The World Is Too Much with Us

Posted on by Cheryl Capaldo Traylor

Need a break from the news? Come with me! I’m going to take you on a tour of my late spring/early summer garden. Blooms, foliage, and no words (no pressure to even comment! Full permission to just enjoy). Nothing to do but feast your eyes on blossom and leaf, rest your spirit, and calm your overwhelmed senses. My garden is a haven of peace during this unsettled time. I hope you feel peaceful here, too. To borrow from Wordsworth: The world is too much with us. And to Wordsworth, I reply: Amen, William. And how!

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All photos taken by me in my North Carolina garden May/June 2020–the year of WTF.

Hey, also: It’s National Pollinator Week. Show some pollinator love every day–we need them!

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49 thoughts on “The World Is Too Much with Us”

  2. Thank you for this. I think we all need it. And your garden is soooo different from mine because it’s near the woods and with your kind climate. Everything is sunnier and tougher here or it wouldn’t survive. I’m so glad you have such beauty around you in this chaotic time, Cheryl.

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  7. I was so, so ready to try a real, honest-to-goodness garden this year (apart from the “wild flora” currently growing in my yard (aka, weeds)). We started with a few pots of seeds the kids planted for a science experience. Out of three pots…
    1. Chipmunks dug out all the sprouts
    2. An illness browned out the sprouts’ leaves, causing them to rot
    3. The seeds never germinated

    Methinks the garden isn’t happening this year…

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  13. Stunning stunning stunning! The year of WTF indeed. Thank you for sharing such stunning beauty — that’s the only word I got for it all — and, more to the point, for cultivating it so whole-heartedly. Everything looks so healthy and loved. xo

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  15. Absolutely lovely, Cheryl! What would we ever do without our gardens? So much to be grateful for…and yes, they are a peaceful haven away from the chaos of the world.

    Sadly, I can report the same honey bee/bumble bee issue…one more polarity to add to the list. It’s dark and rainy this morning after several weeks of drought. Only a year or so ago, we were being deluged with rain and flooding at this time. Seems we never know what to anticipate anymore. All the more reason to appreciate every moment and particularly those glorious ones in the garden:-)

    Hopefully, your shoulder recovery is going well and you are, perhaps, sitting in that garden right now with a delightful cup of tea. Warm wishes to you as always.

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    1. Thanks so much! I am so grateful for my garden. My gracious, I think I’d be beside myself right now if I couldn’t mosey out a dozen times a day to check on something in the garden. And for a very small yard, we have so much wildlife to share it with. The shoulder recovery is coming along. This week, week 7, was one of the only painful times I’ve had. I think it’s because the PT upped my weights and resistance band. So I backed off a bit and am feeling better. It takes the time it takes, right? Thanks for asking:)

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      1. So glad to hear you are on the mend and able to enjoy your lovely garden (Sans humidity?) Indeed, they are a godsend and offer so much joy in so many ways. Keep healing and feeling better!

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  17. Just gorgeous, Cheryl. So many vivid colors. And I think my blood pressure did drop by about 15 points. Thanks for sharing. Do you happen to know what the tiny pink cluster flower in the 8th row is? I see them when I walk around our neighborhood and would love to get some.

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    1. Thanks so much, Donna. Glad it worked for you, too. If we are looking at the same plant, it’s a spirea japonica. It has beautiful little blooms, and the leaves are so elegant, too. The new ones appear in an array of rosy, salmon, orangish hues. Let me know if that’s the one you’re asking about.

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      1. Yes, that’s the one. Having the name, I googled it, and that’s exactly what I was trying to identify. It’s now on my list of Spring ’21 plants for our garden. Thanks so much, Cheryl.

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  18. Cheryl, how lovely! Makes me wish I had a space like that – so cool and restful. Many plants I recognize and quite a few I don’t – all wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to prep and post all of them. A respite in the year of WTF for sure. As for pollinators, we have so many more bumblebees in our clover and flowers than honeybees. It’s disturbing, but I’m thankful for them. Take care,
    Jeanne

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    1. Thanks so much, Jeanne. Most of these photos were snapped on my iPhone (dreaded iPhone!) on my many garden walks throughout the day. My favorite photo is the vibrant sweet pea. I’ve waited quite a while for it to finally bloom. I am experiencing the same imbalance of honeybees and bumblebees. Our honeybee population has rebounded some, but it’s been at least 7-8 years since they buzzed around my garden in abundance. Thanks for stopping by. Take good care.

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  19. 💖💖💖💖

    On Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 1:39 PM Giving Voice to My Astonishment wrote:

    > Cheryl Capaldo Traylor posted: “Need a break from the news? Come with me! > I’m going to take you on a tour of my late spring/early summer garden. > Blooms, foliage, and no words (no pressure to even comment! Full permission > to just enjoy). Nothing to do but feast your eyes on blossom and l” >

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  20. I feast my eyes upon the flora and fauna, taking in the colors and calm of the natural world, finding there is nothing more beautiful than when flowers do what they do, not needing permission to bloom, not caring what you think of their style, just boldly being who they are. We can learn so much from the organic spontaneity of nature. It really does not care, yet we praise it just the same, and isn’t that how it is supposed to be?

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