Gardening 5

“It was the most wonderful garden in all the world because the flowers did exactly what they pleased. They seeded down and came up and seeded down again and ran into each other’s arms and on past and scattered everywhere, and all the vines ran sprawling over the ground or climbed trees or ran on top of the fence; and all the bulbs spread and grew in clusters, and everything was wild and free.”

—The Magic Garden by Gene Stratton–Porter

A year ago, a bird planted a morning glory seed in the corner of my vegetable garden. I did not recognize the plant as either a vegetable or a weed, and I let it grow. That summer, dark blue blossoms of prodigious size decorated vines that truly “ran sprawling over the ground … wild and free.” This summer, dozens of morning glory seedlings have sprouted in that same corner. I have transplanted several around the lampposts by the street, and I have permitted many more to grow among my vegetables and to do “exactly what they pleased.” Others I have had to plow out, so as to have some semblance of order.

Garden After Rain on the 5th of June

“Oh! Blessed rage for order, Pale Ramon,” I remember studying in college for the first time. How often since those serene days as an undergraduate at Indiana University have I returned to Wallace Stevens’ poem entitled “The Idea of Order at Key West,” teasing out meaning after meaning! Now that I have retired after a long career teaching early American literature at Northern Kentucky University, I am prepared to leave Wallace’s meanings alone. In the same way that Wallace’s order roars in and drifts out like waves on a beach, order in my garden is only one of two opposite manifestations of something larger. By continuous cultivating, I impose order in the form of rows, but, by running “into each other’s arms” and beyond, the flowers bring disorder. Now, what is the name for the synthesis of order and disorder? Call it Beauty, for that is its effect! Or call it Glory, to honor the flower! Or call it nothing at all and relish the feeling that order and disorder are finally the same in a summertime garden.

Another View After the June 5th Rain

The squash seeds that I planted at neat intervals have become jungle plants recognizing no boundaries. The beans have crisscrossed their branches until I am unable to find all the slender pods concealed in rich profusion among the leaves. The heavy heads of the sunflowers droop and bob on springy stalks in and out of the floral border. Throughout the sunlit hours, birds and butterflies flit among the sunflowers, tithonia, and cosmos in kaleidoscopic color.

Sunflower Bobbing in the Border of My Garden on June 29th

At Pontiac, Illinois, many years ago, a deep orange sunset made silhouettes at the Central States Threshermen’s Reunion. Brothers Jim and John Haley had been helping me show my farm steam engine and were teaching me how to shut down the machine for the evening. Jim said, “We’ve had about as much fun as we can stand for one day.” His expression is well suited to gardening, too. Every summer, the garden that I call mine gives me more happiness than I can contain.   

Reflections on Wildflowers 5

In my previous blog, I mentioned the Morning Glory that mysteriously appeared in the flower border of my vegetable garden. I must have considered its early leaves to have been those of a flower that I planted, but I did not purchase Morning Glory seeds! The deep blue blossoms were all the more appreciated because they came as a surprise! Often (although not always), we can be especially grateful for such unintended outcomes.

Blue Morning-Glory, Photograph by Cassius H. Watson

In Norman Taylor’s Wild Flower Gardning (D. Van Nostrand, 1955)

The Morning Glory gives me the opportunity to mention that a few other wildflowers have become permanent additions to my flower beds. Spiderwort, for one! I have grown Spiderwort and have transplanted it when I have moved from one house to another, but Spiderwort is not a plant that I sought from a nursery; rather, it simply announced itself within one of my flower gardens long ago.

One of my houses came with a Wild Rose that I loved; I often wish I had tried to move it when I moved. The flat pink petals always inspired joy, and the bush was hardy. In various years, I have grown Wild Columbine, as well as Hibiscus that must have been close to its Mallow ancestor. Such plants challenge the arbitrary distinction between a “flower” and a “wildflower,” with the former term designating a hybrid chosen for a garden and the latter designating plants out of place, or not selected by the gardener. Some might even go so far as to consider wildflowers to be “weeds.”

Common Spiderwort, Photograph by Russell Tinling Pansie

In Norman Taylor’s Wild Flower Gardening (D. Van Nostrand, 1955)

Toward the last week of July this year, I found Flower-of-an-Hour in my vegetable garden and among the flagstones near my solarium. Hibiscus trionum, or Bladder Weed, or Venice Mallow, or many other names, is perhaps best named Flower-of-an-Hour because the delicate creamy petals with a dark purple center open only briefly.

In the first week of August, Lady’s Thumb set on reddish pink spikes near the barn and in areas that my mower cannot reach beneath the orchard trees. The Sweet Vernal Grass forming a border along my creek had turned yellow and resembled lithe stems of wheat.

Chicory, Painting by L. A. Simonsen, in Wild Flowers

Adapted by Asa Don Dickinson from Nature’s Garden

By Neltje Blanchan (Doubleday, 1917, 1926)

Tall Ironweed, one of my favorite wildflowers, began blooming on the edge of my neighbor’s pasture. I say that Tall Ironweed is a favorite of mine because its purple color is so rich and so complementary to the Queen Anne’s Lace and the several yellow wildflowers in bloom at the same time.

Common Chicory, Photograph by Joseph R. Swain

In Norman Taylor’s Wild Flower Gardening (D. Van Nostrand, 1955)

Another of my favorite wildflowers, Chicory had started to proclaim its presence along the road. Chicory’s shade of blue is so indescribable! Maybe it reminds me of a treasured marble when I was a child. The hue is akin to that of the Cornflower but lighter. It, too, blends beautifully with Queen Anne’s Lace, Tall Ironweed, and the various yellow blossoms of summer.