From my garden

I have become an avid gardener in the past several years. There is really no task that is a burden when I am out on my knees in the dirt. Weeding? No problem! There's something cathartic about pulling out the stuff I don't want. Like other gardeners, I eagerly await warm spring weather so I can be out tidying my beds, planting new flowers and seeds, and waiting with great anticipation for the perennials I planted to come peeping up through the dirt. Right now, my garden is blooming with pink coneflowers, red and pink bee balm, daiseys, cosmos, and impatiens I grew from seed, starting them indoors in late winter with flourescent lighting above and a heating pad below.

It is deeply gratifying to see humming birds, butterflies and honey bees sipping nectar from the flowers I planted. I put in milkweed for the monarch butterflies, as I read last year that their numbers have been decimated by habitat reduction. Milkweed is the only plant monarch caterpillars will eat. And to the honey bees, who struggle with all the pesticides poisoning the flowers they need to make their honey, I say, "Come and drink in my garden. Nothing will hurt you here. You are my honored guests."