I could only dream of having this swath of flowers here in the hollow. The deer would decimate them. Right now I am valiantly defending a small patch of jewel weed and some zinnias around my front porch with sporadic sprays of Deer Away. So it was with vicarious enjoyment this afternoon that I visited the native wildflower beds I designed for the Rockfish Valley Foundation in Nellysford back in 2020. Lush summer rains have been good for growth.
I chose the purple Coneflowers and Monardas, the lavender fistulosa and the red didyma ‘Jacob Kline’, the latter doing well in shade, for their aggressive spreading natures and they have filled the space admirably. The site is underneath a walnut canopy with juglone in the soil and these natives are heartily resistant to the toxin.
Spruce Creek which runs through the property in Nellysford seems to have held its banks – as always when I visit, families with their children were playing along the creek and around the “mud kitchen” by the circular path – but here in the hollow we’ve become a true floodplain and the waters have enveloped us several times this summer, always thankfully receding short of the house. But we live by the water and we have seen it change this year. Climate change has tipped over on us.
Above is the overflow from White Mountain Road snaking its way toward us as it drains the hollow. It feeds off the back corner of the house into the creek rushing its way towards the Chesapeake Bay. Hurricane season approaches and the sky is full of water. We hang on in the hollow.