Over the last month, seeds of Calendula, Artichoke, Nasturtium, Poppy, Zinnia, Sunflower, Cosmos, Scabiosa and so much more have sprouted, grown and been repotted, awaiting the late-Spring warmth, rain and sun. The Rose garden has started to bloom and it seems every morning I go outside a new bud is forming, petals peeking out unveiling the sweetest fragrance and origami-like petals. My Passion Flower garden is slowly growing, vining up potted trellises and I am anxiously awaiting new blooms this year. Over the weekend, I noticed two of my three Hibiscus have formed the tiniest of buds and to say I am excited to watch them grow and open would be an understatement. While my Key Lime Tree is full and healthy, there's no signs of limes yet, and I am hoping June will bring at least one. Any citrus growers out there have tips? My tomato seedlings are growing and very much need to be repotted soon. With the days growing longer, I'm looking forward to have more time to work outside.

Caring for this little garden of mine and all of the plants has been the highlight of my days, losing myself in connection to them, tending to them and watching as they grow with amazement. It's been rather cool out for late-May in my neck of the woods, with bits of warm weather here and there. I can't wait to watch the plants bathe, vine, grow and blossom in the warm June sun.

I've been bringing out my botanical Oracle and Tarot decks to the garden every morning,  along with my sketchbook and floral shears, reading my cards with the very plants depicted, listening to their songs and setting my intentions. This little ritual has been an integral part of my Spring and Summers for nearly a decade, it's one of my favorite ways to bond with the botanicals on a spiritual level, to ground myself and connect to the earth. 

For now, this has been my May garden update. Cataloging all that I'm growing is an ever-expanding work in progress and it's been such a joy to have this to share with you. 

The Ophidia Rosa Tarot and Pythia Botanica Oracle deck both took root around the same time, inspired by the intersection of my life with plants, mythology, art, and a myriad of energies I had yet to fully understand. While the Oracle deck connected my ancient Hellenic heritage closer to an enchantment with botanical mythology, the Ophidia Rosa drew on a broader timeworn truth I've received from the Tarot.

The Pythia Botanica instills the ancient mythological lineage of plant magic with present-day personal meaning to guide readers through fate. Beyond its initial intentions, the deck somehow springs with elements that remain a mystery even to me. This gives it an amorphous power where others can find light that is uniquely their own.

For reading these cards, I would suggest embracing the openness that an Oracle deck uniquely offers, bringing an open mind, heart, and pure intentions to the table. I always spend time with my decks, and get to know the cards on the one-on-one level that one might meet a person or group of individual energies. 

Oracle cards can be read alone or in unison with a Tarot deck; they can be read in many spreads (one-card pulls, three-card spreads, traditional Tarot spreads such as the Celtic Cross and Zodiac). The advice I tell close friends is to follow one’s intuition and trust in oneself, especially when you first start reading and it can feel a bit overwhelming. You hold all of the answers, and the cards can serve as a window to peer inward, a prism of truth, or a reflection to glare purpose back upon oneself.

The Ophidia Rosa is about transformation: the conversion of seed into bloom, the movement of crescent bodies into full moons, and the renewal of childlike wonder from weary, full-grown forms. It's a very visceral form of Tarot, and one that required digging deep into the garden, with all the twists and turns and dirt one might encounter among those thorns and worms and seeds and leaves.

One of the ways I like to ring in the beginning of Spring is by starting seeds. The promise of what could be, what may germinate, grow and bloom is enthralling, as is tending to them during the process. There's perhaps very few things that feel as fulfilling as waking up to the tiniest of sprouts peeking through the dirt. 

Like last year, this season I'm focusing on a cut-flower garden with various species of Poppy, Calendula, Cosmos, Scabiosa, Black Eyed Susan, Nasturtium, Sunflower and a host of others I can't recall as I type this. There are some veggies germinating, too: various types of tomatoes, an Artichoke that will be beautiful in floral arrangements and delicious at dinner, summer squash, snow peas, eggplant.