Some of the sweetest garden vignettes are not planned – they happen by chance! And it’s those unexpected but delightful scenes that give gardening its magic.
If you’ve had a garden for a number of years, you already know what I’m talking about, for at some point every year there are plants that willingly volunteer themselves for duty. The most common are flowers that have self-sown from previous years’ plantings, but seeds may also be carried by birds from a neighbor’s yard or blown on the wind from a wildflower patch down the road. However these plants find our gardens, it’s always a pleasant surprise when they bloom in a companionable way!
Rose Campion, Daisies, Yarrow and Black-eyed Susans are some of the plants that enthusiastically spread themselves around the yard every year. In the photo below, wild Black-eyed Susans look like they belong next to the mahogany ribs and silvery fronds of a Japanese Painted Fern. Unplanned and unexpected, these two garden companions bring out the best in each other!
Sometimes plants happen to like certain conditions in our gardens and take up permanent residence in unusual places. Along the stone wall surrounding our vegetable garden, native ferns have found a perfect home! Amazingly, these plants grow in fulI sun all day but manage to get enough moisture from the rocks surrounding them to thrive.
Some enchanting color combinations also happen by chance. Many times we place one plant next to another without really knowing if the colors will work together. Color in our gardens is not always dependable in that plants may have a different look when planted in full sun as opposed to part shade, or when viewed in the soft light of morning or at dusk. We may plant seeds or bulbs expecting a certain hue but ending up with something altogether different. All of these variations can make or break a garden’s color scheme, so when colors perfectly harmonize, sometimes it’s just a lucky accident.
Last fall, I planted a group of drumstick alliums in a garden with other summer bloomers in shades of blue and pink. Since I’d never planted them before, I wasn’t at all sure about the color and how it would look with my other plants. Earlier this month, I was delighted when not only did the rich purple of the alliums make the perfect color companion to my other perennials, these whimsical gems also started attracting honeybees like crazy!
Our gardens are constantly changing and each year is different from the last. One thing we can rely on, however, is that beautiful and unexpected things will happen – delighting, surprising and rewarding us for being devoted gardeners!
I so agree with you. The older i get, the more i prefer those serendipitous gardens. Nature, after all, is the best gardener
Thank you, Ana!
What a lovely post of your garden flowers. I’m especially enjoying the garden this summer. It’s a place of great delight and solace during this upside down times.
Wishing you glimpses of heaven in unexpected places….
Bren
Heaven is always with us in the garden! I think that is why it brings us such peace. Thank you, Brenda!
It’s a lesson to be learned, that we don’t know everything, that gardening is not an exact science or skill and that we will regularly be surprised and delighted by how plants grow. Many thanks for your most enjoyable blog.
Yes, Paddy, we gardeners are fortunate to be educated and surprised by Mother Nature on a daily basis! Thank you!
Nancy, this is a lovely post. I also so enjoy having things pop up that I either forgot about or a little creature moved them for me. And, then there are my poppies – they so enjoy selecting their own spot.
Again, a lovely post – have a wonderful week and stay well.
Thank you, Sandra!
Your garden is lovely, and the drumstick addition was an excellent choice, even if you weren’t sure what would happen! It’s a good neighbor for many color schemes.
Thank you, Carolee!