Because we’ve had so little snow this past winter, the exposed soil in our backyard flower beds has deep, fissure-like cracks, and right now those cracks are sprouting the first tentative flowers of spring. I’m not much of a gardener, and neither is J: although J takes pride in tending our lawn and shrubs, neither one of us has ever planted any flowers here.
Instead, every spring and summer we’re surprised by the magical re-appearance of perennials our house’s prior owners planted: crocuses, snowdrops, tulips, daffodils, scilla, and a whole parade of ornamental flowers whose names I don’t know. During the spring and summer, our backyard feels like a botanical time capsule, with someone else’s green thumb giving us unsolicited gifts. I sometimes wonder about the hands that planted the bulbs that continue to sprout every year with no human assistance. Did the planter of these bulbs know how long they’d bloom after their departure, and could they have envisioned how much joy they’d bring to a future homeowner they never even met?
Mar 16, 2012 at 3:19 am
What a great gift from the previous owners!
My grandmother had a rock garden that she never really tended, but every year it produced tulips, irises, peonies and other flowers — for decades. All were planted by the previous owner of her house. I remember seeing the irises when I was a kid, and by that time she’d lived there for 50 years!
Mar 16, 2012 at 9:51 am
We still tend Iris that was planted over 25 years ago by our (probably dead) previous owners. Thanks to them and to you Lori!
Mar 16, 2012 at 10:04 am
Oh, yes…we have irises, too, which I’ve blogged on occasion. I love the self-reliance (and resilience) of these flowers that come back year after year, regardless of anything we humans do.