Things On Our Lawn....

Spring is in full swing here. The temperature drops to 40 degree Fahrenheit during night; evenings become real cooler. But the sun shines bright. New life is everywhere. Weeds, wild flowers, cultivated flowers, vegetables and fruits, all competing with each other to suck up the renewed life energy and burst forth with all the vigor and beauty.

The lawn is no exception. Grasses are growing wild, soon to reach knee-high, and speckled with all sorts of flowers. I do not know where they have come from, if they are wild or cultivated flowers. Perhaps these are all weeds. But they are beautiful to look at and admire. Bees also love them as they fly low buzzing over them.

If you can recognize any of these flowers, please let me know. I am guessing some of them are wild (native) violets, garlic-mustard and creeping ivy flowers. So, as you see that my lawn is actually not "lawn." It is full of grasses and other creeping, wild plants which others might consider as weed. But I do not mind them. Weeds improve the soil structure infusing it with nutrients. The lawns remain green and wild even during peak summer though I never water them, put any fertilizers or other chemicals on them. The soil underneath is full of worms and other insects and creatures. Whenever I have to dug a portion out to plant any put any plants/trees, I will see them scurrying around, hurriedly trying to hid. My most favorite is the soil spider. Their heads are small but their body is a big fat sphere. A completely different world and eco-system exists beneath our feet that we neither can see and observe nor know much about them. Anyone interested in knowing about these beauties should watch the French movie Microcosm. It's more of a delicate art than a movie.

How is your lawn? Is it full of weeds? Do you like them? Or it is the true golf "lawn"?

These are two unknown greens. They come back every year (perennial). They look so luscious that seems like they are some wild greens that can be easily eaten. Do you know what they are? Is the first one a nettle as it is has tiny needles along the back of the leaves? Happy Life All :-)

A Big Thank You

I love getting anything related to gardening (and which has happened only once so far when one of my best friend brought a wild-flower seed-packet from me all the way from Oregon. You can read it here). So, yesterday (4/24) was again a very unique day to me as I received another packet of seeds. Donna of Gardens Eye View and Susie of Life Change Compost were giving away seed-packets in their blogs. I won one of it :-).

Donna not only sent me the seed packet but she also sent a very beautiful hand-written card which you can see on the left-side in the above image. Thank You Donna. I am very humbled and my garden, the bees and I will be always grateful to you for such a lovely gift. I hope one day I will be able to do to you, to your garden and to all others something in return. 

The package contains about 15 grams of seeds which can cover approximately 225 square feet of area. It contains seeds which provide food to about 4000 species of bees that the US has. It includes seeds of Borage, Sunflower, Coriander, Siberian Wallflower, Dill, Coreopsis, California Poppy, Gailliardia, Zinnia, Basil, Cosmos, Purpler Prairie Clover, Gilia, Catnip, Lemon Mint, Black-Eyed Susan, Goldenrod, Hyssop, Bergamot. Does not the seed-packet looks beautiful? It looks like a piece of art to my eyes. 

I already know where the seeds will go -- half of it will go to the bed in the front-yard. For the other-half I am preparing a bed in the backyard. Our drive-way is too long connecting the front and back yard. I hope to put pots all along the driveway connecting the two yards. The pots will contain all sorts of flowers, and thus in that way a high-way of flowers and other sources of nectar will be created for the bees and butterflies between the two yards. But this is a project I have to tackle next year. 

Do you have any good news to share :-)? Are you doing anything special for our bees and butterflies friends?