Life: a series of little mysteries

It’s true, isn’t it?  We all wonder all the time.  What are we here for?  For how long? Why do people act the way they do? Why doesn’t my dog stop chewing my shoes?  Why didn’t my Gaillardia come back this year?

The latest mystery for me is that last one. Why didn’t my Gaillardia (blanket flower) come back? The garden is always a source of mystery.  I’m not an expert at this, I’ve learned by the seat of my pants (as I may have mentioned before), so every year when something doesn’t make an appearance, I stand and scratch my head and wonder.  I’m also very disappointed, because that blanket flower was gorgeous last year and showed no signs of being in distress.

After a quick google search, about.com tells me that Gaillardia is a short-lived perennial that sometimes re-seeds itself.  Short-lived as in 2-3 years?  That’s about how long I’ve had it. I’m just hoping that it has re-seeded and will grow up later in the summer ready to be beautiful again next year.  For the moment I’m being careful  to leave little seedlings that I’m not sure I recognize.  I would hate to tear out my lovely blanket flower, thinking it’s a weed.

I keep very scanty records of my garden, so I’ve often planted something, forgotten that it’s there, and the following spring I start tearing ‘weeds’ out without thinking about what might be coming up.  I’m sure I’ve lost plenty of plants that way.  However, there are other reasons plants don’t survive; harsh winters, disease, over-crowding, wrong soil, etc.  It’s helpful to try to figure out the reasons if you can, so you can avoid any planting mistakes you may have made, but beyond that you just have to let it go.  Just another of the garden’s mysteries.

Another plant that I’m a little worried about is my ground-cover white clematis that I bought at a garden club flower sale in Ottawa.  It has been doing really well for a few years and this year I’m not sure it’s coming up.  It might be too early to despair, since some plants make a later start than others, so I’m keeping an eye on the spot.

Some mysteries never get solved; you just have to live with them and move on.  There will always be new ones to ponder, but with Google to help us, some of them (mostly the simpler questions of life, I’m afraid) get cleared up.

Here is a clip of Leonard Bernstein conducting Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto with Krystian Zimerman playing the piano.  It seems to be a dialogue between the piano and orchestra, but the two sides of the conversation seem quite far apart in their views.  I love it. Hope you enjoy it.

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