The woods, I call  the rabbit patch, are full of flowers now.   I have seen them.  All sorts of things are blooming . I have long suspected that those woods were enchanted-and  as it turns out, I was right.  The evidence is scattered along the edge of the young woods, where the yard begins- and all along the path that runs through it. 

I knew about the irises.  When I came here, ten years ago, the woods were spilling into the yard.  A big tree had fallen a long time before me and been left, which encouraged an under growth to claim that area. I wanted to see the barns that had been hidden for a long time in those woods.  It was a day in May and the irises were blooming.   I could see large clumps of them behind the fallen tree.  In the fall, I started cleaning up the thorn vines and all else, that I considered out of bounds, but I left the irises as they were.  

A few years later,  A butterfly bush showed up along the edge of the rabbit patch.  I have several around the farmhouse.  We had a hurricane that year and I figured the wind had planted that seed.  It stands at least twelve feet tall now. It is quite fragrant and the butterflies flock there all summer.

A year or so ago, I saw the lantana’s bright clusters of yellow, orange and pink blooming just down the way from the butterfly bush. I have lantana planted in the corner of the yard, three acres away from that spot.  Maybe, a bird  in great haste, had dropped an autumn berry from mine,  I thought-right there where the flower is growing-and I was glad for it.

There is a large bed of purple loosestrife.  It is considered invasive, so most folks won’t have it.  It blooms in August with purple spikes, and it is greedy,  but I mow the path weekly and mine is behaving nicely.  This showed up by the irises a while back.

I was mowing the day before yesterday and was admiring the entrance to the path forged long ago.  I had never planned on it-but it is charming, I always think.  What a shock to see little lavender blossoms all around me and standing several feet tall!   While I was away, for a few weeks, The french mulberry had taken over a good portion of the rabbit patch!  What a beautiful predicament!  In the fall, bright fuschia berries will replace the meek blossoms and as pretty as I find the flowers, I know the berries will have a striking affect.  The berries are edible and it made me glad to know the birds and the rabbit patch community will eat well in September when the apples are long gone.  The more I looked, the more I saw. The woods were full of flowers and it was lovely. 

I have toiled in my yard at least a thousand hours since moving here- planting and civilizing the grounds.  I have spent a fair amount of grocery money too. I tend the yard year round in some form-and to me it is pretty.  It is a wonder to me that the woods are full of flowers.  It was not my hand that planted  them.  I did not bring water to them or pull the weeds beneath them.  This  garden wasn’t planted by man.  The One who planted this garden may have used the wind , careless birds or a kingdom of fairies-by whatever means it came about, the rabbit patch makes July a better time, for the woods are full of flowers .  I have seen the way they grow and my heart is grateful- for the way of the wild and the butterflies too.