Nature Paints the Best Murals — Let Her Take the Brush

Sometimes It’s Okay to Ignore the Yard

🌿 Garden Talk | by Guy Saldiveri | May 24, 2026

Spiranthes - Lady's Tresses Orchids

Now, anyone who really knows me will look at that title and think I've finally gone off the deep end and completely lost my mind.

Unless there are circumstances way beyond my control, my yard is always neat and tidy — just the way I like it, and the way nature doesn’t.

So what am I going on about? Well, those circumstances have popped up recently and they've made me really sit back and take a good hard look at my yard. 

The Explosion of Growth

I haven’t been able to get out and mow thanks to the weather we’ve had this past week, and the whole place is exploding in growth. The grass is getting tall, and the plants are out there dancing in the rain. Stormy weather definitely has a way of waking everything up — an effect we as gardeners just can’t duplicate no matter how hard we try.

I've said it more than once — nature is the greatest painter of all. Give her a blank canvas and just watch her grow. Right now nature is painting my yard and working overtime.

Hidden Treasures in the Tall Grass

One of the really pleasant things I've noticed is the native wild orchids that are popping up all over the place. They're called Spiranthes, or Lady's Tresses Orchids — thin-stalked, single-stem, white flowers that spiral up the pole. If you look close, each one is covered in buds and they open in their own perfect little sequence. That’s what builds that spiral staircase — more of nature's amazing artwork. 

Garlic Flowers

Another one comes from — of all things — my garlic. Garlic is in the Allium family, and they produce beautiful flowers. If you let that strong scape grow all the way out, it’ll flower and go to seed. Alliums make some of the prettiest blooms you can get your hands on. The extra rain helps bend the scapes into twisted, gnarly shapes that add tons of character — I’ll still eat them after, but for now they’re great to look at.

There are many other things popping up all around. Yes, my wisteria, crepe myrtles, oak trees, jasmine, mimosa, and a few others are starting to sprout runners around the bases of the mother plants. I've never said they won't try to take over, I just always say I never have an issue because I normally keep my yard nice and tidy.

This is what my yard normally looks like at this time of year.  Mowed, trimmed, and well-kept. 

The Power of a Little Bit of Wild

Now, while I do like the looks of this, I also believe that a little bit of wild goes a very long way. I even wrote up another article on Wildlife Habitats which — if I may say so myself — is a fairly good read if you have the time ;)

Nature really is an amazing force. If left on her own, she will transform the landscape in the blink of an eye. At times it seems like it takes forever, but think about this: Have you ever driven by a vacant lot and noticed how barren it seems, only to drive by the following year and see all the new chest-high growth that just magically appeared?

I know I have, and I find it very inspiring. That canvas doesn't stay blank very long and it's always filled with incredible things.

I will miss some of the wild when things finally get back to normal, but I do have that little habitat going and I might have to make it just a bit bigger sometime…

Pull Up a Chair 

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Happy Gardening 🌱