In May 2011, after four years of life on McNutt's Island, we moved to Montreal. This blog remains, though, as a (sort of) daily record of our time on the island, and a winding path for anyone who would like to meander about among its magical places. For additional perspectives and insights I recommend Greg's book, Island Year: Finding Nova Scotia (2010), and my Bowl of Light (2012). I'll continue to post once in a while. If you do want to read this blog, one option would be to begin at the beginning of it (which is, as we all know, in blog-world, at the end), and read forward, concluding with the most recent entry. It's a journal, really, so it does makes more sense if you read it that way. But, you know, read it any way you like.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

crazy foxgloviness

Two years ago I started a little wildflower garden next to the house. By then wildflowers -- mostly pretty pink mallow and seemingly delicate white yarrow -- were already there, appearing and flourishing inside the new picket fence where no wild sheep with the munchies could get at them. So I can't take any credit.

But over a couple of summers I gathered up samples of other wildflowers I had noticed around the island and brought them inside the fence as well. Others came in on their own. Mullein for instance. There was lots of it in the garden last year, and none at all this summer.There was a small clump of white foxglove in the lower orchard that I moved inside the fence. It didn't do much at first. But last fall I started to notice what definitely was looking like foxglove growing all along the part of the garden supposedly dedicated to herbs, not wildflowers. The foxglove had a mind of its own. I couldn't believe this strong, hardy looking plant was actually foxglove, but I let it alone anyway. I wanted to see what it would turn out to be.
Which was foxglove. It turns out it's a terrific re-seeder as long as it isn't getting stepped on or gamboled on or napped on.
It's mostly white, but one big clump of it is a foxy pink.
The little wildflower garden is turning out to be a place of surprises, changing a bit every summer in ways I hadn't dreamed of.

2 comments:

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

I love the foxgloves. We went out on some quiet country roads and dug up some of the plants that were growing on the edges of the road - in nooks and crannies and rocks - transplanted them and I have a nice start on a stand of foxgloves. I love the story of how it got its name - "folk's gloves" - for the wee folks that would use the flowers for their gloves.

Janet said...

One of the joys of having lived in this place for close to thirty years is how the vegetation changes over time from year to year. I have a small but growing patch of lily of the valley that came from two plants I put in maybe five years ago - this year there are close to a dozen, but I have yet to see any bloom, so they must be travelling from roots underground.