Haiku #30 – Going Native
Today is the last day of National Poetry Month and the last day of my personal promise to write a haiku per day inspired by my native plant garden. I have to admit that I didn’t know if I would make it to the end. I’m usually really good at starting and not so much at finishing. But I did it and I surprised myself a time or two. I really enjoyed the process and found myself falling in love with word play once again, always a good thing for a writer.
Only a few of mine really hit the mark of what I wanted to say but some of them had lines that I fell in love with and I want to revise the rest of the poem to match up to those great lines.Thanks to everyone who supported me through this challenge.
Before we even had the keys to this house I knew what I wanted to do – create a wildlife habitat in the front and back yards. It’s a long way from done but it’s much closer than it was two years ago. I was glad to see the lawn go. I’m happy we’ve redirected the water from the downspouts underground. But what gives me the most pleasure is to go outside in the middle of the day when the neighborhood is quiet and just visit the plants, seeing spiders and predatory wasps and bumble bees and carpenter bees and the occasional hummingbird zoom by.
goodbye lawnmower
you’re not welcome anymore
wildlife wanted here
bugs and birds and beasts
move in when no one’s looking
happy neighborhood
@copyright Susan Taylor Brown
A Flannel Bush is a beautiful show stopper of a plant. But all that beauty comes at a price – the leaves and flower capsules are not to be touched – they are covered with fine hairs that irritate the skin. These are also normally huge plants, big enough to cause one of the nurseries to warn people not to plant it close to the house unless you want to use an ax to hack your way outside. I have a very tiny one in the front yard, at the edge of the driveway. It is the smallest one we have, a Ken Taylor, that I hope to be able to keep under control with careful pruning. It has three flowers on it already and it is barely a foot tall. And even at the low height, I have to stop and stare.
Coyote Bush is one of those California native plants you either love or hate. I happen to love it. It’s dependable as all get out. It is huge on the wildlife value. But some people don’t like it. The Native Americans had many uses for this plant, from medicinal, to making arrow shaft, to building houses. They also called them “fuzzy wuzzy. “I love the seed heads. They look like feather dusters with long silky threads.
There’s one thing you should know about this plant before you plant it in your garden – it actually shows up on lists of plants you should consider for security purposes around house. Roses have nothing compared to the thorns on these babies. We have three of them planted next to the house of evil. It’s a beautiful plant with long, tubular flowers which are pollinated by hummingbirds.
One of my very favorite California Native plants is the poppy. I love the way they grow indiscriminately, in the dirt, in the mulch, in the cracks of a driveway. If you toss some seed out in the fall you can ignore it, let the winter rains do its thing, and come spring, the poppies burst forth.
Let’s connect!