"Hedging" My Bets for Good Reason

I regularly tell my buyers, "Don't worry, it's a PERENNIAL landscape... it takes care of itself. "  But I don't leave it at that, I always continue, "It will come up every year and how long it blooms depends on how much time you want to invest." 

Our garden is still blooming and that is because we put time into it.  I love standing at the kitchen window, or sitting at the dining room table, and watching people slowly meander by, at times pointing, regularly smiling.  Flowers are so much more engaging than a lawn, thus our grassy paths serve the purpose of leading you from one bed to the next.

In an earlier post I told you about my obsession with deadheading our butterfly bushes.  There are six and they regularly stand 6-7 feet tall and 4 feet wide.  They are covered with flowers in late June and, without pruning, will produce blooms diminishing in size until late July.  I love butterflies, in particular Monarchs, and I continue deadheading for as long as I see flowers.  This year has been a banner year.

Quick story:  when my Dad passed away, Oct. 1, 2002, I took some relatives to see a birch tree we

Butterfly Release, Oct. 10, 2009

had planted at a nearby garden in his honor while he battled Pancreatic Cancer.   A Monarch butterfly followed us on our garden tour.  I remarked how unusual it was to see one so late in the season.  Two days later we drove to the property on which we were going to build a new home and planted a birch tree:  I took note of the Monarch butterfly flitting around all the while.  On Oct. 4th, during the interment at the cemetery my heart began to smile as I noticed, yet again, a single Monarch circling all through the service. 

 
When I remarried 4 years ago I mused how nice it would be to see a Monarch at our October 10th  ceremony, and finally decided to "hedge my bets" by having two dozen of the winged delights shipped in for our special day.  How beautiful it was and how very special to include my Dad, in some small way.  Yes, some will say I cheated by making sure one showed up at the ceremony, but I feel I did what I was able to do to accomplish my dream. 
 
So, this year, when we stopped seeing Monarchs in the middle of September, it was a little tougher to find the motivation to keep pruning those bushes.  But, on the 1st of this month, while deadheading the waning blooms on the butterfly bushes and silently lamenting the fact that only the bumblebees were enjoying my handiwork, imagine my joy as a Monarch came to visit, and stayed for over an hour, allowing me to take photos of him feasting on the flowers before that long flight to Mexico.  THAT is the payoff I have worked toward all season.