Perenially Geeky

I love perennials. I’m a novice gardener, and don’t have much money for it. As a result I am a scavenger, taking clippings from other people’s gardens (with their permission, mostly), digging wildflowers out of the edges of our yard and moving them into my garden, an elliptical slice of dirt along the side of our house. For the past couple of years it hasn’t looked like much. Things just didn’t seem to be taking that well, and I got discouraged. Then, last weekend, I pulled on my gloves and pulled all the dead leaves and grass, all the weeds, out of the garden plot. And to my wonder and delight, it actually looks like a garden! There are clumps of healthy green plants spaced evenly (well, at least in the part the dog didn't dig up last year). I’ve got dwarf daisies, bee balm, columbine, yarrow (which grows uncontrollably all over our property), lily of the valley, one lovely little blue-green hosta plant, one behemoth hosta plant, a wild rose bush that I can’t control, yellow irises, and last but not least, my mint plant that I thought I had lost because it didn’t come back last year, but is the best mint tea I have ever had. When I was pulling out the comfrey (the planting of which had been a huge mistake), I kept smelling mint, even though last year it hadn't come back (or at least, I couldn't find it). I located a tiny little patch under a bunch of grass and leaves, and have been nurturing it since.

Fascinating, I'm sure. Okay, now I feel like a geek.