The most serious gardening I do would seem very strange to an onlooker, for it involves hours of walking round in circles, apparently doing nothing. —Helen Dillon
Mostly what I am doing when I wander — which I do most days from May through September and a few times a week otherwise — is looking for. Looking for what? I’m not quite sure, but I suppose I’m looking for what I wouldn’t see if I weren’t looking for it, if that makes any sense.
In spring and summer, I have some expectation that I will see insects, snails, caterpillars, arachnids, moths and butterflies, as well as small plant buds and plants emerging above ground in spring, leaf fungus, slug trails, volunteer shoots, new weeds I’ve never seen before, but for all that expectation, I also feel open to what comes, ready to be surprised by what suddenly comes into focus.
trifecta: longhorn beetle, skipper butterfly, and American Lady butterfly on echinacea, July 2014scarlet lily beetle (Lilioceris lilii) on tiny fritillaria leaves, June 2014longhorn beetle (Clytus ruricola) on filipendula, July 2014longhorn beetle (Typocerus) on echinacea, July 2014yellow-collared scape moth (Cisseps fulvicollis) on comfrey, Aug 2014eastern black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) butterfly caterpillar on fennel, Sept 2014milkweed tussock moth (Euchaetes egle) caterpillar on asclepias, Sept. 2012many milkweed tussock moth (Euchaetes egle) caterpillars on asclepias, Aug 2013hickory tussock moth (Lophocampa caryae) caterpillar on asclepias, Aug 2013three monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) caterpillars (and some yellow aphids) on asclepias, Sept 2012many milkweed tussock moth (Euchaetes egle) caterpillars on asclepias, Aug 2013lesser maple spanworm moth (Speranza pustularia) on trollius leaf, July 2013monarch butterfly resting in apple tree, Sept 2014common wood nymph (Cercyonis pegala) butterfly on annual phlox, Aug 2014wild indigo duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae) butterfly on buddleia, Aug 2014American copper (Lycaena phlaeas) butterfly on yarrow, July 2013American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) butterfly on echinacea, July 2014cabbage white (Pieris rapae) on clover, July 2014summer azure butterfly (Celastrina neglecta) on Joe Pye weed, Aug 2013clover lopper (Caenurgina crassiuscula) moth, Aug 2014Herpetogramma abdominalis moth, Aug 2014Haploa Clymene moth, July 2013clematis clear-wing moth on lemon balm, Aug 2013Eutrapela clemataria (curved-tooth geometer) moth, 3 June 2014rusty tussock moth egg case, April 2012orange mint moth on hydrangea leaf, July 2013baptisia emerging, April 2014Rodgersia emerging, May 2012leaf hopper (Graphocephala) on crocosmia, July 2014Leaf-footed bug (Acanthocephala Terminalis) on patio table, Sept. 2013beetle in soil, April 2012Green stink bug nymph (Chinavia hilaris) on raspberries leaves, Sept 2013hover fly (Syrphid syrphini) on filipendula, July 2014wasp-mimicking syrphid fly (Spilomyia fusca) on white echinacea, Aug 2014Hover flies (Temnostoma alternans) and maybe fungus gnat and syrphid fly on anemone sylvestris, June 2014snail on sedum, Sept 2014slug on chives, Oct 2013Leiobunum vittatum harvestman on cilantro, Sept 2014
Occasionally I shriek.
dark fishing spider (Dolomedes tenebrosus) oncomposter, Aug 2014
While I look, I listen, not for the sound of my own shrieking but mainly for bird song and calls, insects, anything else that floats in. I’ve heard of a Native American practice of stopping during the day to notice 7 sounds, and sometimes on my walks through the yard, I do this. Focusing on sound amplifies sound.
As a gardener, I also take note of problems that I could address with garden tools, bare spots in need of more planting, and depending on the season, plants under attack from aphids or grasshoppers or deer, tomatoes too shaded by their own leaves, vole and chipmunk holes, damage to tree and shrub trunks from rodents, winter kill, wind shear, animal tracks and scat, and so on, all useful information for future decisions.
oleander aphids on asclepias, Aug 2012grasshopper on hydrangea, July 2013katydid on comfrey, Aug 2013bear scat, Nov 2013grey squirrel, Dec. 2013deer track, Jan 2012deer pellets under apple tree, Feb 2012tracks in back yard, March 2013
To my neighbours, though, I must seem a tourist in my own back yard, as I snap photos, take a closer look here and there, marvel at this or that wonder, muse over perplexing clues, and often, just stand in one spot, looking around, doing nothing in particular.
