Mary Claire Rowe

This week is the perfect time to make a flying trip through the IDEA Garden to enjoy all the fall-blooming plants before the temperature decides to drop below freezing.

There were dozens of different plants in bloom, and despite earlier rain this past weekend, which nicely soaked everything.

The garden was lovely.

A lone Gulf Fritillary butterfly (Agraulis vanillae incarnata) worked the waving, purple Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha).

She took her time, as she had no competition, except for a few busy bees.

This butterfly can survive a few days of very cold weather, but will go to warmer climes, if it the cold remains too long.

It could have been hatched in our garden earlier in the year, because the only plant needed for producing the larva, Passionflower vine (Passiflora spp.), blooms in the IDEA Garden each spring and summer.

There were few visitors that late morning, and it felt like the garden was my own personal space.

It was a nice time to walk in the warm sunlight, look at the many varieties of flowers and plants, and think about the end of one season and the beginning of another.

We need to pause more often than we do, I suspect, and enjoy the moment.

Experiencing life moment to moment can engender a calm state of being.

This state is a gift, and one that we can only give to ourselves.

Sitting in the quiet garden, looking at the lovely space and the bright blooms, inhaling their delicate perfume, kept my mind in the present moment.

What had happened previously was temporarily set aside. What might be ahead was not on my mind.


NICE SURROUNDINGS

I was just there in the garden with the plants, the sunshine, and the butterflies and bees. It was nice.

While it was a quiet time above ground, the plants were busy below ground, building their root systems.

That is what will sustain them through our cold winter days ahead. If we gardeners provide adequate water, and a warm bed of mulch, plants will busily build their strength throughout the winter reading for the big spring push.

This condition is perfect for fall-planted bulbs, such as the garden's lovely tulips.

They will grow their root systems and gather their bulb-stored energy, so that when the first warm days arrive in the spring, they will be ready to push their new stems out of the ground and bring forth the much anticipated spring flowers.

The garden's tulips are grown commercially in Holland, forced to produce flowers in the off-season, and flown to Tyler to be sold for our pleasure.

Their presence reminded me to plant the bulbs I had bought at the Smith County Master Gardeners Bulb Sale a few weeks ago.

Pausing to enjoy their beauty helped me to continue a habit that will nurture me through the upcoming winter season, living moment to moment.

In addition, of course, my appreciation of their loveliness caused me to realize that the occasional purchase of fresh flowers to bring instant brightness and beauty to my home and my life will be an absolute necessity.

This is quite a lot to expect of one little flower.

"What's Blooming In Our Garden'' is a regular feature of the Tyler Morning Telegraph Garden Page. It is written by Mary Claire Rowe, a Master Gardener with the Texas Cooperative Extension, and focuses on flowers and plant life around East Texas. To share your comments on gardening, write her in care of the Morning Telegraph.

Mary Claire Rowe
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