I had just been weeding for hours, tiring of the tape-loop of worried and complaining thoughts circling in my head like a caged hamster on his wheel. I smiled though, not letting on. I’m sure if she had to do the rounds of her clients and then go home to weed she might have a different idea about this mindless task. I can agree with her that there is something delightfully mindless about weeding. But after an hour or two. A day or two. A week or two mindlessness becomes a mind-numbing bore.
When I start feeling this way, it invariably happens each July, I know it’s time to pack up and head to the mountains and my favorite garden Tucquala Meadows where I don’t need to weed. Unless you considered taking snapshots of wildflowers “weeding”.
There is something about the careful observation of a wildflower that is the antithesis of weeding. Here’s a sampler of what I saw:
Rosy twisted stalk ( Streptopus lanceolatus var curvipes )
Redwood violet ( Viola sempervirens )
Broadleafed mimner's lettuce ( Claytonia cordifolia )
Star Solomon's Seal ( Maianthemum stellatum )
Mountain strawberry ( Fragaria virginiana )
Western meadow rue ( Thalictrum occidentale )
Bunchberry ( Cornus unalaschkensis )
Tall bluebells ( Mertensia paniculata )
Mountain Heliotrope ( Valeriana sitchensis )
Checker lily ( Fritillaria affinis )
Western bistort ( Polygonum bistortoides )
Spreading phlox ( Phlox diffusa )
Western dog violet ( Viola adunca )
Bog candle ( Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata )
Coastal larkspur ( Delphinium menziesii )