Garden Zen

Some gardening tasks I can almost say I enjoy because of their contemplative, even meditative qualities. These are chores I do over and over, and while I do them, I can put my mind on automatic pilot and just go.

Doing these tasks in the early hours of the morning, even before the sun has popped up, makes for a calming, focused start to my day. At that hour, the bluebirds chirp, the turkeys and their flocks of young walk by, grazing on insects; crows stop to search for grubs, and the early commuters drive by with that curious Puritan work ethic we prize, but try to forget when we are practicing garden Zen.

One task that qualifies as garden Zen for me is deadheading the daylilies. Letting the old flowers hang and dry always reminds me of dirty old socks—not a pretty sight. Growing daylilies means flowers in bloom all season long. I have early, mid-season and late daylilies. They’re in my dooryard border, my raised perennial beds, my old-time, original-to-this-homestead beds, and my backyard-daylily-and-nothing-much-else bed.

In other words, I can find daylilies to deadhead most of the summer and into the early fall. To deadhead I either attach a basket to my belt to hold the spent buds and use floral scissors to clip the buds, or just use my fingers to pick them off and return them to the ground below to decompose.

Deadheading lilies can get messy, as the spent flower buds are sometimes spongy and give off excess liquid. The task also requires a deft touch, a perfect snap, to avoid taking unopened buds by mistake as I remove the flower and its now-pollinated seed pod. I like to get this done early in the morning to clean up the display and show it off all day.

I don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers, as some daylilies are fragrant, such as lemon daylilies and the hybrids developed by a local nursery owner, which have a delightfully fruity fragrance. I have to remember to check my nose when I’m finished. It may be pollen yellow!

Another job I consider Zen-like is picking the Japanese beetles and rose chafers off plants they use as launching pads to the rest of my garden. In my yard, the beetles launch primarily from the asparagus and rhubarb beds, which are both substantial. (At a former house, grapevines and green beans were the preferred stopping off places. I try to forgive and forget, but perhaps there’s also a hint of revenge involved in my beetle-picking activities.)

I can pick beetles easily at dusk and in the early morning hours. The beetles are in a torpor at those times. Simply putting a can under a beetle-infested plant seems to be enough provocation to send many of the pests plunging to the bottom of my Italian tomato can with a satisfying “plink.” I hold my hand loosely over the top, but few beetles make much effort to escape. I shake the can to make sure they remain at the bottom and every now and then walk over and feed the contents to the chickens that have been standing by their fence anxiously pacing.

Chickens love beetles. I find that by picking this way, I can prevent a lot of the damage to my roses and old-fashioned hollyhocks while they are in bloom. I need to be especially vigilant about collecting beetles during hot weather, when they are most active. Thus, I prefer the early morning and dusk for the coolness those hours provide.

I keep a couple of caveats in mind while picking Japanese beetles: 1. I try to make sure as I reach out to grab a beetle that it isn’t a bee. Bees working the asparagus collect highly visible orange pollen that builds up on their bodies. Two Japanese beetles mating look about the same size as one bee. As I get into the picking mode, I may relax too much as I reach out to grab a beetle. I haven’t grabbed a bee yet, but I can see it as a distinct possibility. 2. I wear an insect repellent or netting. While so intent on the beetles, I may not be able to avoid a sneak attack by mosquitoes, black flies, deer flies, or gnats. Either possibility can end the state of calmness I’m trying to cultivate.

Depending on which time of day I’ve selected to perform my chores, I may now be ready for a shower or an early morning cup of coffee. I relax and enjoy. The only thing that matters is the here and now.

By Helen Downing, Master Gardener, UNH Cooperative Extension

08/08/06

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