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A Gardener's Notebook: The latest incarnation of my column detailing the trails and tribulations of my garden. Join the list and ask your own questions about gardening Subscribe

Seeing the big picture in any garden can sometimes be difficult, regardless of the size. We can be too intent on nursing a sick plant or finishing that new fence to notice that there is activity all around us. Such was the case this week when I suddenly noticed an entire world was buzzing around my head.

Locust Tree

In past columns I have mentioned the locust tree that stands immediately outside our back door. I have always loved the way its branches and small, delicate leaves always seem to sparkle in the sun. Each Fall it turns a vibrant yellow and carpets the ground beneath it. The tree has been adding leaves with dramatic speed as the days have steadily lengthened and the temperatures increased into the mid-70's.

Soon after the leaves begin to show, the Locust throws off flower pods, or stalks, or thingies. I haven't quite come up with a name that describes them yet. Each is made up of 40-50 BB-sized spheres. Each of these spheres opens in to a tiny flower. This is not the dramatic show of other flowering trees, but the small size of the flowers forces you to really study the tree to understand was is happening. I had noticed this process in the past, but never really "looked" at it until this year.

What finally brought my focus onto the tree this year was the simple honeybee. I had noticed a few working over the small flowers on a branch hanging down at eye level. They were so laden with pollen that I could easily see the yellow bundles attached to their legs. The more closely I looked at the tree, the more bees I noticed. Finally, I looked up through the branches and unfocused my eyes, much in the way you look at those 3-D dot stereograms that were popular a few years back. Once I did this I could see that there were hundreds of bees working on the tree, each moving among the tiny flowers with diligent purpose. The light background of the sky silhouetted each bee as it flitted around the branches.

Observing this process helped me to understand another stage that I had witnessed in my garden in past years. A few weeks after the leaves appeared I would notice the sparrows and finches abandoning my feeders eating something off the twigs of the Locust tree. I figured they were eating seeds that the tree was producing, but I had never taken the time to investigate the entire process. Now, after all the pieces fell together, I have spent the last several days watching the bees when I am in the garden. I now know that when their activity diminishes the seeds will be starting to form.

Take a few moments this week to step back and take a grand look over your garden. Pretend you are seeing it for the first time, as your visitors often see it. This overview will quickly lead you further and further down through the smaller items until you find yourself squinting at the bees and learning the secrets of your plants, just like I did.

Keep digging! -- Douglas