Beauty in Nature

Inspired by our April lecture on planting a natural meadow and my recent completion of Landscape School Course I, I just finished planting two azaleas, two native false spireas, one hinoki cypress and one rather large weeping redbud. In addition to that, I replanted two aucubas which were close to being consumed by my area voles. Many of you know that I have an infestation of the pesky little creatures. How can a small cute rodent that looks just like a little mouse wreak such havoc in my yard!

I airlifted the two aucubas to another spot in my meadow area and caged them with hardware cloth on the sides and bottoms of their new homes in the ground to prevent the voracious voles from consuming any additional root material. Mind you, all of the aforementioned shrubs were also planted with hardware cloth in their holes as well. Why it is called hardware cloth is beyond me. It’s a medium gauge wire that has to be cut and is difficult to work with. In my exhausted state, I grumbled to my sister, Carol, about being tired and not having any inspiration to write my article for the newsletter. She quickly came to my aid when she reminded me, ―just look around you; there’s so much beauty in nature.

How true. I love this time of the year. I love walking around my yard and seeing what’s peeking out just above the ground. It’s always a fun surprise to see fresh new plant material start to unfurl out of the warm soil. I am constantly amazed by the treasures I find and the sheer brilliance in the many ways God’s creations are so magnificently different. This past winter was really harsh on many of my plants; I’m sure yours as well. I have made a mental note to plant more of the plants that DID make it instead of grumbling about the ones that didn’t. At our upcoming May garden club meeting, Faye Andrashko from Northern Neck Soil and Water Conservation will talk about conservation and how it impacts our daily lives. I am looking forward to another great educational program that will undoubtedly give us inspiration and knowledge about protecting our own natural resources.