Scents and Sensibility
Native plants have taught me a lot of things over the past several years.
Did you know that those lines on the petals of the Wild Geranium (pictured above) are nectar guide lines? Some flowers have them which help guide pollinators to the nectar and pollen.
Change is inevitable, and gardens change as they grow. When I first started understanding native plants I did not know a lot of things. I learned as I went along. To this day I am still learning every single day. But I wish I kept a journal from the start. It wasn’t until year 5 into my native plant journey that I started writing things down. Beyond just the blog, but an actual bound journal. That is the one thing I wished I had done differently.
With pen to paper I can capture not only the planting date, but the fun moments along the way. Like the first time I used a dandelion digger. It was magic. Or the first time I witnessed our rain garden covered in a blanket of snow.
Photographs can only capture so much. But words can describe all 5 senses. From the scent of the Virginia Sweetspire (and what date you noticed it), the sounds of the dawn chorus in early spring, and the first (or last of the season) Monarch butterfly you noticed. The first serviceberry you taste. The feeling of purple lovegrass in fall between your fingers.
The plants, trees, and shrubs outside my windows never turn off, and the biodiversity they bring, well that’s the inspo for the blog. While the paper journal keeps the journey going…and I don’t think I will ever stop filling the pages, my only wish is that I had started sooner. And if you start one today, I wish you much success in documenting so much more than just plants. The whole entire experience of native plants.
Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
– Nathaniel Hawthorne, American Author