NOTE: Part two in my 1,000 Words of Summer writing project. Raw, rambling & submitted for anyone who is willing to read such drivel. I did get quite a bit closer to 1,000 words on this one. Who knows what day three will look like? Haven't started that yet...
Saturday, May 30, 2020 - 12:30 PM - 1,000 Words of Summer, Day Two:
I started my interest in gardening to feed my interest in photography. I wanted to capture birds, butterflies, bees - things that have always made me stop and look, Sometimes these moments are far too brief, fleeting and I wanted to preserve them in all their spectacularity. One of the things I ponder about gardening, is how it’s ultimately an exercise in patience. No matter how careful you are in doing all the right things - and this is true whether you plant an actual seed, or transplant a seedling that you bought at a garden center, there is a lot of waiting for things to turn out.
On any given day, you’ve watered and taken note of the progress of a plant in the soil. The flower, fruit or vegetable will appear in its own time - not yours. The thought that something small like a Sunflower seed, can turn into a huge stalk of a plant with big, gorgeous flowers in less than twelve weeks if amazing. I have monitored these plants and quite a few more, every year for the past 5 years. Patience.
On one hand, I’m patient. On the other, I want results. Sunflowers and Mexican Sunflowers draw various birds, bees and butterflies - all can be amazing photographic opportunities. They also provide a lot for the eye to take notice of even if one doesn’t want to photograph them. So I look forward to their arrival in all their glory, I want to see them in full bloom.
The down side to this is that those two specific types of flowers don’t bloom until mid to late Summer. Maybe it’s just my own perception, but that’s the point in the season where Mother Nature seems to step on the accelerator a bit too heavy. The warm, sunny days go by too quickly, and if you’re not paying attention to all these seemingly tiny moments of beauty, they’ll pass you by and you’ll have missed out.
Seeds, even the ones that are most hardy, get off to a rather pathetic start sometimes. Maybe that’s something that I notice more after a few years of planting various flowers to draw bees, birds and butterflies. Four years ago, I bought a packet of Mexican Sunflower seeds because the picture on the packet looked interesting. I wanted to know what these things looked like. Turns out they are much more stunning to see when they bloom - and they bloom late into the Fall. But the biggest, and best surprise was finding out that they draw Humming Birds and Monarch Butterflies. Bumblebees are also quite a sight on these flowers, so with all that going on, I plant more of those than any other flower.
I’ve had success with various types of Sunflowers, including the beautiful Mammoth variety - I’ve had a couple of those grow to heights over ten feet in the air, stalks as thick as a broom handle. The sad thing about this variety of Sunflowers is that it’s usually one flower per massive stalk, and while they are gorgeous when they bloom, it’s a relatively short time before they get ugly and they offer up nothing else.
I’ve found that some of the red varieties of Sunflowers will offer up several blooms per stalk, and some of the deep, deep red looks amazing against a blue Summer sky. You wait for this kind of beauty. After a few seasons your anticipation for it turns to being anxious. All in good time - and to me it’s well worth taking the time to stop and notice. These flowers are guaranteed to draw Goldfinches and bumblebees - the former are most colorful in their beautiful mix of bright yellow, black & bits of clean white. The latter are a sight to see, loaded down with pollen falling off of them.
Again, beauty like this is a waiting game. And we’re talking mid Summer at the earliest. That’s why I labored this year to get things planted that look good and draw Humming Birds now. It’s nice to walk out in the mornings and look at the progress of plants, particularly when I planted them from seeds, but why not have a few things out there that look good now, while I’m waiting for the headliner?
It’s certainly helped having the time with this shelter in place stuff - of course that made me venture out to the store a few times when it wasn’t quite so essential, but I’ve got to do things - even if I am staying home more. There’s something incredibly satisfying about admiring plants grow, knowing that when I walk away from them today, I’ve done the best I can to nurture them. I’ll walk outside tomorrow, most likely won’t notice any difference at all, certainly nothing significant and I’ll do that for quite a few days to follow. I’ll look when I walk by on my way to my car to drive to work, and when I come home I will probably take note of how things look in the dark of night. Soon. When? Soon. The important things right now are to keep looking, keep noticing and nurturing…and patience. In good time. Peace, good people. I’ve made it to nearly 900 words today. Perhaps if you’re reading this, you’re thinking I’m rambling too much, but stuff like this is part of what I love about Summer.
