The Gardens on Spring Creek

By Angie Fuentes The Gardens on Spring Creek Community Engagement Assistant  Monarchs Each year, right around Día de Muertos, millions of monarch butterflies arrive like clockwork to the misty mountains of central Mexico. Their appearance during this sacred time holds deep meaning for the communities of Michoacán and the State of Mexico, where the butterflies are seen as the returning souls of ancestors visiting the living. For generations, the Purépecha and Mazahua peoples, two Indigenous groups native to this region, have watched the skies fill with these migrating monarchs, their wings shimmering like a flowing river of orange and gold across the Sierra Madre hills. The butterflies’ arrival has been carefully observed since pre-Hispanic times, marking a spiritual moment when nature and the human spirit move in harmony. According to oral traditions, the spirits of the departed return on the butterflies’ delicate wings, joining their loved ones during Día de Muertos to celebra...

  Blooming … Berries? By Ben Stickland, Seasonal Gardener By this time of year, many of us gardeners are already mourning the peak of summer when it felt like everything was vibrant and lush. Now, the warm colors of fall are taking over and most of our showiest bloomers are getting ready for winter. But if you peruse the garden on an October day, you will still see pops of color from a quintessential part of fall: fruits! This week, we are going to highlight some fruits that are taking over for the flowers and keeping the garden interesting and beautiful for autumn.   Callicarpa dichotoma  (beautyberry) The plant that inspired this article with just how beautiful its berries are (turns out they aren’t true berries), was the beautyberry. Callicarpa is a genus of plants native to many parts of the world, but this particular species comes from China, Korea and Japan. It is a compact shrub, typically growing 3-5 feet in height and spread, that has a slight weeping habit. It d...