By Master Gardener Ford Balch 1-07
Prodigious beauties, jewels of the fields,
Brightly colored blooms for our delight,
Created by God: they self-propagate seeds,
Returning each year for us to walk by.
With nectar provided for bees and butterflies,
Who inadvertently cross-pollinate while they feed,
Honeycombs will be found in the fall; God looking down
Must be proud of his Garden of Adam and Eve.
Bluettes bloom in the spring much to a small child’s ecstasy,
Awakened from dormancy buds and growth re-appear,
Our spirits soar this season of re-birth and innocence,
God must be satisfied with all that he sees and hears.
This summer we will enter field and forest once again,
Looking for old friends whose presence we anticipate,
Daisies and Black-EyeD-Susan’s delight the way to the stonewall,
where red blossoms of fireweed are belied by their ignoble name.
We enter a woodland road interspersed with springs,
To walk beside lady slippers-Adirondack Orchids
Crowns slightly bent unaffected by their glory,
They are difficult to find and a treasure indeed.
Returning, we pass by invasive Purple Loosestrife,
Gently waving in breezes we feel compelled to stop,
Enchanted for we seem to hear the Siren’s song,
Refusing submission we leave them to go on.
There are many old favorites to revisit and admire,
Some by the river stream and some in the shade,
Some new encounters that we will struggle to name,
With a child’s spirit we kneel in the garden God made.
