Six on Saturday 23-03-19 ‘Balance’

The March hare is continuing on at a frantic pace although some days it is hard to know where he is leading us. This week was the vernal equinox – the time of the year when there is exactly the same amount of light and darkness in the day. For the first time since 1905 this coincided with a super moon – a full moon that occurs when the moon is closest to the earth.*

It is six on Saturday again, the wonderful meme hosted by Jon at the propagator blog. Six things that are in some way connected with the garden. In the week of the spring equinox I have been thinking about the idea of balance in nature.

1. Too few or too many?

Every year I have the same conversation with myself about how much of each seed to sow. “They look so tiny and helpless…They might not germinate…Some of the seedlings might not survive…” I tell myself.  So it feels better to be generous. And yet every time I end up with more plants than I know what to do with. This is made even worse because although I know that thinning out seedlings is better for the survival of the fittest I lack the heart to be ruthless about it. The result is a lot of free plants for friends (does anyone really need thirty aubergine plants..?)

‘Don’t grow too many tomatoes, don’t grow too many tomatoes, don’t grow too many tomatoes…’ I grew too many tomatoes.

2. Half full or half empty?

This daphne aureomarginata has a lovely variegated leaf and open habit. Daphnes tend to be fairly short lived. This one, which is five years old, has just flowered for the first time at what could well be the mid-point in its life. From now on it might be closer to the end of its life than the start but the scented flowers should get better and better. A hopeful metaphor for us all! The other element of balance here is that it happens to be growing above a wall which I had to balance on top of whilst bending forward to take a picture..

3. There can be no flowers without foliage

For many bulbs we only really get excited by the emergence of their flowers and their foliage is something of an afterthought. Without the leaves however, the bulbs wouldn’t grow so well and the flowers (either this year or next) wouldn’t be as impressive. There are a few exceptions where the leaf can match the flower. Like these Calypso tulips where the foliage that started in February is just as exotic as the orangey red flowers that will follow next month.

4 An arm to lean on

I am gradually getting better at remembering to stake plants in advance but I still get caught out at this time of year. To begin with the emerging shoots look so diminutive, then before you know it they have shot up and been blown over by the wind. So, like a father watching a child taking its first steps, now is the time to let them think you are letting them go wherever they wish whilst keeping your arms out ready to catch them before they fall.

The emerging stems of this dicentra spectabile alba hardly seem worthy of staking just now but a few twigs pushed in this week will let the stronger foliage spread through and the flowers should last much longer whatever the weather may throw at them.

5. See-saw companions

There are some pairs of plants that seem to complement each other as happily as children on either end of a see saw. As one goes up the other goes down. Daffodils can be slightly awkward border flowers as the foliage can be a bit straggly once the flowers have gone over. Penstemons seem to work as a good foil though. Just about now the over-wintered penstemon stems will be cut back hard (making a lot of cuttings in the process) then, as the daffodils begin to fade, the penstemons will grow back and cover their foliage.

6. Floating

All flowers are engaged in a act of perpetual balance between light and darkness, between past and future, between sunlight and gravity. They are like tiny aeroplanes in flight. When planes are on the ground our heads tell us that they are nothing more than precise feats of engineering but when we are up in the air inside of one our hearts tell us that they must surely be small miracles.

Aubretia in flower or a flock of purple butterflies taking off?

 

* This was our third and final super moon of 2019. We have already had a wolf moon (January) a snow moon (February) and this months rather eerie sounding worm moon. The names are thought to derive from Native American beliefs about natural phenomena occurring in phase with the full moon. If you missed this years vernal equinox super-worm moon don’t despair. It will happen again in 2144.

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