As we work on the exterior landscaping at Limina, we moved some perennials from our house on Cape Cod. We love connecting these parts of our lives through plants, and transplanted some of the calendula plants that thrive on Cape. The smell of calendula is very evocative for me as I used the lotion on my children when they were babies. The healing properties of the plant seemed perfect for Limina, and the color complemented the Japanese maples … or so I thought!
The picture in the upper left is the pale orange / straw color of the calendula plants on Cape Cod. After a week at Limina, the straw colored petals were rimmed with maroon (bottom left picture), and after a few weeks they are a glorious reddish orange (picture on the right). On Cape, the plants are in a raised bed with good soil and compost added each year. The soil here at Limina was just added and amended after all the construction. We keep bees in both places, and both locations experienced an unusually wet June … so what contributed to such markedly different shades?
I’m sure Angela or one of my talented gardening friends will solve the mystery. But for now, I’m having fun reflecting on how “blooming where planted” can produce such beautifully different results.