A Wild Garden

On a corner near where I live there is a

Wild Garden

that I love.

“Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.”
― Mary Oliver, Evidence: Poems

It’s not totally wild, as I see the owner out tending it often when I drive by. But it is designed with common easily spread flowers that come back year after year in wild profusion. And it’s not tame in any way, shape or form. From what I can see the owner encourages the flowers and plants to grow wherever they can and only removes noxious spreading weeds. I’ve stopped to photograph the garden when the sunflowers are in bloom but never visited it in mid-summer before.

So today I headed out for my morning walk with my camera to photograph it’s lovely wild mix of flowers. It’s about 3/4 mile from where I live, so in this steamy weather I worked up quite a sweat. But it was worth it to see the insects buzzing, flowers blooming, and red raspberries hiding among all the flowers. (I’m also trying to get out for longer walks more often, even in this hot steamy weather.)

I admit that I grazed on a few berries while I photographed. Between the raspberry bushes, profusion of flowers, bushes and trees, the house is barely visible from the street. It is not your typical suburban yard and I love it for just that reason.

We all need a little wild in our lives

We could use more wild gardens in our cities and towns. Today on my walk I saw a female mallard and her babies, a baby rabbit, bees buzzing, trees swaying, a profusion of flowers, and felt a few drops of rain on my face. I soaked up all that I saw, felt, and heard like the earth welcomes the rain after a drought. And I do this every time I go out into nature, whether it’s in my neighborhood, my backyard, or in the woods.

“There are things you can’t reach. But
You can reach out to them, and all day long.

The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of god.

And it can keep you busy as anything else, and happier.

I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.

Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around
As though with your arms open.”
― Mary Oliver