The Planting Time, She Comes

A few years ago, I planted a butterfly garden in honor of my big sister Barb, who had gone on before us to walk barefoot with Jesus. The butterfly garden was made with all good intentions, but the plants in it did not grow, except for maybe one or two. A butterfly bush is blooming there now; that's all that's left.

So I contacted the company I bought the plants from to tell them my sad story, and they offered me sincere condolences on the passing of my sister, as well as a voucher for replacement cost for most of the plants. In January, I placed an order. Guess what: in early April, here comes a box via Fed Ex. What's in it? Plants!

T. Tiger and I inspected the plants on the day they arrived, and checked them against the packing slip. Everything they said would be there, was: blue cardinal flower, double tuberose the pearl, purple blazing star liatris, purple rain salvia (oh, such ADVENTURES I have had with salvia! ha ha!), coneflower, and black adder agastache. Keys of heaven and another butterfly bush should arrive in a few weeks.

The packing information included with the little bags of plants said to plant them right away, if possible, which seems insane to me. Isn't it too early to be planting in these parts? It's not done snowing here yet! And I KNOW for sure that tuberose is not hardy, so I set it aside for later. But on this day, when we had a bit of morning sunshine, I planted all of the other plants.

My original plan, given predation of prior plants by both rodents and deer of all shapes and sizes, was to plant the new plants in pots on the deck. However, I did not have any bags of actual store-bought dirt, which is the best kind. All I had was some crappy used soil under the deck. I had no idea the plants would be here so early!

So what the heck, instead of putting them in pots, I planted the plants in the actual ground, all around Dexter's grave in Gremlin's meadow. It was great! I had microbes all over me! Mental health wellness, here I come, for I am covered in DIRT and ready to party!

My supplies included a green pad to kneel on, gloves (which I mostly didn't use), music, my camera, my Tiger (it's a poor job that can't afford a supervisor), my plants, some digging implements, and some yard decorations, including a plaque with part of 1 Corinthians 13 on it, in case I need any encouragement or reminders that the greatest of all these things is love.

As I neared the end of my planting project, my husband arrived with a welcome addition to my supplies: a nice, warm, soapy container of water, for washing my cold, dirty hands when I was done. (That's the blue thing in the middle of the shot; oh, and about my husband: Yes, he's a keeper!)

"Do you want to try a fence this year?" my husband asked (referring to larger, taller fences we could buy that might actually keep the deer out). "No," I replied. Shaking his head, my husband said, "Her annual heartache is right on schedule!" I did have a few tiny white fences but I ran out before I finished; they are decorative only and serve no protective function whatsoever. Yeah, maybe I'll get a few more.

When we were done, T. Tiger and I surveyed our little project with some small feeling of accomplishment. About two hours after I finished planting, it rained. In fact, it's been raining a lot lately. In fact, IT RAINS PRETTY MUCH EVERY FRICKIN' DAY HERE NOW AND EVERYTHING HAS TURNED TO MUD! Ahem. I didn't mean to say it in that tone of voice, but it's true. (And I'm not whining; for the most part, I love the rain.)

So this was among our accomplishments on this day. Planting time came, and we went out and stuck things in the dirt, hoping and praying they will come up and actually bloom, providing food for all of our beloved pollinators, hummingbirds, and butterflies.

For love means this, too: it means that we look out for those we love, that we do concrete GOOD things to help them, that we minimize our use of poisons, and that we try to give our pollinators everything we can to help them thrive. Give them places to live! Fill their tummies! That's what REAL love is all about.

So let it be written. So let it be done!

My soundtrack song (and I apologize, for I know I use this song a lot) is a tune I love by Jakob Dylan, and no, I never got to see him perform it in person, though I bought tickets TWICE to see him locally; both performances were cancelled! So this is as close as I'm apparently getting to Jakob Dylan (yes, son of that other famous Dylan). Here he is with Will It Grow.

It's plant, and reap, and plow, and sow
But tell me, will it grow?