鼠尾草,你是我最好的舞伴

　　Sometimes when I am weeding in the late afternoon, I hear the vibrating wings of the ruby-throated hummingbird before I see it dipping its beak into the long tubular flowers of the blue anise sage (Salvia guaranitica) called Black and Blue for its cobalt-blue petals and near-black calyxes at the base of the flowers. Hummingbirds are shy, but if I remain perfectly still, it is usually so intent on the nectar inside those deep blue trumpets that I can admire it out of the corner of my eye as it backs out of one flower and moves on to another. Then, in a flash of iridescent green and red, it is gone.

　　Black and Blue holds its flowers aloft on footlong spikes that lean into the landscape, contributing to its laid-back personality and to the sense of movement in the garden. This plant has grown so big, it is leaning over the little chicken-wire fence that protects my French filet bean plants from the rabbits. The bean plants are full of snow-white flowers that will soon turn into slender bean pods, given all the bumblebees crawling over the blossoms.

　　One morning last week, I savored one of those serendipitous moments that no gardener can ever plan for: the deep blue-black salvia flowers mingling with the pure white bean blossoms. Salvias are the perfect dance partners; they make all the other plants look better.

　　I have a smaller, more demure salvia, S. coccinea Lady in Red rising out of the middle of a patch of cilantro, which I grow for its ferny leaves, to lend a pungent kick to guacamole. This herb shoots up to about three feet in a month and opens airy clusters of little white flowers, so you have to plant more seeds every couple of weeks. Lady in Red is blooming through the cloud of white, and waving her cherry-red lips at the hummingbirds.

　　我在傍晚除草的時候，偶爾會聽到紅喉蜂鳥撲騰翅膀的聲音，緊接著，就會看到它把喙伸進(jìn)瓜拉尼鼠尾草(Salvia guaranitica)的管狀花朵里。這些花又被稱為藍(lán)黑鼠尾草(Black and Blue)，因為其花瓣呈鈷藍(lán)色，花朵基部的花萼則近乎黑色。蜂鳥怕人，不過如果我保持一動不動的姿勢，它通常就會專心致志從深藍(lán)色喇叭里吸食花蜜了。這樣，我就可以用眼角看著它從一朵花飛到另一朵花上。接著，它就會在紅綠交織的絢爛色彩中一閃而過，倏而消失。

　　藍(lán)黑鼠尾草的花朵懸垂在一英尺長(約合30厘米)的穗狀花序上，穗狀花序斜倚在周圍綠色的景觀中，展露出閑適自在的意味，給花園帶來一絲靈動的生機(jī)。這株植物長得太大了，已經(jīng)伸出了保護(hù)菜豆(French filet bean)不被兔子啃食的小鐵絲網(wǎng)。菜豆的植株上掛滿了雪白的花，有一大群熊蜂正在花朵上忙碌，所以它們很快就會長成狹長的豆莢了。

　　上周的某個早晨，我體會到了任何園丁都可遇而不可求的一個時刻：深藍(lán)與黑色相間的鼠尾草花與菜豆的純白色花朵交相輝映，美不勝收。鼠尾草是最好的舞伴;它們能讓所有其它植物增色生輝。

　　我還種植了一種更小、更嬌羞的紅花鼠尾草“一串紅唇”(S. coccinea Lady in Red)，它生長在一片芫荽當(dāng)中。我種芫荽是因為它那蕨類般的葉片能為鱷梨沙拉醬增添一絲辛辣的風(fēng)味。這種草本植物在一個月內(nèi)可以生長三英尺(約合0.9米)左右，并開出一叢又一叢輕飄飄的小白花。因此，你不得不每隔幾星期就種下更多的種子。“一串紅唇”就盛放于一片白色的芫荽花叢中，對著蜂鳥搖曳它們艷麗的櫻桃紅唇。