Amazed by Life in the Garden

 

One of my crooked but beautiful poppies. (Photo from personal collection)

Whenever I talk about my interest in gardening and plant life, I often tell people how it all began with my love for wildlife. Animal life just seemed so much more dynamic and interesting to me when I was younger. It wasn't until I was a little older that my consideration for nature grew to encompass plant life and gardening.

I have never cared for worrying over a well-manicured lawn. And I have no interest in planned and perfected tidy gardens. My interest in gardening has very much stemmed from my care and concern for nature. It is one small way in which I can give a little back to something which has given me so much.

The other morning, I watched amazed as a bumblebee, either a White-tailed bumblebee or a Garden bumblebee, I think, visited one of the flowered poppies. That is what it had all been for. All the checking and tending, meeting the needs of the plants as and when they arose.

The flowers of a poppy have no nectar, but they are rich in pollen which provides the bees with essential proteins and fats. 

My poppies have grown in crooked, and I think that there are probably containers out there that are much more "Instagram ready". But I couldn't care less because it was for the bees, and other pollinators, that I sowed the seeds last year.

Yeah, of course, I snap a few pictures, and yes, I share those pictures across my social media. But if nobody but the bees show appreciation for those scarlet flowers, that's just fine with me.

Perfect red petals at the ends of crooked hairy stems, and other hairy little buds ready to burst wide open. (Photo from personal collection)

Poppies are an annual herb. I sowed the seeds last year, and they lived in the soil of my container for a little while. The seeds germinated last autumn, and the plants spent the last year making themselves at home in the container. They have faced challenges; some of the storms of the last year left them a little battered. But they revived, for the most part. They retained enough strength that they began to flower this month.

Once these sunnier months are over, I will collect the seed heads, and sow those seeds in hope of another crop next year. Though, perhaps I will keep some of those tasty seeds back for myself!

Though my interest in plant life stemmed from my passion for nature and wildlife, I have discovered a real appreciation for plants themselves. They are incredibly resilient and strong. I have checked over plants in the garden, thinking that they were beyond saving, looking brown and shriveled, only to later find them looking green and verdant again a day or so later. They have taught me that, given the chance, life will endure.

As for the part they play in the wider ecological landscape, they are at the centre of life on this planet. Of course they are. They are vital to all forms of life on land. They provide food, clean air, materials for shelter, medicine, and even mental wellbeing. Yeah, they have definitely earned my appreciation, and I stop amazed, just to see how they have grown.

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