Create a Flower Highway

Why We Plant Flowers and the Good it Does

A green and white flower! ‘Spring Green’ viridiflora tulip is white with a delicate band of pale green down the outside of each petal. They develop their best color in semi-shade and have strong, straight stems, 12-24 inches tall. Viridiflora tulips bloom in early-late May and last up to three weeks. Plant bulbs in fall for spring display. Zones 3-7.

“Making a garden is not a gentle hobby for the elderly, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole, and once it has done so he will have to accept that his life is going to be radically changed.”

- May Sarton, Plant Dreaming Deep

Gardening—especially with the vivid charm of annuals and perennials—can blossom into a lifelong passion. As writer May Sarton observed, working hand-in-hand with Nature is not only deeply satisfying, it can “seize a person whole.”

In many ways, planting a flower garden is like crafting a painting or molding a piece of pottery—only here, our canvas is alive. We channel our creative instincts, but we also dance to Nature’s unpredictable rhythm. A sudden heatwave may parch our blossoms, a cold snap might wither them overnight. Pests arrive uninvited, mildew creeps in unannounced.

And still, we return to the garden—brush in hand, hope in heart.

There’s something irresistible about a bright spring morning. It stirs us into action—shovel in hand, hose at the ready, turning the earth to make space for just one more plant we have to try.

Still, despite the setbacks—and there are always setbacks—we gardeners keep at it. Why? Because gardening awakens our senses and links us to the ebb and flow of nature’s rhythms. We find joy in the process. And that joy makes us natural optimists. We're always dreaming of the next season—the glow of a white-flowered garden, the buzz of pollinators weaving through a bed of blooms.

Deep down, we know not every planting will succeed. As May Sarton so wisely said, “making a garden is not a gentle hobby.” And yet, we press on—buoyed by hope and the thrill of possibility.

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), a medicinal herb, has small white daisy-like blooms above light-green foliage. Feverfew's pungent foliage emits a strong, bitter odor which repels bees. It attracts other good bugs such as hoverflies and tachinid flies. These insects eat pests like aphids, thrips and mealybugs that ravage garden plants. Do not plant feverfew near flowers that rely on bees for pollination!

One idea for flower gardeners is to create a Flower Highway