As an edible landscaper, I have a front yard plant pallette that includes many beautiful edibles; cool season veg in striking colors of all greens from emerald to sea foam and all reds from bronze to true red.  There are lettuces, kale, spinach, fennel, dill, onions, garlic (even two cold tolerant tomato plants)…a veritable collection of plants that nearly flash an “EAT HERE” sign to egg-bearing Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies).
In my teaching, I’ve espoused a practical view of our roles as home farmers in our natural world; that we plant “one for the farmer and two for the critters”. We strive to control damaging pests, never eliminate them which is both impossible and unwise as it puts our soil food web out of balance with nature.  Of course, there are situations that call for a different course of more invasive action that includes organic insecticides – always as a last resort.Having this “caterpillar buffet” out in my fall and winter garden this year, I was “armed and ready” for Cat Warfare! Funny thing though…they didn’t show up.  So I disarmed and relaxed.  Always watchful when it comes to my garden, I did keep looking for signs of disease and pests, but something was different.  I was calm because I was listening to my garden in a way I hadn’t before. Yeah, I know…you’re thinking ”she’s finally cracked”…”she’s over the edge”.  “Next her plants will be talking to her!”. No, not quite at least not with words. Maybe some of you know what I mean.  We, my garden and I, were in balance.  Soil was healthy. Companion plants were doing their jobs.  Plants had everything they needed. A very wise man, a man beyond his time once said: We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot (Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1500s).  When we truly “listen” to the nature around us, underneath us, stop fighting it and start working with it, that is when the magic happens. I just let my garden do its thing.One day, I noticed some new visitors on my fennel plant…
These are Black Swallowtail butterfly larvae! The fennel plant is so big that these guys (I counted four) really weren’t doing much damage.  The plant didn’t seem to mind so neither did I!One day last week, I took my camera out to take a holiday garden picture.  I took this picture of an inspirational sign I’ve had for years in my gardens. Here’s what I saw…

If this isn’t a message from my garden, then I just don’t know what is!  I felt filled with the spirit of the holiday more intensely than from any of my usual rituals (putting up lights, decorating the tree, wrapping gifts).  This was something very pure…very personal.  Maybe only gardeners will understand this.

And a few days later…another gift!  Chris, the Christmas Caterpillar, (yes, I named him!) went into chrysalis on Christmas Day! Chris pupated for about 10 days.

Now, as in most messages from nature…interpretation is in the eye of the beholder.  If I was a purely practical, linear thinker this would just be a convergence of the most natural occurrences leading to the most logical outcomes: the host plant’s proximity to the BELIEVE sign and the creature’s natural instinct to find the most sturdy, upright object on which to attach its chrysalis. But…if I were a romantic (duh), I had to be struck by the poetry in this…and I certainly was.

As I visited Chris daily to monitor his progress, I was reminded about what this metamorphosis represents to me…

Transformation – out of ugliness, beauty comes.
Rebirth – from its darkness, this creature reemerges in sunlight.
New beginnings. New possibilities.

I will think of what my garden gave me this Holiday Season as I near the end of this year.  A lesson of balance, peace, acceptance, calm and…love.

I send my best wishes to you for a very happy new year and an equally happy garden.

Posted by Geri Miller – HGEL at 12/27/2009 12:01 PM
Categories: Happy New Year
Tags: companion planting inspiration soil ammendments Master Gardener edible gardens Fall/Winter gardening

Trackbacks

• No trackbacks exist for this post.

Comments

• 1/2/2010 1:49 PM Craig Axtell wrote:
  I love this story! It made me smile.
  Reply to this

Leave a comment

 

Submitted comments will be subject to moderation before being displayed. Enter the above security code (required)

Name

Email (will not be published)

Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.

Subscribe to this post

Subscribe to this blog

Remember me