There is much to be thankful for in the garden. Mostly, it's just the opportunity to become acquainted with extraordinary, selfless beauty. I see plants that keep putting out flowers, nearly 12 months of the year, with no fertilizer and barely any water. I have a perennial red salvia that is four foot tall by four foot wide. It is home to flocks of praying mantids and its foliage is redolent of musky mint. I also have a perennial hebe (HEE-bee), of similar dimensions that has, at this moment, a hundred lavender and white bottlebrush flowers, about one inch in size, and it just keeps blooming and blooming. These salvia and hebe plants themselves are not glamorous. However, their flowers make a statement not just about beauty, but about perseverance and legacy. For without flowers, there would be no seeds which, like children, might develop into a unique sort of individual never seen before.
