Perennials

I don't even remember the names of the perennials that I am in love with.  Several years ago, I would shop the garden centers when they were having sales.  One place in particular would sell pots for $1.00.  Annuals, perennials . . . whatever wasn't looking good enough to sell for full price.  Sometimes, the plants didn't even have a name on them.  At $1.00 a pot, I bought up a lot of plants.

So now they are in their third year or beyond, or they have been transplanted to another location.  Whatever.  They are glorious!  The round perennial beds that I envisioned years ago are full to bursting.  (Although my cat still seems to be able to find that one bald spot in which she claims litter box status.)  Yes, I have planted a few annual marigolds in the beds, just to fill in the spaces, but the glory of the beds lies in the perennials.

Sometimes I wish that all my gardens, including the vegetable ones, were perennials.  How much cheaper and easier life would be!  As it is, the only vegetable perennials I have are the herbs:  oregano, mint, thyme, and chives.  But happily, some annuals think they are really perennials, and so I have sage and parsley returning to the garden unbidden.  And of course, there are the strawberry beds and the blueberry bushes and the asparagus.  And this year, I have an entire 4' X 8' bed of tomato plants, all volunteers from last year.  Nature is full of surprises.

Indigo Girls have a song I love called Little Perennials.  The opening lines are these:

Back in the long stretch of loneliness
I have come to call a living
I'm getting something for all this love's labor
Even when I am forgetting

I am getting something for all this love's labor.  I get to fall in love.  Perennially.