Butterflies are Free -- and Fabulous

Lise Cutshaw — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:57:00 EST

The butterfly bushes have been magnificent this summer, and the butterflies agree wholeheartedly.

1,000 ~ Sowing seed of success

Lise Cutshaw — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:50:00 EST

I'm having an Andy Rooney moment ... Have you ever wondered why it sometimes takes 1,000 seeds to get one plant to grow?

Bloom where you are planted

Lise Cutshaw — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:17:00 EST

It's summer and gardening fanatics have dirty fingernails. Mine, I am proud to say, won't come truly clean again until October.

Please don't imagine that I think I'm a master gardener, but I do love playing in the dirt.

I love mixing humus, top soil, peat moss and maybe a little sand or changing my soil mixes to suit the plants and location. I love putting the layer of mowed leaves on the beds in fall and in spring, seeing that the leaves have broken down and become a dark, loamy humus.

I am compelled to spend money, not on shoes, but on plants. Perennials that return each year and blooming annuals that fill in the fallow times with color -- after the fear of frost is gone.

Last year, I didn't plant much because I put my house on the market and I didn't want to fill up the garden with flowers I would have to leave.

This year, since my house has STILL not sold, I am planting not lavishly, but pretty steadily.

Ecclesiastes says there's a time to sow and a time to reap and I truly believe that there is a drive in humans to sow, tend and harvest. That's why so many people for so many centuries were farmers. That's why women and many men can't walk past a stand of vegetable plants, perennnials or annuals without craning, perusing and considering for their own gardens. (Watch sometime at the stand outside the grocery store!)

That's why people who live in skyscraper condos have pots and baskets of million-colored flowers flowing off their balconies.

We were meant to sow and nurture God's earth. It fulfills something deep within us.

Since I don't do many spring-blooming bulbs but I do sow a lot of seeds, my garden is moving slowly right now. The nasturtiums are skinny seedlings. The zinnias are just starting to look like flowers and not weeds. My black-eyed Susans and coneflowers are just budding. Butterfly bushes are stretching toward the sun and their wonderful-smelling fronds are just ready to release.

But I will let you know how it goes. Along the way, I will try to share some of my tips and successes with you -- and if you have any thoughts to share, please do!

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Butterflies are Free -- and Fabulous

1,000 ~ Sowing seed of success

Bloom where you are planted