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And In This Corner, A Garden Sampler

According to Aristotle, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” This small corner of my garden agrees.

Assorted garden volunteers

There are all sorts of gardening rules to insure your success:

  • Do not over plant or crowd your seedlings
  • Make sure your plant gets the proper amount of sunlight
  • Water appropriately to support healthy roots
  • and so on.

Then the usual suspects blow into town and make a mockery of it all. With some assist from the wind, a few birds and other garden foragers, this perfect little gem of a corner came together without any help from the gardener (that’s me).

None of these plants are garden strangers. They enjoyed their stay last season and decided to make a come back. Below my window, and along the patio’s edge, a sampler garden is born.

Garden Sampler

Four o’clock Mirabilis jalapa

This prolific annual grows quickly with a low, sprawling habit. The original plant grew at the front of the house in the Children’s Garden, producing lovely yellow blooms around four o’clock each day, hence the name. I saved lots of seeds, but honestly, I needn’t have bothered. Two months ago, several seedlings started to grow.

Cyclamen

Cyclamen grow from tubers. They die back each year, returning in the winter and early spring, preferring cooler temps. This lovely pink variety is flowering like mirrored twins.

Polka dot plant Hypoestes phyllostachya

This spotted pink darling self-seeded from a pot nearby. Late in the summer, tiny purple flowers appeared. It’s nice to have that splash of pink joining the others.

New Zealand Hair Sedge

Every garden needs some breezy grasses, right? It’s the perfect backdrop for the pinks in the foreground.

Tomato Plant nightshade Solanum lycopersicum

Rounding out this densely populated corner is a tomato plant. Just like last year, tomatoes are popping up all over the garden. The plant is doing fine now, but once the Acer fills out for the summer, the tomato won’t receive much light. I don’t have the heart to try to move it so it stays. There are no rules that say tomatoes have to bear fruit. It can enjoy the quiet solitude of the corner and do whatever it wants.

garden sampler

Blogging 100: Day Twelve

Our Blogging University assignment for today is to “Increase Your Commenting Confidence.” I’m pretty chatty around here. I drop comments all over the blogosphere and receive thoughtful and thought-provoking comments on my blog in turn. I followed the instructions, though to

“read six posts written in response to the same prompt, and leave comments on at least two of them.”

Fun!

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19 thoughts on “And In This Corner, A Garden Sampler”

  2. I’m not at all surprised that your plants want to stick around and enjoy another season with you – and for me it’s super cool that a trusty native wants to stay and play too 🙂 The mention of this tomato made me think of the one that had self seeded last year in a crack in the pavement – do you remember the one? I think it might have been near a step? I have wondered from time to time how it fared.

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    • Pauline, I was thinking of you when I posted this. There are reminders of you here in and out of the house.

      I do remember the tomato you reference, and kept a close eye on it while it grew. Once we had low temps, the tiny plant wilted and died. So it goes in the garden.

      Thanks for remembering and asking.

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  3. Everything looks very contented. I have a self sown tomato doing very well next to a rose. Unfortunately it is going to fruit too late to be useful but, like you, I am not going to weed it out. It’s welcome to stay in its chosen place.

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  4. That tomato seedling will love you for letting it stay! Who knows, it might even manage a flower or two. It’s always nice to see things spreading as it confirms that your garden is a nice place to hang around in! 😉

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  5. Don’t you love it when plants pop up in unexpected places? I bet you even get tomatoes on that plant! We had a juliet tomato plant pop up in our strawberry patch one year, I left it!

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  8. Lucky us for you to get homework in your Blogging class. There’s always something interesting and fun to read. I love how much freedom your garden gets, no major rules, just a happy place to set your roots and pop in for a visit, be it long or short. Two of the plants you mentioned, the cyclamen and polka dot plant are sold in pots here as house plants. They’re considered ‘tender’ indoor choices. So it amazes me that your garden is so temperate that they just pop up. I feel like I come from a different planet but want to stay on yours because it’s so much better 😀
    I’d like to incorporate a couple of tall grasses at the curb, when I have it all torn up to redo. As I mentioned, it’s snowing today and gardening seems so far away. I’m so happy I’ll be spending time with you and the girls shortly. It’ll get me through this shoulder season more easily. I’m beginning to see garden things arrive in the shops but can’t bring anything home, it’s a bit of a tease. La la la…..one more week 😀 ❤ xoxox

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