Reflections from A Garden Bench: Monkey Flower: An adaptable plant for rain gardens

Reflections from A Garden Bench:

Monkey Flower:

An adaptable plant for rain gardens

www.singingrockmusic.com
www.dropseednursery.com

Monkey Flower: An adaptable plant for rain gardens

Monkey Flower is an amazing native plant if you want something that will survive both heavy rains, periodic standing water, and semi-dry conditions. In our wetlands area here in Kentucky, we've been amazed at the ability of the Monkey Flower species to adapt. When inundated with large amounts of water, it looks almost as if they are lifting their "arms" up above the surface of the water. In summer's heat their roots will have penetrated so deep into the ground that they also can survive dry conditions. They can also be easily divided by lifting the plant and tubers from below the ground.

Adaptability and Flexibility - two really useful traits for all of us, considering that life doesn't always offer us the perfect conditions to play out all of our well-formed plans!

http://www.singingrockmusic.com/

RAIN! Spring 2011

It rained 3-4 inches here in Louisville, Kentucky yesterday. Our two rain gardens held up amazingly well, along with the native perennials growing in them. Last year, we'd planted several "Monkey Flower" young plants and have been amazed with the way they are able to survive in so much water, as well as drought-like conditions. The rain yesterday comforted us in knowing that our two gardens are holding the water and absorbing it well. We've kept a few less gallons of water out of the city's drainage system too. Here are some other Kentucky native perennials that have survived a year in the rain garden (and on the outer edges of it) so far, and are coming back strong this Spring:

• Orange Coneflower
  



• Great Blue Lobelia




• Joe Pye Weed




• Ratttlebox




• Cardinal Flower




• Swamp Hibiscus




• Bee Balm




• Dense Blazing Star




• Eastern Blue Star

Following the cycles of the year through nature, being directly involved in the process, helps me realize that there is an essential place for everybody and everything and every feeling and every experience somehow, in the larger, evolving story of our planet.

Anne Milligan

www.singingrockmusic.com

Bird Calls

This morning, rocking gently on our garden swing, I became aware of the music of what seemed like hundreds of birds all over the forest. I decided to listen closely to see if I could single out one call and hear it returned.

It was...

How could it be that the individual call was heard and returned amongst so many?

But it was...

Oh, to be so sure of one's place in the universe and to follow the call to manifest our own individual truth! No distraction whatsover could sway such a person or creature from following that call! I envy the birds, their certainty, their knowing, as I am still becoming Aware.

I've posted one of my more recent paintings, in honor of the return of the hummingbirds to Kentucky soon!

www.singingrockmusic.com

Native Plants Gardening Journal: An introduction

It is now Spring of 2011. My spouse and I are beginning our second year of the creation of a native plants wetlands area in the back yard of our house here in Kentucky. We bought the house a year ago primarily because the back property backs up to a stand of tall old trees which, when full with summer foliage, looks like a dense thick forest. Our first goal upon moving in was to remove the two Koi ponds we inherited and replace them with native soil, leaves and compost. We wanted our yard to be a natural flow right into the forest. With the help of a native plants and restoration expert, Margaret Shea of Dropseed Nursery, we planted a number of water and clay-tolerant plants such as Monkey Flower, Rattlebox, Joe Pye Weed, Tall Ticseed and Orange Coneflower. We now have two raingarden/wetland areas into which the rainwater from the roof and the forest is channeled. We are enjoying this project immensely, as this second year is affording us an abundance of returning plants with all kinds of surprise additions. My blog is a kind of journal of personal life lessons from the garden. As a therapist and an artist/painter, I find much inspiration in gardening and hope you enjoy reading my upcoming reflections as much as I enjoy posting them. I'm not planning to do much "advertising" of my blog, since I'm usually either outside or working in my office, so please feel free to become a "follower" and share this with others if you think they'll enjoy reading it. Please post your experiences with native gardening also. Please visit my nature art and music pages at http://www.singingrockmusic.com/ If you click on the title of this post, you will be instantly directed to the website).