A series of essays....
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| THE ORANGERIE AND THE PIECE D'EAU DES SUISSES (FRENCH FORMAL GARDEN) IN THE GARDENS OF VERSAILLES, FRANCE |
Courtesy of Wikipedia
....as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E. Hughes
French Garden, English Garden, Victory Garden, Container Garden, Raised-bed Garden, Herb Garden, Butterfly Gardening.....and so on and so forth. The list goes on and on because people around the world are discovering the benefits of planting their own garden, whether it be Romantic or highly functional as a main food source.
Our spirits are uplifted by the brilliant colors and sweet aromas wafting from a flower garden and the cost of this therapy can be much less than taking drugs or visiting a counselor once a week. Growing pesticide free, organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs gives us peace of mind and the possibility of sharing our bounty with neighbors and friends. Just like the Victory Gardens introduced during wartime and planted at private residences and public parks in order to reduce the pressure on the public food supply, many front yard gardens today can supply entire neighborhoods with food for their tables!
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| CUTE... |
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| BEE-BUTTS! |
Courtesy eBaum's World
And, I’d almost bet that if we are conscientious about feeding ourselves organically, we are concerned about the ecosystem and the value of butterflies, moths, and the humble bee. Areas rich in butterflies and moths embody a wide range of environmental benefits, including pollination and natural pest control. Having bees buzzing around makes a garden lively and brings life to the yard, literally, because they are our natural pollinators and we wait each spring to witness the cute bee-butts sticking out from our flowers and fruit trees blossoms.
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| BUTTERFLY POLLINATION |
Coutesy mighiganbutterfly.org
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| BEE (BUG) HOTEL |
Courtesy greenlifegardens.com
If tiny houses are your thing.....what better way to develop your garden area than by implementing a tiny subdivision of bee and insect homes within it! They promise you little to no maintenance, absolutely no HOA (Home Owner Association) fees, and you never have to apply for permission to repaint it, add a tiny pool, or experience the pleasure of being told to power wash the driveway so that resale value is maintained or you'll be fined. Oh, you lucky, lucky bees!
I sit here in my new/older home in Michigan awaiting the opportunity to place my meager plantings into the ground and reap the benefits (eventually) of having these small, green sprouts fill my yard and deck with tiny shoots of new life, nourishment, and profound beauty! However, events of the last few days have clouded my good intentions, awakened new concerns, and prompted new research into the variety of and timing for planting each one in our yard.
My fears haunt me and with each passing day a new one creeps into my head, as well as my newly cultivated beds and existing plantings.
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| THEY LOOK AT ME AS IF I WERE INTRUDING! |
Waking up this morning and slinking into the kitchen to make coffee, I observed four deer munching their early morning salad of small, green leaves from our backyard shrubs as if they had their own buffet grandly set out before them. And, quite frankly....they did! Not being totally satisfied with our greens and, obviously, requiring mixed colors of vegetation in their diet, they collectively meandered across the road to our neighbor’s yard to feast on young, fresh purple leaves from a small bush living in Bob’s front yard.
I must say that it has amazed me for several years now just how prolific the deer population in Kalamazoo is and how innocently and casually they roam from one neighborhood to another in search of shelter and nourishment all year long. Their lack of fear includes human activity, vehicles and streets, and pets. They gently travel from one spot to another seemingly lacking any threat of danger at all. This is precisely why I am so concerned for them.
Then, several days ago our newly cultivated flower beds and existing plantings were blanketed in snow from an unseasonable (so they say) storm in late April. Suddenly, it was like the Christmas morning we dream about; a winter’s wonderland lost between the colorful pages of a child’s book of fairy tales.
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| LATE APRIL SNOW SHOWER |
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| SUCH BEAUTY IN NATURE! |
There they were, snow-covered wooden-handled gardening tools allocated to the back deck a day earlier and sticking out of white/terracotta pots looking like frozen characters in a Federico Fellini movie, noting his distinct style of blending fantasy and baroque images with earthy displays made up of everyday objects. Cobalt blue pottery, normally baking in the Floridian sunshine, was now being magically coated in a myriad of frozen, white crystals.
I sit here on Google researching the eating habits of wild turkeys, fox, rabbits, coyote and several other species of God’s creatures thriving in the backyard and duly noted first-hand since moving here late last August. According to the ADW (Animal Diversity Web), the favorite munchies of my backyard friends include:
Wild Turkey....Fresh buds and grasses in the Spring.
Fox.................Fruit, berries, and nuts in the Spring.
Rabbits..........Herbivores. Having a plant-based diet which
includes grasses, clover, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. They also eat fruits, seeds, roots, and buds. Lovely!
Coyotes........Carnivores but will eat insects, fruits and berries, deer, rabbits, and mice.
And, from what I’ve been reading, unless I’d like to introduce a new dimension into this flavorful ecological soup, it would take a bear, a cougar, a wolf, or a mountain lion to defeat the wily coyote. Hopefully, that’s not going to happen!
Given the fact that a wide range of garden types exist, I’ve been honing my planting skills in order to create a space that is not only pleasing to look at, easily maintained, but socially acceptable to all of the creatures who happen to inhabit our yard all year long.
We should never mess with nature. Rather, we should enhance its natural order and be well aware of what keeps our world safe, happy, and healthy for all of God’s creatures to enjoy....including mankind!
Copyright © 2019 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved
