A Prairie Garden

Last May, I dreamed about a beautiful wildflower garden until I tilled the dry, rocky soil and finally scattered the green planting crystals on top. I watered the sorry effort and, somewhat discouraged, simply hoped for some kind of "sign" of life.

The weeks passed and a few little plants sprouted, but to my untrained eye the crabgrass looked much like the promised wildflowers. The rain fell on the bad seed and the good, and Bob took to watering what we now jokingly called "the prairie garden". Before we left for Calgary in mid-July, I was delighted to see a few flowers that turned out to be cosmos. Other blooms soon followed: cornflowers, poppies, zinnias, several others I can't identify with any certainty.


I did some weeding and Bob fertilized my little plot when he was taking care of his own plants. The rabbits hide in the greenery and a few butterflies have been spotted on healthy looking colorful flowers. I'm ecstatic and crazy proud of my modest success.

I've started thinking about turning this little space into a small meadow of color, blooming merrily from early spring through late fall. I'm sitting on the deck enjoying my view of the "prairie garden", minus the wine but full of all the summer joy I anticipated last May.