Last week we went tree-shopping. It’s a particularly fun thing to do—wandering the aisles of the nursery’s over 100 trees. Seeing trees you’ve never seen before, and lusting after those that are beautiful but far too expensive.
We were picking a tree for our dog memorial garden, which we’re creating in the top corner of our yard. The tree is the centrepiece: a flowering cherry that grows into an umbrella shape that will dominate the garden. We call it Silah’s tree, since she inspired us to buy it.
We’ve also been frequenting roadside plant stands, mostly people selling divided plants from their garden. We got a couple of mock oranges and three buddleias—all loved by hummingbirds and bees. That was another reason to plant this garden—to provide a place for them to feed. We planted some green barberry that we had in pots, and some red hot pokers that we divided from a large one we had in the perennial garden. And a hardy rose that will grow anywhere in any substrate, it just can’t help itself. We also planted two flowering currants, which the hummingbirds love.
We didn’t create a big garden bed—we just planted everything directly into the ground. The plan is to let it grow as a meadow. We’ll sprinkle some poppy seeds in it for colour and texture. We have yellow Welsh poppy seeds and red Oriental poppy seeds. The grass is a bit patchy, but if we let it grow it might fill in. Especially during the upcoming warm spell after several days of rain.
Gardening can be hard work. And with my knee injury I’m not much help. Dave has been doing all the planting and I’ve just provided input from the bench on one side of the garden. We’re going to build a gazebo at that spot, so you can be out in all weather. I think I’ll make it my regular afternoon writing space.
It’s strange all the routines that disappear once you no longer have a dog. While I still have my designated writing and nap times, feeding times and outside times are gone. For example, I usually took Silah out before bed and looked at the stars while she did her business. Now I don’t do that. I should because we’re lucky to see so many stars here with minimal light pollution. Maybe that’s my goal: to get outside and look at the stars every night before I go to bed. A bit of a brain reset to lift the day’s cares off my shoulders.
Hopefully the plants in the memorial garden will take root and grow nicely, and we get some of our poppy seeds to germinate in the grass. I’m looking forward to a meadow filled with flowers, bees, and hummingbirds. It’s going to be beautiful.
