I've been anxiously awaiting the appearance of my seedy friends. Invited for an extended stay, I wasn't sure whether or not they would show up at all. The invitations were freely distributed in mid-October. The friends recently emerged from the morning frost looking all chipper and bright in their green attire, ready for the holiday season.
However, I wasn't expecting these friends to arrive huddled together in such a crowd. I was hoping for a more orderly arrival so as not to overwhelm me with what to do about their bed space. With all these friends arriving together, staring up at me in expectation, I am not sure what to do. Should I ask some of them to leave? Should I try to rearrange the beds so that there is room for everyone to stay?
The Poppies are so pretty in their frilly attire. At this point, they haven't revealed what colors they intend to wear next spring, but they should be dressed in magenta, red and yellow. Of course, the magenta poppies won't stay in the bed next to the red and yellow poppies. The magentas are staying in the cottage garden. The red and yellow poppies are staying out in the butterfly garden. The Larkspurs are wearing classic, simple styles. They reside outside the fence and will wear purple, magenta and lavender dresses. These girls will extend the cottage garden look to the outer front garden. They are supposed to be intolerant of pests like deer, rabbits and Japanese Beetles so they will also stand guard along the fence to protect the roses.
Clearly, this population explosion is a problem that I created. Thrilled with the idea of adding cottage garden annuals to my garden, I extended the invitation to hundreds, maybe even thousands, of poppy and larkspur seeds. I tried mixing the tiny poppy seeds with sand in a spice shaker, but they still sprouted too close together. I did a better job of sowing the larger larkspur seeds. I'll just have to sort out the accommodations to ensure that all of my seedy friends have enough space to bloom to their full potential.
Photos and story by Freda Cameron