A Dream Emerges
In October 2015 I moved to my home, attracted by the woods and creek behind the house. In June 2016, my disabled daughter moved in with me. In the spring of 2017, I planted my first milkweed with the intention of supporting a comeback for Monarch butterflies. I dreamed of a native plant garden.
In the summer of 2018, I discovered my first Monarch caterpillar, bought a cage, brought a couple cats in the house, and released them once they had emerged.
By the summer of 2019 my milkweed had expanded. I needed a bigger cage and experienced the pleasure and amazement of witnessing several cats spin their chrysalis, eventually emerge, dry their wings, and beg to be released. I sent for tags from Monarch Watch and after watching several videos on YouTube, learned how to tag them.
In the spring of 2019 I added a second bed with the hope of growing veggies. The location wasn’t good for that, so I joined the two beds … it’s shape reminiscent of a Native American burial mound. My dream for a native plant, pollinator garden reignited.
My Dream Becomes a Reality During COVID 19
In 2020 COVID hit. With the overwhelm of self-quarantining and social distancing, I never made it to a nursery. I hardly knew where to begin anyway. I thought my dream had died.
And then, while exploring the list of Farmer’s Markets on my digital Dayton Daily News site, I discovered Kara Maynard and Deeply Rooted Landscapes. After a phone call and friendly chat, I hired this delightful and knowledgeable woman to install my garden.
I won’t be able to go out to lunch or dinner with friends … my favorite way to celebrate my birthday. So this seemed the perfect gift to give to myself.
Kara set about planning and designing my garden. Its needing to be deer resistant gave her a different dimension of thought.
She and an impressive college student, Emma, arrived on June 18 (a little less than one month before my July 15 birthday) to install the garden.
Once that was done, we wrapped the garden in rabbit-proof fencing, but that wouldn’t deter deer. Deer are regular visitors to the backyards of my neighbors and me. Last winter I spotted five bucks rambling through my yard and across my garden patch.
So Far, So Good!
I hoped the deer-resistant plants Kara and I selected would taste to them like liver tastes to me and they wouldn’t be tempted. But just in case, after an internet search, I went to work to add an extra layer of protection.
I developed a concoction of cayenne powder, tabasco, water, and castile soap to spray on the plants. Then I wrapped Irish Spring bar soap in rags and tied it to the posts. I soaked old wash cloths and dish rags in white vinegar and hung them on the fence. I warned my neighbors lest they think this was my new method of drying laundry. 🙂 So far, it seems to be working.
Deep, Creep, & Leap
The first year’s goal is for the roots to grow deep. Next year the plants will spread out. The third year they will grow tall. It’s called deep, creep, and leap. Native plants don’t require a lot of maintenance, so Kara told me not to baby them. Watering twice a week for an hour would suffice.
Then the drought hit … record breaking temperatures in the 90s for days. So I’ve been watering ½ hour a day instead. I’m anticipating an astronomical water bill. But after this year, when they are better established, I’m hoping they will flourish without that extra boost.
First Blooms
What a thrill to witness my first blooms!! My word for 2020 is “AWE.” I’m in awe again … for the first time since COVID hit!
Happy Birthday to Me!
This is an AWEsome post! I’m so happy for you and hope to celebrate the LEAP in 2022! It will be fabulous!
Yes, a good reason to avoid getting COVID. Need to be around to celebrate the LEAP!
Beautiful! I love the gracious shape of your garden and the stones outlining it. The tress behind are also so graceful.
How exciting to watch things grow! Every year a new surprise.
A lovely birthday present to yourself.
Happy Birthday!
Love,
Ani
Thank you, Ani,
The shape was a total accident but I kind of like it, too.
Lovely dream and wonderful fulfillment! Happy Birthday to you!!
Thank you, Teresa,
I thought of you often and how you protected your rose garden from the deer. I followed your lead. Thanks for mentoring me … even though you had no idea you were doing that.
I love this story. You amaze me. A lovely gift to you and others. Happy Birthday a week early.
You and your love of nature inspired me, Cindi. Plus taking me to that Lebanon park where there is a native plant, pollinator garden. It was so beautiful. I just knew that’s what I wanted for my yard. But I didn’t have a garden club to work on it with me. So grateful to have found Kara and Deeply Rooted Landscapes.
Delightful description of your garden development! You are such a good writer! And such a dedicated gardener! Happy birthday and may your garden bloom for years to come!
I haven’t been able to write for weeks, so I was pleased to see the words flowing out easily when I wrote this. Thanks for calling me a “good writer.” Don’t know that I can call myself “a dedicated gardener.” I barely know a weed from a plant. But I’m learning. I’ve always seen myself as an “indoor” person … nose in a book or writing. It’s interesting to be adding the outdoors to my repertoire at such an advanced age.
Dreams do come true and sometimes bring more dreams along with them. New dreams we couldn’t even be aware of before. Hope springs eternal, even in chaotic times. You give me hope Linda!!!
I hope that hope extends to your current dream coming true in a timely and nurturing manner. I’m praying for the best outcome … which selfishly includes meeting some of my needs as well. 🙂
I am so glad you decided to give this gift to yourself! In this crazy time it’s so good to invest in things that are positive and creative and bring joy – and awe! The process of metamorphosis that butterflies go through has always been awe inspiring for me. Thank you for sharing the story, and the great pics. Happy Birthday!!
Thank you, Cindy,
We must find a time for you to come visit when it’s cool enough to enjoy my backyard and garden. That process of metamorphosis inspires me, too, in butterflies and in humans. Have been enjoying witnessing yours.
Love,
Linda
Linda, what an inspiration you are – and your garden is AWE-some!! Can’t wait to see it in coming seasons!
I will be happy to share each season with you, Ruth.
Happy birthday Linda! Nice way to celebrate! Flowers make me happy!
Thank you, Susan.
Don’t have many flowers yet, but always a joy when they show their faces. I wanted to plant Lantana in the pots near the garden. But with the pandemic, I didn’t venture out to the garden centers this year. Really miss them. They make me happy, too.
Congratulations! And Happy Birthday!
Thank you, Damian,
Hope you are staying safe in Houston with the pandemic spiking. It is spiking in my parts, too. Mostly staying put at home.
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing your journey. I’m always inspired in new ways!
So glad you found inspiration, Laurel. You inspire me in so many ways.
Dear Linda,
Thank you for sending this. It is such a happy story during these dismal news days. I am immersed in the Turkey Creek Preserve story. Here is a quote you might like from a NE author that I use in the book. It comes from her work with the Ponca Tribe. She has two books and the Ponca Tribe women seed carriers are featured.
“Every plant, every seed, has a purpose. Each one a food, medicine or poison. Every seed, a reason for living.” Big Horse Woman and Magghie, Barbara Salvatore
I use a quote from Susan T also. “Plants are Earth’s life-support system. They grow the interdependent communities that form our planet’s living infrastructure providing food and shelter for all. These are not passive beings, as we so often think: plants actively sense and respond to the world around them. They communicate using an aromatic vocabulary of airborne chemicals. They exhale as waste the oxygen we inhale, and then inhale the carbon dioxide that we and our industrial processes off-gas. … Our relationship with these green beings is crucial to our continuing existence, evident in every single breath. “ Writer and plant biologist Susan J. Tweit, “Weeding Yellowstone” Minding Nature Journal.
Blessings on your garden. Connie Spittler
Thank you so much, Connie, for sending the quotes. I know you are a nature lover and much of your writing reflects that. I so appreciate your sharing with me these wise women quotes. I have admit, I’m not the wonder woman Susan Tweit is. She would have done all the work to plant that garden. I was glad to hire it done and watch. For me, that was as much a BD gift as the garden itself. It is hard to wait 3 years to see it finally leap.
I look forward to reading the Turkey Creek Preserve story when you get it published. I know this is a labor of love for you.
Thanks again, for the quotes and for your comments.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful gift to yourself. A truly inspiring project!
Thank you, Marilea, for commenting. I’ve finished your memoir … quite a story you have. I will be posting an Amazon review soon.
So much hard work, with such beautiful results! Thanks so much for sharing! It’s a joy and an inspiration to see the fruits of your labor!!!
Hi Bev,
So nice to find your comment here. So glad you enjoyed my garden project. It is becoming quite laborious with the drought we’ve been having. I thought we might get rain yesterday and didn’t water. No such luck. Thanks for posting your comment. Means a lot.
Linda! Linda! Linda! This is the happiest post! I’m not normally big on exclamation points, however, your chronicled gardening adventure has brought me so much joy this morning that exclamation points are popping up all over!
And you named a butterfly “the Debster” – made me cry.
Thank you for sharing this story. Really, big thanks!!!!!!!!!
Jeanne … so glad my post popped with exclamation points for you. That is the challenge, isn’t it, to find the joy in the mist of the awful. I’m not always successful at that, but my garden is a testament to that during our pandemic. It gives me joy that my post brought you joy.
That butterfly emerged and was released the day Deb died. Another joy in the midst of sorrow. I could do no other than name her for our beloved friend.
Thank you for brightening my day with your enthusiastic response.
Love,
Linda
What an awesome story, Linda! Your story strikes me as a miraculous transformation during all the non-beauty of the disease into a silent, yet huge statement of hope and love and perpetuation. So many layers here that I love. And, as with Jeanne, your poignant name of the Debster. So many thanks.
Love,
Mary Jo
Thanks Mary Jo,
Amazing all the layers you see that escaped my notice. I just need to live for year three of LEAP! That butterfly was released the day that Deb died, hence the name she was given.
Love,
Linda
The gift that will keep on giving. Happy Birthday!!!
Thanks, Jen
Happy birthday Linda. Can’t believe we are this age. The years go by quickly. I can see by all the replies you have received on your blog that you have planted many, many seeds of friendship thru the years. What blessings!!!!! Hi to Nicole. God bless both of you, Pat
I know … it is hard to believe. The years certainly do fly by quickly. That means in a flash we’ll be the big 80. You have been on my mind recently … that means you may be receiving a phone call soon. Want to hear how you are weathering the pandemic. Being as careful as possible here. I love how you languaged “planted many, many seeds of friendship.” Are you a writer in waiting? Great phrase. And yes, I am blessed with many wonderful friends. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for every one of them. Nicole hasn’t been out of the house since before COVID but seems content as long as she has a TV & iPad … and Mom to cook for her. 🙂 She gave me a break yesterday … treated me to a pizza delivery. And many blessings to you, too, Pat.