Garden Glimpses: 06.12.25
calendula | bugs | raspberry lemonade bouquet
Another week full of terrible news, of war and strife. Another week full of flowers, too. Life is both, eh? But the flowers are especially beautiful right now. After not growing well in my backyard garden, Cosmos are thriving in the front where they can bake in the unrelenting sun.
I’m especially troubled as I write today, with the new escalation between Israel and Iran. Peace seems a very far off thing at the moment. I’ve spent a big chunk of my adult life meditating on what it means to be a peacemaker, and I still don’t have it figured out. But I know it’s not peace through war that gets us there. Or even peace through strength. True peace must be both the means and the end.
Spotlight: Calendula
Calendula (or Pot Marigold) has enjoyed a particularly long season with the mild temperatures and plentiful rainfall this year. I keep expecting to have to pull them out and replace them, but they keep hanging on. They did not last this long in the previous year, but they bloomed through that mild winter, so maybe they were spent.
The two varieties I have going are Pacific Beauty (yellow) and Strawberry Blond (with the reddish tint). The name Calendula comes from the Latin for calendar. I’ve read a few explanations that it blooms on the first of the month or blooms every month of the calendar year. Either way, it’s a dependable one.
On Bugs
If you're gonna kill a bug
Don’t do it just because
I like bugs and I'll tell you why
They’re alive and so am I
Bugs
[…]
And I don't know what the mantis is praying for
But he's probably just thanking the Lord
That he don't live in a home
And he don't got a phone
And he don't sit around all angry and bored
He's just a bug
— from the song “Bugs” by Jesse Welles
The rain has brought bugs, and lots of them. So. Many. Mosquitoes. We don’t have the yard sprayed because it’s really not good for the ecosystem. Blanketing everything in pesticide has too many downstream consequences.
Still, it’d be nice to enjoy the yard without so many blood-sucking insects to contend with. I’m trying out a new method to lessen their population by making a bucket trap, also known as the Mosquito Bucket of Doom. It works by attracting them to lay eggs in treated water that kills the larvae before it can hatch. The water contains a mosquito dunk, which releases a bacteria that is only harmful to mosquito larvae. So if the dog or kids get into it, there shouldn’t be any ill effects. We’ll see if it makes an impact!
Bouquet of the Week
I’m calling this one Raspberry Lemonade. So pretty it needed a name. The pink and the yellow together are impossibly cheerful, bright even on a cloudy day. I finally had long enough lemon basil to cut, so it smelled pretty good too. I’m quite proud of this one.
Till next time - Peace!
Ashley