09/17/2026
I really seem to take notice of my garden pals in late summer and into fall. 🕷️🌿
They’ve spent the entire season quietly doing their work—growing, reproducing, pollinating, and keeping garden pests in check. And now, as they’ve reached their adult size, I get to see just how many little protectors have made themselves at home in my garden.
This year, we’ve acquired at least three beautiful garden spiders and an entire army of praying mantids. Every time I discover a new friend, it makes me genuinely happy to realize that my little garden has become a sanctuary for them.
I choose not to spray pesticides or chemicals that are harmful to the beneficial insects that call my garden home. That means I absolutely do get pest damage. 😂 Sometimes a patch of flowers is sacrificed for the greater good of the garden because I am NOT going anywhere near those big garden spider mamas. 😅
But that’s the beauty of it: I don’t have to control every little thing.
The bees and butterflies do their part. The spiders and mantids do theirs. The flowers provide food and habitat. And I do my best to work alongside all of them rather than trying to make the garden perfectly sterile.
It’s a little messy. It’s not pest-free. And sometimes the bugs win. I’m looking at you cucumber beetles.
But together, we live in harmony. 🌸🐝🦋🕷️
This is one of the reasons growing flowers this way matters so much to me. I want to cultivate something that supports the life around it—not just something that looks pretty.
Every garden doesn’t have to be perfect to be healthy. Sometimes the holes in the leaves, the spiders in the corners, and the mantids hiding among the blooms are evidence that something good is happening.
I get to grow flowers without relying on harmful pesticide practices, my plants get the benefit of a living ecosystem, beneficial insects have a place to thrive, and the people who bring these flowers into their homes can enjoy something grown with that care in mind.
And honestly? There’s something really special about knowing this tiny little business gets to be one small piece of God’s beautiful creation—not taking from it, but tending to it. 🤍
Sometimes a patch of flowers is sacrificed for the greater good of the garden.
And sometimes, I think, that’s exactly what a garden is supposed to look like. This is fall in the cut flower garden. 🍂
