Serendipity Gardens by Carol Hegel Lang

Carol Hegel Lang is a green thumb residing in Albert Lea. Email her at carolhegellang@gmail.com.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 4, Mother Nature decided it was time to make a change in the gardens. Winds, light snow and a bit of ice brought down our beautiful Eastern white pine tree in the front entry garden.

My last column featured this little nook, where I would sit in the shade of this beauty and enjoy the gardens along the driveway. Now this garden is faced with sun and most of the flowers growing in it are more shade tolerant. It looks like I will have my work cut-out for me this spring reworking this garden.

My first task will be to see how much shade the neighbor’s oak trees will cast on the garden as to what I will need to change. I already know that I will be planting a chokecherry tree in it for the pollinators, as it will provide early season nectar and then later berries for birds. If there is enough room, I will plant a hydrangea tree to give some height also.

When the tree fell, it landed on the split-rail fence and out into the street,  just missing a car that parks on our side of the street and my Little Free Library. We have to feel very lucky that it didn’t damage the neighbor’s house as well, so even though I am very sad to have lost this tree I am grateful that it only did damage to our property.

Looking on the bright side of this dilemma, my lilies will be happy to get more sun and should stand more erect instead of leaning towards the sun. Luckily the hosta that are planted there are the variegated variety that will tolerate a bit of sunshine. My windmill did sustain a bit of damage, but it will still provide height in the garden. It just won’t rotate anymore.

As I am writing this, we are getting huge snowflakes falling to the ground, but we are not supposed to get much accumulation so I need to get out and feed my birds. We have eight cardinals feeding early in the morning and at dusk, so in my journal I name the day by the number of cardinals, such as “It’s an 8 cardinal day.

Lots of starlings arrive as soon as the feeders are filled and eat all of the good stuff, which does irritate me and then I remind myself that not all of God’s creatures are beautiful. We must love them just the same.

Lately I have been viewing the photographs I took of the gardens this past year to get ideas for next year. You would think that after gardening for more than 40 years it would be a simple thing to decide what plants to place in containers and where those containers will sit, but it really does change from year to year.

This fall as the gardens became bare I moved some containers around and now they will sit where I have placed them. Just moving something a few feet makes a huge difference sometimes. Later this summer one of the annuals I had planted along the driveway were really waning so I pulled them out and placed a container upside down and on top of it a birdbath, which really makes a huge difference in this area, so this is where I will place this duo again next year.

Change, although not always welcome, does give you the opportunity to try new plants, and for me that means adding more pollinator friendly ones. We will see what the new year will bring.

As the year comes to a close I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you for reading my column. Stop by and visit sometime. You never know what you will find in the gardens.

“Lo, sifted through the winds that blow, down comes the soft and silent snow, white petals from the flowers that grow in the cold atmosphere.” — George W. Bungay