In My Garden

This is why they call it butterfly weed...

The yellow hostas have a strange pale flower that I like very much.

Coreopsis verticillata blooms all summer, if you deadhead it... I need to do that about a week ago...

Bee balm, also known as monarda and bergamot, is what gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive flavor.

 I love all these perennials...

Hostas, coleus, and ferns in my shade garden.

The echinachea seems especially vibrant this year...

The bees seem to think so, too.

One of the orange turk's cap lilies is dying, but has produced these humongous seeds, unlike the lily's usual seeds. Anyone know why?

Here you can see the regular seeds that appear on the stem.

I chased this tiger swallowtail butterfly around for probably half an hour,

trying to get a decent shot...

                                                                It was pretty camera-shy...

...but I finally managed to get a few good ones.

I hope you enjoyed my little garden stroll. Have a great week, everyone!

It's That Time Again...

It's that magical time again, when all the plants and trees are waking up from their winter's sleep...

Out at our place in the country, the tiny, delicate bluets are blooming...

... as are the trout lilies...

... and Virginia bluebells...

... and whatever these are...

... and the azaleas are budding.

The water in the Kinneyconick is very clear...

... as the beeches...

... and the hemlocks stand guard...

... and the work on the cabins continues. My husband has reclaimed some huge poplar boards from an old building that was being torn down.

Back at home, the garden has been tilled...

and Brussels sprouts, kale, and lettuce have been planted...

... and much work awaits in the flower gardens.

In the meantime, I enjoy the paper-white narcissus...

... and the beauty of the lilacs in bloom.


Whatever you're doing this Spring, my friends, I wish you a joyous and inspiring one!

Currently on Display...

 ... in my gardens. It's that time again.  Time to plant the hopeful seeds, to lay them down in a bed of soft, warm soil, to nurture them and wait for nature's blessings.  To begin again, again.

It occurs to me that part of the magic of Spring is that we're given the gift of another chance.  In an existence where there are few "do-overs", we can start over once again.  Reminds me of a Chicago song, "Listen, children, all is not lost, all is not lost..."  It's all about hope.











The onion sets are in, and the strawberries.

 But my flower beds are looking pretty bad.  Yikes-  they could use some work!  I hope I'll get them cleaned out today!

In the meantime, here are some of the flowers currently on display...

Gardening

I apologize for neglecting my blog for so long, but I've been too busy with my regular springtime activity, i.e. gardening. I love my flower garden, and consider planting and playing in the dirt to be a wonderful act of creativity. A garden is truly a living work of art.

Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.
- Scott Adams



I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
- Claude Monet

Take thy plastic spade,
It is thy pencil; take thy seeds, thy plants,
They are thy colours.
~William Mason, The English Garden, 1782



I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I worked in the garden. ~John Erskine

Creativity is our true nature; blocks are an unnatural thwarting of a
process at once as normal and as miraculous as the blossoming
of a flower at the end of a slender green stem.
- Julia Cameron



Don't underestimate the therapeutic value of gardening. It's the one area where
we can all use our nascent creative talents to make a truly satisfying work of art.
Every individual, with thought, patience and a large portion of help from nature,
has it in them to create their own private paradise: truly a thing of beauty
and a joy for ever.
- Geoff Hamilton, Paradise Gardens



"The secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all
the details of daily life, and in elevating them to art."
- William Morris

Gardening is not a rational act. What matters is
the immersion of the hands in the earth, that
ancient ceremony of which the Pope kissing
the tarmac is merely a pallid vestigial remnant.
- Margaret Attwood



"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."
~ Rachel Carson

"Nothing is more the child of art than a garden."
-- Sir Walter Scott