A Garden Without a Gardener

I'm finally getting back in the garden again after a long absence. Apologies for the lengthy time without a new post. I appreciate all those who have been visiting and leaving comments. In late January (just before the good gardening weather hits California), I came down with a condition called frozen shoulder. It hit suddenly and for no reason, and literally left me without the use of my left arm for several months. After an extensive surgery and long recovery, I'm finally getting back out into the garden. I've come to believe that these random things in life happen for a reason, so I am thankful for the experience. It has left me with a new outlook on a great number of things. One of those things (here comes the funny part), is that it made me realize my garden (and many other things) are fine without my constant attention. In fact, the borders are looking better than ever this year without my usual fussing, digging, planting, relocating, and pruning. I'm lucky to have a husband who took over dead heading and some of the basic trimming (and, out of all this, he's learned the joy of spending time tending to the garden), but overall, it required little to no work this year to look as beautiful as ever. I watched some of the plants that had been struggling for so long suddenly take off and bloom. I noticed how plants that I always thought would crowd each other without constant pruning grew to live side by side in harmony, without so much as a snip. The growth and beauty in my garden has been a great comfort to me during these months of healing. It was one less thing that I felt was falling apart. I would go out many mornings after sleepless nights (a torn up shoulder feels like you've been hit by a bus, and so does trying to go to sleep with it), with my coffee in hand, and just sit to enjoy the peace and the butterflies. As I think about it now, maybe this year I was not meant to be constantly picking, pruning, and fussing over every detail. Maybe all my garden needed to flourish and shine was a little breathing room. We all need this at different times in our lives. And, just maybe, this was my garden's opportunity to take care of me for a change.