Over the past few years, I have discovered that I really enjoy flowers. This surprises me because for a long time, I looked at flower gardens as an excessive form of a craft hobby. I didn’t see much point in spending hours grooming and maintaining something only to have it die in a matter of days or, if I was lucky, weeks. I could get on board with vegetable gardening, as the produce was consumable and, when combined with freezing and canning, could feed us for many months after the greens had withered.

As the wonderful husband and I became more familiar with the pits and falls of our lawn, including one particularly grumpy bank that is a bear to mow, we looked at cheap forms of do-it-yourself landscaping. As we dislodged boulders from one field and piled them up in another, only to have to relocate them when we moved on to the next field, we realized we were looking at free borders for growing beds. we started marking off sections of the bank, and other difficult-to-mow spots. (By difficult-to-mow spots, I mean anything that was likely to result in an expensive mower repair when run over by a sulky teenager.)

By keeping our landscape plan cheap, we also inadvertently blended it in with the surrounding area, and the overall theme became a few small oases of order scattered throughout the chaos, much like the rest of our lives. We decided to make a few small investments in some ornamental trees, and as always, the kids cruised the clearance racks at the end of last fall’s growing season. Since we had no actual plan, the only thing we reminded them to check was whether it needed sun, shade or partial shade. We turned them loose. I mean, how bad could it be? Bulbs, seeds, whatever. Anything would be an improvement.

As usual, another plan that seemed brilliant at the time, but faltered in the execution. As the WH and I started to weed and mulch our beds this spring, we were frequently confronted by robust plants that looked like they belonged, but based on my black thumb and track record, I was sure, if they were thriving, they were weeds. Asking the kids if they remembered what they planted only drew blank stares, as if they didn’t even remember planting anything. I tried several plant finder apps, but either the plant wasn’t mature enough, or it suggested something that I knew for sure we didn’t plant. Besides, if something looked sort of pretty, did it really matter if it was a weed or not? One plant in particular looked like an offshoot of some clammy locust trees that we certainly didn’t need any more of, but for some reason, I was reluctant to dig it up.

One of my key learnings in backyard gardening was staggering plantings and planting flowers that would bloom consecutively. It’s taken us a few years, but we finally start to see the daffodils and tulips in early spring and have some sort of color all the way through fall when the mums help welcome in cooler temperatures. One of the things that I really like is the variety of blooms that we have, as well as the surprises they hold.

Since I’m a novice and can’t necessarily tell the difference between a lily, a tulip, or an iris until they bloom, every day holds new surprises. So far, this spring appears to me to be an ideal growing season, as we are finally seeing some long-term payoffs. We inherited some peony clippings a few years ago, and although they bravely hung in there, they were not much to write home about. I started to get my hopes up this year as the bushes finally started to fill out and looked capable of supporting the full blooms I remembered from my childhood. My grandparents had a mess of peony bushes next to their house, in what I used to call the “secret garden.” Between the mock orange and the peonies, the scent in there was heavenly, and the overgrowth blocked out the rest of the world.

We ended up with an explosion of pinks and white and for a few brief days, I was transported back to my childhood fairy land. However, the extreme heat of the last few weeks knocked the delicate blooms down faster than a runaway lawn mower. I was sad to see them go, but happy to know they’d be returning, hopefully bigger and even better next year.

The next surprise resulted from what I can only imagine went something like a kid got tired of planting and just decided to dump the whole last bag of whatever in a corner where he hoped no one would notice. The thick clump of spikey leaves that has been taking over the entire corner of one shed betrayed them, however, and I hoped whatever it was that was growing did not choke itself out before full bloom. An explosion of no less than 20 blue flags happened just in time for Memorial Day, inadvertently creating a patriotic monument as they waved cheerfully in front of the red and white barn. Have you ever taken the time to fully inspect an iris? They are truly works of art and although they, too, have taken their place on the rotting leaf pile, I have a host of pictures to remember their brilliance by.

And, that brings us to another small lull in blooms. The greens are currently sprouting for an array of zinnias and wildflower blends that will take over and continued through the hottest days of summer, and in the meantime, I also have my potted plants to keep my world colorful. The other morning, as I left for work, I noticed that the plant I had debating pulling out for weeks had burst forth and there in all its purple glory was a foot-tall lupine. It’s the first time we’d ever managed to grow one of them, and I was delighted to see that a few more have popped up in the other beds, as well, although none quite as robust as this monster. Surprise gardening may not be a thing on Pinterest, and I doubt that I could ever even re-create our lack of a plan, but I highly recommend it! You literally never know what’s going to pop up next!

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.