Healing Garden

We just came across these two photos from 2020 when we first started this garden bed over by the greenhouse, and we had to go sit back there and admire how the space has evolved.

Of all the garden beds we've made over the years, this one has a special place in our heart. Gardening has always been a happy place and a way to create diverse little worlds that build on themselves over time. So at the start of the pandemic when everything felt so heavy and hard, this was a way to get grounded, put hands in the soil, and make magic.

We always tend to work with what's there already, so the volunteer peach tree and the hollowed out pecan tree that had fallen over in a storm became the structure around which the garden was shaped. And the tree became a natural bench, which luckily happened to land in the perfect spot for sunset viewing.

We added plants a bit at a time, creating little microclimates, observing where they thrived through trial and error, and moving them or spreading them around as needed. Then eventually we got up a fence to discourage deer, and that added another structure to build around.

Our peach tree is now loaded with fruit that gets raided by the foxes. And the fenceline has roses hanging out with alliums, chamomile, and tulsi, which trade places depending on the season.

Sunflowers now pop up everywhere on their own, as do larkspurs, poppies, coriander, arugula, bee balm, henbit, and many others. It's a wonderland of wild and cultivated plants partying together in the landscape. Plants like artichoke, yarrow, shallots, coriander, lemon balm, horehound, oregano, rosemary, thyme, calendula, poppies, larkspurs, bachelor’s buttons, echinacea, garlic chives, sunflowers, goldenrod, bee balm, bowlesia, comfrey, mint marigold, dill, fennel, red clover, and other plant friends. In the summer, we look forward to the pecan tree's trunk once again becoming a pillar of malabar spinach and alamo vine, likely surrounded by towers of amaranth and lambsquarters.

More recently, we added a gingko tree along with lots and lots of dill that is home to swallowtail butterflies. And wow, it's magical.

It’s always fun to look back at where something started. And to picture it 10 years from now. We'll keep updating this post as we go.