April 27, 2024 The Daily Astonishments of the Garden

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Daffodil in the Front Prairie on April 25, 2024 (Photo: Leslie Schultz)

At the beginning of National Poetry Month, I shared a garden photo, stark (just daffodil spears and a small heap of snow) but with the promise of things to come. Since then, the Siberian scilla have come and gone,

Our Back Garden on April 12, 2024 (Photo: Leslie Schultz)

and suddenly many new lives are unfolding. Today, I am glad to be able to share a few images of the current state of the garden.

Blue Violet and Elm Leaves (Photo: Leslie Schultz)
Red Violets (Photo: Leslie Schultz)
White Violets (Photo: Leslie Schultz)

Some of the garden denizens we planted (last year alone, a new ginkgo tree, five shrubs, and some two hundred bulbs) but many are volunteers, including the Siberian scilla and all the violets. On Thursday, we made some rustic trellises out of bamboo poles and planted some new seeds.

Seed Savers Seeds (Photo: Leslie Schultz)
Grape Hyacinths (Photo: Leslie Schultz)
Bleeding Hearts (Photo: Leslie Schultz)

Like putting words on a page, everyday and every season in the garden begins with a plan, a certain rhythm, but then takes off with a life of its own. I am consistently inspired by, in the words of Dylan Thomas, how “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower” drives the whole world, including me. It has done from my green age all the way to now, a time of golden harvest in many ways.

Here is one last image.

I hope you will see something amazing outdoors today, some image to gather and bring home to brighten your interior world. LESLIE

Garden Bouquet by Timothy Braulick (Photo: Leslie Schultz)