......volunteers

Yogis,
One of my favorite things in gardening is discovering volunteers! Volunteers are those plants that have shown up in your garden without you putting them there. They could have arrived in a myriad of ways……blown in by a gust of wind, carried unknowingly on my sweater, dropped by a bird or even digested by some creature who then used the garden as a rest stop.

Every year I have at least a few fun surprises and they show up when I am least expecting it.

I have a quite large pot on the deck where I plant cherry tomatoes. A few years ago I kept forgetting to plant them for the summer season. One day I realized it was probably past time to start and would have to wait until next year, and that very afternoon while looking out the window some greenery caught my eye. Three tomato plants, different from the ones I typically grow, where looking in at me. Well, hello there! I received a nice tomato harvest without any effort on my part. How great is that!

The next two years they came back. Becoming an established member of my garden family but the pot they were in was aging, discolored and causing rot on the deck. This was the year to keep tomatoes down in the garden. I bought a new pot for flowers, discarded much of the dirt out of the old one so I would be able to carry it, and left on vacation. I’m sure you can guess what happened. Four tomato plants were waiting for me on my return, roots down in the shallow concave hole I had created. They now have dozens of small tomatoes on them. The old pot, of course, remains where it was.

Mullein is my soul plant and I have been trying for years to establish her on my property with very little success. I lay seeds, accept transplants from friends and watch, while nothing happens. Last fall, while getting the mail, I noticed a first year mullein right outside my mailbox garden (not in, of course). Yay! I surrounded her with rocks so she wouldn’t get trampled or mowed and this year watched her grow her large rosette of soft downy leaves and a spectacular rod of small yellow flowers which rose from her center.  In July I find another new mullein, halfway down the gravel driveway! No one is allowed to drive over her.

Finally Queen Anne’s Lace, aka wild carrot. I had tried. Seeds planted, watered and small growths tended with care. Perhaps one flower and then she disappears. Recently I am checking in on ‘driveway mullein’ when I turn to find a dainty white head smiling and bobbing in the wind. She too has chosen the driveway and she couldn’t be happier. Our driveway is going to be an obstacle course for a while.

What incredible gifts these are! And they all share stories with me.

Tomato tells me that in upheaval, even when the earth is literally pulled out from under you, put one foot, or root, in front of the other with trust. You can do the extraordinary when you believe. Mullein is making it loud and clear that she prefers the edges over the garden. When I find myself becoming to button upped and always being what ‘I am supposed to be’, I pull in mulleins reminder to sometimes color outside the lines. To let down my hair and live a life that ‘feels’ right. 

And Queen Anne's Lace, with her light and airy disposition, laughs as she says, ‘Sarah, stop trying so hard’.

Ready to be surprised,
SARAH