A year of limited gardening taught
me the beauty of rewilding. See how naturalized perennials created a full
season of blooms with less work and more joy
For years I planted perennials with the hope that, over time, they would
naturalize and return in greater numbers. I didn’t fully understand the long‑term
benefits of that work I only knew I
loved planting, dividing, and tending them. Last year, when I became a full‑time
caregiver to my husband, I finally learned what all those years of planting had
given me.
With limited time for gardening, I couldn’t rely on my usual routine of
adding annuals to fill the gaps between perennial blooms. Normally, those
annuals carried my garden’s color well into fall. But last year, I simply
didn’t have the time or energy. Instead, I let nature take the lead. I allowed
the perennials, flowering shrubs, and naturalized plantings to bloom in their
own rhythm.
What surprised me was how complete and beautiful the garden became on its
own.
A Season of Natural Bloom Cycles
The garden unfolded like a slow, steady symphony:
- Late winter: snowdrops
- Early spring: purple crocus,
early daffodils
- Mid-spring: hyacinths,
tulips, more daffodils
- Late spring: forsythia,
dogwood, lilacs, and finally the irises, peonies
- Early summer: lilies both
stargazers and daylilies
- Mid-summer: bee balm,
coneflowers, black‑eyed Susans, Shasta daisies, hydrangeas
- Late July: the fragrant
evening bloom of my 4 o’clocks
- Late summer: hundreds of
naked ladies and sweet autumn clematis
- Fall: chrysanthemums carrying the season to its close
With so many naturalized perennials returning in waves, I didn’t need or even miss the annuals. The garden was full, colorful,
and alive from February through fall.
The Gift of Letting Nature Back In
Rewilding doesn’t have to mean letting your yard grow wild and untended.
Sometimes it simply means trusting the plants you’ve nurtured over the years to
take care of themselves and you.
My work last year was minimal: deadheading spent blooms, fertilizing,
watering, and spot‑weeding the mulched beds. The garden did the rest. It
reminded me that a well‑planned perennial garden is a living system, capable of
thriving even when life pulls you away.
Letting nature back into my garden didn’t let me down. It carried me
through a difficult year with beauty, color, and the comfort of knowing that
the work I had done over decades was still giving back.
