Field Notes May 17-22: Diversity

Complaining about the weather is boring, so I won’t. But it has been on my mind every single day. We have a profusion of wild beauty this week at the farm, in large part because of many different varieties, all doing their part. There are the perennials like peonies and astilbe. They took huge hits from multiple frosts this spring-there are less this year and for it they are treasured more. We have biennials-sweet william and foxgloves. We grow three different varieties of foxgloves. This year the aphids savagely attacked the Cafe Creme, whose sacrifice allowed the Dalmation Pink and White to flourish. We have fall sown annuals-nigella and bupleurum seeded between neighbors that will bloom later in the year; companions who grow better together. My point is, you need many different shapes and colors and planting times and hardiness to make a bouquet. Resilience comes from diversity. Anyone who doesn’t appreciate that, who wishes all the crops to look and act the same, is setting themselves up for a famine. For my part, I’ll keep loving it all.

~Emma