flowers if you let them live that long). He is an entemologist and believes that if every person made a wildlife habitat in their yard, biodiversity of plants, insects, birds and wildlife would make a huge comeback. It made me realize that gardening just to impress others was a waste of time and energy. But creating a wildlife habitat brings pleasure to me and nature. It’s a win win.
OK I planted all of these things except the ferns, but their joy is true and 100% organic.
10. I’ve saved money. And time. And anxiety. And stress. When I first journeyed to Mugwort, I was super annoyed and intent on eradicating it. What a waste of energy! I now consider myself a gardener of mugwort and other wild powerful plants. No, I don’t control them or manage them. I don’t even eat them or harvest them. I embrace them and work them into my landscape. If I really need them to leave a certain area, I ask nicely and do what I need to do, but I also know that’s temporary. After all, plants rule the world and I’m just a gardener who wants to enjoy my time on this earth, grow some food and enjoy my roses. Ironically, last year with no effort on my part at all one of my rose bushes sprouted a stalk that was over 8 feet tall and super thick. I thought for sure it was a rogue multiflora. But lo and behold, this spring it’s covered with healthy buds and starting to bloom. If nature could talk back to me on the regular (instead of just in shamanic journeys) I feel like it’s breathing a sigh of relief and thanking me. It’s a little like what my daughter Maya calls “take off your bra-o’clock” which is the wonderful feeling at the end of the day when you can take your bra off and your boobs feel unconstrained and free. Ahhh. It’s a great feeling. Nature wants to be wild. The most beautiful landscaping is still the unmowed grasses and wildflowers on the side of the road, if you ask me. But I’m happy with my garden. And I think my garden is happy with me too.
My robust rose bushes just beginning to bloom, some self planted false indigo and a full moon japanese maple that has birthed many children. Also, mugwort.
wait... you have... beehives?? you keep your own beehives?? yes?? wow... wow... do you tend them yourself??
i wonder if... part of your mom's need, and then your need, to "tidy the garden", despite being the faces of organic gardening/farming, came from the unfortunate tandem need to comply with business standards and structures (which are anything but natural) for company survival. (maybe you've said this somewhere, and i missed it or am not remembering.) but, i think... after reading this... it's ironic (though, "ironic" isn't the right word)... that the descendant from a family and organization which began for the promotion of nature and natural living ended up having to redefine... maybe relearn (?)... nature and natural living almost anew.
also, those beehives.
This one made me cry, Maria. So much truth and beauty.