Garden Patchwork

 
Day 299: So typical of my haphazard gardening, I remember planting poppy seed in mid-May, but apparently I didn't scatter it widely as I sometimes do. The poppies came up in a patch, leaves packed tightly together and stems rising to display brilliantly colored blossoms, but only at one end of the flower bed. Behind them, shorter marigolds are just starting to open (wrong way around, I know...a testament to my poor planning), but much of the rest of the garden is bare of anything except the occasional weed. My little feathered friends saw to that, and I'm not one to begrudge a Goldfinch or a Grosbeak any seed they wish to eat. They are accustomed to being fed regularly, and I cannot expect them to differentiate between breakfast and potential ornamentals. It's just the way of it here: birds first, even when I'm making a trip to the grocery store. That said, they almost always leave me something if I scatter a variety of things. They left the Nigella to sprout, and I am now collecting and drying pods for next year's garden. The marigolds will reseed themselves, and I'll be cursing them as weeds next year. The Juncos do their best to thin them, even eating the young sprouts, but my experience with marigolds tells me that they'll take over the bed if not aggressively controlled. I need more things of their ilk; plants which are happy taking care of themselves. Poppies ought to fill the bill.

My mother used to task me for planting annuals. Perennials were so much simpler, she said, and less expensive in the long term. Plant something once and be done with it, other than weeding around it. I argued that I liked to change my color scheme, and then every year, I'd grow bright-hued Gazanias amid rich blue Lobelia with pink/purple Cosmos towering overhead. Color scheme? What color scheme? It was always a rainbow selection. I never thought I'd see the day, but I'm finding myself agreeing with my mother at this late date. I'm starting to eye the perennials at Watson's with consideration to bird and butterfly attractors like perennial Fuchsia. That's not to say I won't tuck a few annuals in the open spots, but I think I'll buy them as bedding plants from here on out, and just pray the deer and elk don't find the smorgasbord to their liking.