While the summer heat last week was uncomfortable for us humans, the plants in our gardens loved it and flourished, as long as we caretakers kept up with giving them all the water they needed. The early Spring bloomers have gone quietly back to sleep, leaving space for all the summer perennials to show their beautiful colors.
As you walk by the perennial bed you will notice the tall purple flowers of the monarda, or bee balm. As you might guess, the bees love these flowers and are very busy collecting their pollen. Stop and admire them as they go about their business. Don’t worry, they are not interested in you at all…they are very hard at work. Also blooming now are bright yellow sunflowers, pink echinacea, white yarrow, and one of my favorites guara, or angel wings. These are the tall delicate white flowers that live in front of the bird house post and sway beautifully in the afternoon breeze. And in the shade of the dogwood tree are quietly pink African impatiens.
Soon to come are the tall purple spikes of liatris, dahlias from Pam’s home garden and colorful zinias.
In front of church is the Three Sisters Garden, our acknowledgement to the native peoples who inhabited the very land on which we now worship. This garden is planted in the exact way of those peoples with mounds of corn, beans and squash, fertilized only with local fish. Our mounds are doing wonderfully thanks to the effort of Talan Saumweber, age 14, who caught catfish from the pond next to the church for this garden.
We encourage everyone to meander by the gardens after Sunday worship, or anytime, and enjoy! We welcome questions and love talking to and about natures gifts around us. More next week on the memorial and shade gardens.
Dar, Tara, Pam, and Pat