Creating Space for More "Food and Medicine for the Soul"

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine for the soul.

Luther Burbank (1849-1926)

I have just completed the creation of not one, not two, but three new planting beds! By moving a path here, carving out a bit of grass there, and shifting a shrub, there are now three new canvases in which to paint with flowers and bring more “sunshine, food and medicine for the soul” to our little patch. The thought of it thrills me, and I can hardly wait for Spring to begin digging in the dirt. It will be a chance to add new and interesting varieties of perennials (like Callicarpa, and Persicarias), to incorporate more pollinator-friendly food sources (I’m thinking more Monarda, Borage, and Milkweed), and with one bed in particular, also improve privacy. Maybe I can find a place as well for a rose cutting from my daughter’s garden. She has the most prolific, hardy, beautiful smelling yellow rose I’ve ever encountered. My imagination is on overdrive dreaming of what can go where. A bit more research will be needed, especially for the area at the bottom of the garden where the soil tends to stay quite wet. But the anticipation is sweet. Amazing what a getting a little more dirt can do.