When was the last time someone gave you the favor of time? It’s a rare gift these days, and all the more precious because so few of us have time to spare.
Today, my oldest sister gave me the favor of an entire day. Yesterday, she helped Dear Husband put the boat in the water. It was her first trip on the Arr!! and it was a major success! She enjoyed the trip up the river, the experience of going through a lock, and motoring to the mooring. She ate the wonderful catered meal, and was so relaxed, she fell asleep on the deck!
When they came back from the lake, she called her husband and announced that she was staying overnight, and would be home late today.

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We had quite a rain yesterday, and the Arr!! has now disappeared down my drive. I plan to weed and plant, weed and plant.
I have five Homestead purple verbena, five pots of ornamental grass, three butterfly bushes, five dahlias and five Joe Pye Weed to plant.
It’s time to do the container gardens, and I have WEEDS to pull. There’s quite a stand of Snow on the Mountain to be ripped out, and I need to kill off the soapwort that has invaded the center of my garden.
Lots to do! I hope you all have a GREAT weekend!

Do you find that dozens of ideas for your blog pop into your head when you are doing something that keeps you from writing them down? I thought I had the solution to that with a hand held tape recorder. I could use it in the office, or in the car. But there are times when your hands are full, or you’re in the middle of shaping hamburgers, or in the shower, when that won’t work for you.
So, we’re relying on my incredibly inept memory today. Let’s see….

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I can’t resist. I need to bable about my gardens.

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Dear Husband let me sleep in today. In good weather, usually I do that service for him on weekends, but somehow we swapped roles. I think it must have been about a quarter after seven when I rolled out of bed and dressed. I made the bed, unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded it, started some laundry, folded laundry and moved it to our bedroom, bleached the counters, watered the houseplants, feed the birds, had some toast and read the funnies and then ironed the curtains for the garage and hung them.
By then, Defer’s eyes were beginning to roll with the need to go out for a quick visit with the grass, and I was ready to get to my gardens. There was too much to do to accomplish all of it in one morning, so I started with the gardens that edge the sidewalk to the front door.
Last year I planted several collections of lilies on either side of the sidewalk, near the front door. Several of the lilies in the bed on the north side were killed off, either by ground squirrels, raccoons, or by a heavy footed dog or cat. I planted easily a dozen lilies this morning, and 6 crocosima, and then I started the first weeding of the year. I got MOST of the beds at the front of the house done. I deadheaded the daffodils, and pulled thistles. I plan to paint the thistles with Roundup this year and be done with them, but I’ll have to catch the next batch that come up. By then we will be in drier weather, and the Roundup will work more effectively.
It looks like we may have lost two tender rose plants that made it through the winter. I uncovered the roses about a month ago and they looked fine, but since then, they have faded to dead twigs. I’ll wait to see if there is any new growth as we get into warmer weather, but things don’t look good.
I’ve ordered my first hydrangea, and I plan to buy a buddlea to join the one I wintered over. We enjoy attracting butterflies and hummingbirds, so my goal is to keep planting things that will draw them in.
I worked for about three, maybe three and a half hours this morning, enjoying the heat of the sun on a chilly day. The sky was a deep blue and cloudless. We expected a storm this evening, but it may have by-passed us.
Tomorrow, if it’s not raining, I’ll take Mother to the nursery, and pick up the first round of plants. We’ll make several visits over the next six weeks. My goal is to get everything that I buy into the ground! No waste this year! Our frost free date is May 15, so for the following thirty days, it’s plant, plant, plant!

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in
order.
– John Burroughs
I’d like to be out working in my gardens now, but it’s a cool, gray day under threatening skies. And, too, there is still work to be done in the office.
There are times when I drag my feet about my gardening chores. Usually that tends to happen when we are in the high heat of summer and the mosquitoes are out in force. But usually, after a good session playing in the dirt, I’m revigorated. The pleasure of gardens that are once again neat, and of a job well done always soothes my soul, and it’s worth the achy muscles.
My father visited his fruit trees and vegetable garden each evening during the growing season. I thought it odd that he wanted to see them each day, until I became a gardener, too. Now I understand that he was seeking to put away the difficulties of the day and bring peace to his mind. Most likely, he was also giving thanks for the joy of having a garden.
Some of you lead such fast paced lives that you don’t have the time to garden. I’ve been there, done that. When you find that pace to difficult to maintain, or when it fails to keep your interest, think about gardening. There’s everything to be gained: the delight of growing your own food, or the pleasure of creating a beautiful landscape that reflects your personality.
For me, summer is wasted unless I have the chance to eat a tomato warm off the vines in my own garden. Nothing tastes as good as homegrown tomatoes!
And color has a huge influence on my life. This year I plan to plant verbena along the walks and paint the landscape with a beautiful hue of purple. If scent is important to you, walk through my herb garden, brushing the plants with your finger tips. Inhale. I not only get to perfume the outdoors, I can bring the scent into my home.
Gardens soothe the soul, delight the eye, and bring order to our lives. Go plant some seeds, and if you have children, teach them how to plant seeds. You’ll both be better for it.

The heat has killed off the Ice Follies Daffodils today. And the Darwin tulips are just about shot, too. It seems that each year we get a taste of summer just in time to kill off some of the spring plants.

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The violets have started to bloom!
Part of our lot was once a horse pasture. There are trees that divide it into sections, making it almost look like it has rooms. The part that is south of the house has areas that are totally covered in violets. There’s a patch of trillium that Dear Husband has been told not to mow down, a section of trout lilies that he insists on mowing, and a stretch of May apples growing among the trees on the east edge of the property. Soon we’ll see naturalized phlox blooming there, too.
When I first started my gardens I left the violets because I didn’t have enough plants to fill the space. Then it became a contest to fill in around them. Now, I rip them out of the gardens with abandon, because I know that we have violets all over the place! Still…..it’s a special time when their deep purple, or blue or white flowers open up and cover the ground.

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I guessed right. The patch of lovely blue bell-shaped flowers on short plants that have expanded in my grove are Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica ) . This website has pictures of squill: http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/16390/
Hopefully, I’ll have pictures of my squill for you soon, so you can see it in it’s natural habitat.

My office window looks south over the lawn toward the road. The house sits higher than the road, and there’s a raised area and then a gentle slope down the lawn. In that raised area we’ve planted a forsythia bush and a star magnolia.
For some reason, they have been slow to bloom this spring, despite the fact that we had a reasonably gentle winter. But today…..they are both starting to show their glory! I plan to take my trusty disposable camera out to record some of that beauty, so perhaps I’ll be able to share it with you before Spring is over.

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