Why We Do What We Do

Bees cover a goldenrod plant, getting their fill of nectar in the fall. Teaching people that goldenrod is a great native plant, does NOT cause allergies, and should be included in the fall garden is one of our missions right now. We carry many different kinds.

Sometimes I think to myself “Why do we do what we do?” Usually it is at the end of a hot, humid day when all the plants are wilting, everyone is exhausted, and the phone keeps ringing off the hook. Finally, I walk out into the gardens and stroll around. I breathe and relax. The bees are buzzing. The flowers call to me. Birds are singing. Butterflies flit about. It is a little bit of paradise. I turn my mind to the business conducted that day- gardens planted and cared for. Questions answered. Plants unloaded and displayed. Designs done. Problems solved. Teamwork, pulling together with a most magnificent group of dedicated, intelligent, creative, resourceful people, made it happen. But more importantly, we made a difference. We taught people about organic gardening, growing their own food, pollinators, habitats, and how to create a sustainable landscape. That is our mission. That is why we are here.

This morning I woke up and immediately started organizing pictures for this week’s email. I pored through so many photos in my effort to illustrate my thoughts. After a few hours, I took a break and went outside. WOW! It was really hot and sunny and I walked over to a giant purple aster plant and

stopped dead in my tracks. It was literally covered with bees, so many that I did a video. There were two monarch butterflies, a painted lady, and a fritillary. I went over to the zinnia patch- more butterflies. I was stunned. There have been very few butterflies since I got home from vacation, but today, they decided to come to my yard and have a party!

This afternoon I had a meeting on my deck with 7 women- together we are planning an absolutely fabulous conference this winter for CT Hort. It was hot (but we were enjoying cold salads and “refreshing beverages”) when all of the sudden, someone said “I smell something sweet. What is that?” It was my Cimicifuga ramosa ‘Atropurpurea’, fragrant snakeroot, that I planted purposely next to the deck for just that purpose. A fun meeting was made a bit more magical.

I took them around to the south side of my house where I have masses and masses of a self-sown Aster laevis with pretty blue flowers. Everyone stopped to listen to the bees.  It was mesmerizing. They were all over these flowers. Many of you may know that pollinators are declining for a number of reasons. Not in my yard, and not in YOUR yard if you follow some very basic and quite fun and rewarding steps. I have 4-5 hours a week to care for my property. And

I have pollinators galore. Never mind goldfinches and chickadees and other creatures who all get their fair share of the bounty. No, I don’t net my blueberries or elderberries from the birds and I still get enough. A few of my ‘Baby Butternut’ squashes were nibbled by squirrels or rabbits, but I have a trug full, so I am satisfied. If I miss a ‘Autumn Britten’ raspberries and they get too ripe, I pick them and leave them next to the water bowl for Earl the squirrel who visits every day. Why do we do this? Because we are so completely rewarded by the life that supports us and that we support. We are all one. We are in this together with the plants and the creatures.    

We do things differently at Natureworks. As others are simply selling annual mums and discounted, tired plants from earlier in the year, we are unloading shipment after shipment of really valuable, important fall blooming plants that

Purple puffs of Vernonia ‘Iron Butterfly’ is beloved by bumblebees.

will feed the migrating butterflies and support a robust native pollinator population. Asters galore and perennial, single daisy mums. Various forms of late blooming perennial sunflowers and black eyed Susans that are meant to bloom in late September and October, not in the summer. Shrubs like glossy Abelia that is sweetly fragrant and attracts monarchs to it’s flowers. Pretty puffs 

	Leave up some of the seed heads of Echinaceas, Rudbeckias, and sunflowers. Grow your own birdseed!

of deep purple ‘Iron Butterfly’ ironweed. Sedums and Eupatoriums of all sorts. And we don’t forget the birds… we leave the seed pods up in our flowerbeds of Echinaceas and other nutritious plants. Why put out birdseed now when you can grow it right in your gardens?

summer outside. The weather will challenge us as gardeners, but we will prevail. Eventually, cool weather will return, and hopefully the deep, soaking rains that we were expecting last week will arrive, kicking off the garden rearranging season. Planting continues unabated, as the soil is so warm and the roots of the plants we are putting in the ground have their best chance ever to spread out and establish in our long, lingering falls here in CT.
 

Saturday morning I am giving a very popular FREE workshop on preparing for renovating your garden. I have a list of a few “hot messes” in my own gardens

that I will be working on in October. I will explain how to analyze your gardens for problem spots and get ORGANIZED to fix them in the month ahead. This is a mixture of basic design ideas and practical information on digging, dividing, and rearranging.   

I hope to see you soon…