An Immigrant Garden

A parasol protecting a tree peony Shimanishiki blossoms (native to Japan).

The garden is lush and green from the cold and wet spring – a condition that plants love. In spring one is engulfed by the garden, cleaning up leaves and twigs, pruning, weeding, edging, carrying away refuse, mulching, deadheading blossoms - it is endless. 
 
This year my goal has been to identify all of my perennials with genus species names and the native range of the plants. With an estimate of over 275 perennials, over 80% of the plants are from somewhere else. This has inspired my garden name, “An Immigrant Garden, welcome to a collection of plants from around the world." The immigration and migration of plants has been happening since the beginning of photosynthesis.
 
It takes 100 hours for the garden to look good enough before I can sit back and enjoy the verdant splendor. In this brief moment of the few longest days of the year I want to be a stone in my garden – just sitting still in solitude and peace.

​Thank you for reading this, Nancy