Tucked in the Tangle
Do you have a wild area nearby? Maybe a woodlot or a meadow? Maybe an empty lot taken over by weeds, or a large crack in the sidewalk where plants have taken root? One of the routes I walk takes me past a strip of land between the road and a fenced-in area owned by the town. It’s about 3 or 4 feet wide and a block long. This strip is completely wild, left to grow all of July and into August. Sometime late in August it is mowed, but until then It’s just a mass of green entangled things.
I love this mini meadow. I love how untamed it is, how any plant that finds a place to root can grow there, how there are no renters agreements or rules of any kind. And I love that this place challenges me to look closely. And when I do, when I slow my pace and really look, I am amazed at how the inhabitants of this little strip of land seem to untangle themselves from the mass of green and show themselves. The pure white of campion, the greens of milkweed and four o’clocks, the bright magenta of red clover, the soft pink of bindweed, and the sapphire-blue of chicory just waking up, the daintily-patterned Queen Anne’s Lace, all seem to stand up under my gaze and call out, “I am here.”
Having seen each flower once, I now see them every time I walk past that strip, which though undoubtedly a wild place, has become a garden for me. Yes, it’s a garden full of plants most gardeners would call weeds. But their beauty is no less for that label, and their wildness is so magnificent!
Is there a wild place in your life? What calls out to be seen there? Feel free to share in the comments. And as always, thank you for reading Walking on God.
Denise. I love places and edges like that too. I see the cultured lawns and gardens all around me. And then there’s the place where the beginning of the Krumkill that flows past my house can sometimes wash over the road. In the “untamed” woods beside me there are jewels, and I am always happy to see them emerge.
Thank you so much for your musings and insights. ❤️🙏🏻