A Great Intelligence Runs Through Nature
Each gardening session leaves me amazed at nature’s checks and balances. For instance, innocuous dead nettles look so much like the real thing, even with unpleasant prickles on their stems. And so are avoided by our pet bunnies.
Yet they are harmless.
A great intelligence appears to run through nature.
In which Fritallaria Meleagris, or Snake’s Head Fritillary tell me something of the goodness of God
Spring in the garden. A rhapsody indeed.
White Cherry blossoms. Daffodils! Cowslips. Flowering Judas tree. Forget-me-nots. Bright red tulips in my garden!
And fritallaria. These were never easy for us to establish in Virginia, so it a joy to see how easily they spread here.
We found a few wild ones in our paddock the year we first bought the house, and transplanted them to our main garden so that we could enjoy them more. However, as I walk there this year, I see more, and more.
Nature’s munificence tells us something of the goodness of God!
This flower, below, Fritallaria Meleagris, which we have in our paddock is also known as the Checkered Lily or Guinea Hen Flowers, or Snake’s Head Fritillary.
It was a regular feature in Elizabethan gardens. “The checkered lily was once in fact native of damp meadows throughout Northwestern Europe, but is today disappearing over much of its natural range from habitat loss and humanity’s population intrusions. It became endangered in England, where children picked them before they could complete their reproductive cycle. It is now protected and making a slow comeback in the south of England. And it will never be extinct for as long as people love them in gardens.”
Checks and balances in nature
I love gardening partly because it plunges me into the world of nature, its checks and balances. I have been feeding our pet rabbits all sorts of things from our garden–weeds, shoots, leaves, apple branches, raspberry twigs, strawberry leaves and dandelions. Guess what they eat first. Yes, dandelions. That’s good too as it prevents our lawn becoming totally weed-infested. Nature’s checks and balances!
Just discovered too that my rabbits love Queen Anne’s Lace which is sprouting amid the grass of my lawn. I love nature’s checks and balances.
What is the best way of dealing with a garden neglected for a year? Tame a bed and then go on, or do a different bed every day. I am doing a little bit of both these things.