Enjoying the path of today...

Spring has kicked into high gear here in Michigan.  I have been extra busy with my son and husband, spending quality time with them as the weather breaks and we stretch our winter-laden brains for sunlight and energy.  The to-do lists are long and the days are still short, so it is a task all in itself to decide what to do in the garden each night.  The house and sidewalks have been washed, and the lawnmower was started for the first time last night.  Most of my woody bushes have been pruned and are bursting with tiny green sparkles of life.  The daylilies are growing by leaps and bounds each day as I rush to get them divided and replanted before they get too big for a quick recovery.  So far 30 pots are ready for the plant sale on June 12th.  I started a "honey-do" list for my husband, which includes little jobs like replacing motion lights, repairing and staining the sandbox, and repairing some chain link fence posts that our Golden Retriever has shaken loose.  The jobs are endless.  But, this year, I am taking the time to enjoy these prepartory tasks, and not look at them as means to an end.  After all, I'm not sure there is "an end" in my garden.

These two butterflies photographed in my garden last year are little reminders that we are part of a larger gardening team.  It's a team of humans, who try the best they know how to provide a beautiful landscape that is enjoyed by many living things beside ourselves.  I'm inspired today because I see a real change in my attitude about preparing for bloom season.  It is very refreshing to be happy with small steps of progress and enjoy the path I'm on today, instead of thinking about the end result.  The small creatures that visit my garden, like the two friends in these pictures, are living jewels - accessories on the wardrobe of my outside life.  This morning the robins sang before the sun came up, the squirrels chased each other across the back lawn and a plump earthworm squirmed on a rock near the fountain. 

It was a life-filled morning in the garden. 

In daylily news, I was honored to be a speaker at the Dearborn Garden Club this week, a club founded by Clara B. Ford almost one hundred years ago.  Of course we "talked daylilies," but a super bonus was a connection I made with a member of the Dearborn Arrangers Guild, and the invitation I got to attend their meeting next week.  These are serious floral designers, some of whom have travelled to Japan to learn the craft, who can surely help me become a better designer and hopefully recover from the colossal rookie failures in designing with daylilies I had last year.  I'm planning on entering two different shows with my daylily-dominant designs this year.  That's one more show than last year, and I am confident the results will be better.  It has been fun to stretch my boundaries and try something new - even if I wasn't overly successful the first time around. 

Keep trying, little butterfly, keep trying.