Bee Balm Blues

I want to interrupt my mini-series on container gardens to throw out a few words about one of the most striking flowers in the garden -Bee Balm. As I've been working in the garden the past few weeks, I have been loving my bee balm.

BUT if you're not on top of it, your bee balm will bloom once and die. Once your flowers start to lose their petals and die, cut them back and they will continue to bloom all summer.  Look carefully along the stem, and you will see new growth - cut right above that and it will encourage new flowers.  Enjoy!

boots, buckets and wash tubs

Hello my gardening buddies!  It poured this morning, so I don't have to water (except for all the pots that are covered by porches and roof lines)!  I am so happy.  I'm actually going to concentrate on the lavender hedge that has gotten out of control.  It should be a very relaxing day.

Meanwhile...I am going to share more of my favorite container garden ideas with you.  Beyond fun!

(I lead a very tame life if talking about flower pots gives me a thrill)

A little whimsy now and then is wonderful in every garden!!  (I draw the line, however at cut-out silhouettes of bent-over-butt-crack-gardeners).  This pair of work boots, planted with Hens and Chicks is a great example of fun and ingenuity.  Not only is it cute, it seems to thrive on neglect; it was planted three years ago and all I have done is water it now and then.  Because it is so mobile, I move it wherever I need to fill a spot.  Currently, it is hunkered down between a rose bush and lady's mantle.

Don't you love this old bucket? (I think I found it at my favorite hangout, Old Engine Works.)  This spot called for a bit of warmth and color, but it needed to be simple to work with this gorgeous table. So I plopped a basket of double impatiens in it and viola! 







You may need to click on this picture to really see what is going on here, but I'll do my best to describe it.  This is a rusty old laundry tub. Isn't it fabulous?!  I found it at an antique store (which has since gone out of business or I would give you the link) and fell in love!  It has drain holes in it already and is sturdy as anything and fills this blank wall space perfectly.  Currently I have Russian Red Cannas, purple wave petunias, blue lobilia, purple verbena, variegated licorice, Victoria Blue Salvia, a few zinnias and cosmos.  The canna were an experiment because they aren't your typical farmy flower, but I think the height, color and texture work beautifully. 
 



This isn't whimsical at all, but I wanted to throw it in today anyway.  I had originally purchased these urns to be used in a wedding, so they are a bit on the formal side but gorgeous!  (by the way, I found these at The Stone Cottage Gardens)  To down play the formality, I used really farmy plants: purple smoke bush (my mom had a BEAUTIFUL one in our yard in Ekin, Indiana and that is farm country, believe me!), my favorite flower of the year - snow princess alyssum - and a variegated filler, I am sorry to say, I have forgotten the name of.  (I know, I know, I ended a sentence in a preposition).  I have two of these urns and against the background of the dock and pond, they are show stoppers!


Well, I'm off to brave the humidity and do my thing.  Enjoy!

pots and things

I know I tend to gush about how I love this and that in the garden, but I must confess my true love:

Container Gardening

                                                                                                 Sigh... 

Instant beauty anywhere.  You don't need a garden bed, weeding is nominal and its portable.  You can use your imagination and make just about anything a pot to plant in.  Isn't is wonderful???

Over the next few blogs, I'm going to show you some of my favorite containers.  I hope you enjoy!

 Simple, adorable and easy, easy to do.  I found the vintage suitcase and picnic basket at a local antique mall, Old Engine Works, located in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.  I stacked them on an old cane chair I found at a garage sale and popped in a plastic pot of double impatiens.

This cute little terra-cotta pot was just the right amount of color 

and charm for this side table.

A cheap plastic pot looks gorgeous filled with purple millet and covered with Spanish moss.  The color of the millet was the  perfect compliment to the trim color on the barn.

My favorite window box ever!  It gives an absolutely gorgeous splash of color against barn siding and white trim.  Easy to take care of and lovely to see.

by any other name

Roses.  More poems have been written about them than any other flower.  They symbolize love, elegance and speak volumes with their beauty and fragrance.  But I gotta tell you, they are a pain in the neck to grow.

When I first began gardening, I had many roses bushes.  Although I loved them, I soon realized that they are a lot like children in that they required tons of time and attention to be raised properly.  Because I had three children already, I decided to wait on the whole rose scene.

The last two  years have changed that.  I stepped out and began planting them en masse.   Entire books have been  written about the care and feeding of roses, so I can't even begin to make a dent in the subject, but I wanted to give you a heads up on a few of the most obvious problems you may encounter with them.

Aphids:   tiny green insects that will suck the life out of your buds.  The bad news is they reproduce at an alarming rate and feed on new growth (those delightful buds you're just waiting to see bloom).  The good news is they are relatively easy to get rid of.  Try spraying the buds with water to dislodge them.  If that doesn't work, go to your local garden center and ask them for the spray they recommend.

Black spot:  fungus: small black spots on rose leaves.  The bad news is very bad - if left uncontrolled, it can destroy an entire rose bush and spread to other roses near by.  The goods news is that with diligence, it can be controlled.   Humid weather and moist leaves will exacerbate this fungus.  Unfortunately for my hair, there is nothing you can do about the humidity. But there are a few things you can do to control black spot. First, water your roses from the bottom, thereby avoiding wet leaves.  Water early in the day so that any accidental water can dry off in the sun. 

To keep it from spreading, pick off all the leaves with spots.  You also need to rake away any leaves that have fallen to the ground.

Although diligence is your key to controlling black spot, I recommend you go to your local garden center and ask for a good fungicide. 

Powdery Mildew:  grayish powdery looking fungus that attacks rose leaves.  The bad news is, like black spot, it can spread and can damage your roses and any roses nearby.  The goods news is that is controllable and not nearly as lethal as black spot.  Again, pluck the affected leaves off the bush and the ground.  Pruning to make sure there is good airflow is also a good idea. (be sure to clean your shears with a bleach solution to prevent spreading mildew to other plants).  You can also use the fungicide you bought for the black spot.

Japanese Beetles:  disgusting looking army of beetles that will destroy everything in sight.  Bad news: they are voracious and nearly impossible to control.  Good news:  umm....uhh.....well...they die in the winter.   I hate them!  I've tried traps that seem to attract more beetles than they catch.  I've tried sprays that kill the ones on the plant, but do nothing to prevent them.  I've also gone out in the morning and picked them off.  Lately I have also had the lawn treated in Spring to kill the grubs that will one day grow up to be my enemy.  Sadly, your neighbor may not treat his lawn and his beetles have no concept of boundaries.  So...once again, diligence is  your friend.  Try a combination of all the above.  Good luck to ya.

Overall, I do still love roses and they are a wonderful addition to any garden.  Just keep at it.

grateful dead

One way to make the best use of your time while you're doing all that watering we talked about last time is to multi-task: water and dead head at the same time.

For the garden novices out there, let me explain.  All creation has an innate need to procreate (with a few odd exceptions, but we won't go there).  Flowers are no different.  Here is how it works.  A little green plant sends out tiny white flowers and we are delighted, the bees are delighted and the plant itself is delighted.  When the flower is spent, it works to become a seed pod that dries up and drops it's little seeds on the ground for next year's babies.  This completed process signals to the plant that it has fulfilled it's life purpose and can now die.  Kinda sad, isn't it?  The plant will actually begin to loose its color and die if you don't do something to stop the process.  So we deadhead - cut, pinch, snip, karate chop the spent blooms off the plant to trick it into producing more blooms.  That way your garden will have flowers all season long.

But

Not all plants that are deadheaded will re-bloom: lilacs, flowers grown from bulbs, peonies, certain types of hydrangea are a few.  Sorry.  However, cut the dead flowers off anyway to promote overall plant health and appearance.

I have included some examples of before and after.  It's best to remove the entire bloom, stem and all, but if you're in a rush, the flower head itself will do (it just won't look so good).

While you're at it, remove any old, faded leaves on the plant too.

every living thing

Every living thing needs water;
Every living thing needs the rain.
Every living thing needs water;
I guess I really can't complain. ~ Sesame Street

We have had very, very little rain in these parts.  Every time we have a forecast for rain, I end up disappointed.  Even my rain barrels are dried up!  How sad is that??  Unfortunately, every living thing needs water whether or not it rains, so I have been watering like a fiend!  This week will also be bringing us temps of 100 degrees, so my containers are especially at risk.   That is the topic for today.


It isn't rocket science (is it still even called rocket science?), but everyone needs a little refresher now and then.  All  your plants and flowers need to be watered, but the ones planted in the ground have the advantage of a root system that actually goes somewhere.  When it gets a bit dry, those plants can dig a little deeper in search of  a drink.  Your container plants can't.  So you need to make sure you keep them well watered but not over watered.  How do you do that?  Well...


1.  Make sure all your containers have good drainage. I have drilled holes in the bottom of many pots, buckets and cans when there were no holes already in them.  If it is impossible to drill holes, you can put things in the bottom of your container to allow for a certain amount of drainage.  Some people use stones, I often put my left over plastic pot things the plants come in in the bottom.  Sort of recycling.


2.   Where possible, use some sort of plate to catch the overflow.  This will feed some of the water back into your plant.


One common mistake in watering your container garden is assuming that once the water flows over the side of the pot, the pot is full.  WRONG!!  You need to keep the hose on it until the water reaches the top, stop, let the water soak in and repeat.  Keep this up until the water begins to drain out of the bottom of the pot (when there is a drainage hole) or until it soaks in very slowly  (when there isn't a drainage hole). [this is a lousy picture, but if you try really hard, you can see the water seeping out the back of the pot]


Now that the flowers in my window boxes are getting very full, they require much more water.  Be very careful here though; because the plants are so full, they can actually repel the water with their foliage and cause it to run off instead of going into the soil.  So I lift the flowers and water from beneath.  


Many flowers like to have a little bath too, so use your shower setting and give your leaves a little sprinkle.


I recommend watering early in the morning before the heat of the day to avoid the sun burning off all your labor.  Evening watering can be great too, especially when it is so very hot ( just avoid roses - subject for another day).  To be honest, when it's this miserably hot, I often do both.  

Don't start getting lazy now!  Your garden is just about reaching its peak.  Keep at it!  Water, water, water!!

bane of my existence

SLUGS!

Ok...well they may not be the actual bane of my existence, but they come very close!  I can't tell you how frustrating it is to go out to the garden and find half eaten petunias, holey hosta and shredded zinnias.  If you're having this problem the cause is probably a very slimy one...slugs!  Nasty!  Bleh!

Here's the scoop.  Slugs are made up primarily of water and mucous (with a little bumpy skin thrown in).  They thrive in moist conditions and are fairly nocturnal in their eating habits.  They're gross and I despise them!  Left uncontrolled, they can destroy your garden.  I have had to replace many flowers already this year.

So what do you do?  Annihilate them!  Anyway you can.  Be merciless!  I know my gentle organic friends may take offense to my tactics but my thoughts are that I spend too much time and too much money to let some slimy creatures use my gardens as a free buffet.  How do you do it then?

1.      Salt.  (sort of melts them like the Wicked Witch of the West).  I have friends who go out in the evenings with their salt shakers and take care of their slugs that way.  Downside: you can only kill the ones you see and excessive salt can harm a garden.

2.       Beer.  Yup that's right.  Pour a little Pabst Blue Ribbon (or the ale of your choosing) in a shallow dish and strategically place it in your garden.  The slugs will crawl right in and drown!  They are attracted to the yeast in the beer.  Downside: big garden-lots of dishes and you have to empty that nastiness in the morning.  GROSS!

3.       Molluscicides..   Chemicals.  Slug poison.  Now we're talking.  The most common form is 'Bug-Geta'.  This particular metaldehyde comes in granular or pellet form; just sprinkle a handful of them around your affected plants (or along the entire garden if you're infested) and the slugs will DIE!  Downside:  can be costly, you can't use it in your vegetable garden and it can be harmful to dogs if eaten in large quantities.

I'm sure there are many, many other ways to control these disgusting creatures - I suggest Google.

Before I forget - they are tenacious and only need a moist surface to crawl over so check your window boxes and containers for them too.  Sneaky, slimy, disgusting things.

the challenge - round one

A few posts ago, I mentioned a church in Bangor, Pennsylvania (Hopesprings Community of Faith) that I was going to revamp.  Well...round one is finished!  To refresh your memory, I've included one 'before' picture.  The building is a beauty, but the horrible overgrown shrubs, weedy grass and nasty orange doors were such a distraction, who knew??  While the grass and doors have yet to be tackled, at least the shrubs have been replaced. 

The challenge was two fold: small budget and small space. (I also needed to keep maintenance in mind. Because it's a busy church, garden maintenance needs be on the low side.)  My design goal was to create a formal garden that enhanced the beauty of the building, so I began with the color of the stained glass windows (which are gorgeous!) and worked my way out.  I loved, loved the blue in the windows and I love, love hydrangea so that was easy!  These are Forever and Ever - Blue Heaven; they are cut and bloom again - gotta love that in a hydrangea.  I placed one bush in front of each window and it really does bring out the blue in the stained glass.  Yea!

To add formality, I planted one dwarf English Boxwood (no link ~ boxwood are a dime a dozen...well actually they are quite expensive, but you know what I mean) between each hydrangea.  Behind each boxwood, I planted one perennial to add a small pop of color.  I also threw some purple wave petunias in the front to give contrast to all the blue and green.

One of my professional philosophies is that every client has a distinct personality that needs to be portrayed in his or her garden.  It is one of my most enjoyable challenges: get to know my client, understand who he is and what she likes and find a way to represent him in the garden.  Hopesprings is a church that is a bit different and notably creative in their approach to worship.  So in keeping with the very traditional lines of the building, I wanted to add something that would be a bit unexpected.  Thus the Alberta Spruce Spiral Topiary in place of one of the boxwoods.  Fun!

The front steps were screaming for containers, but this church is on a main road, so I had to keep in mind the possibility of someone walking off with the pots.  Unfortunately, the budget wouldn't allow for the kind of heavy pot I would normally have purchased, but happily, I stumbled upon these concrete numbers.  They were big time ugly, so my daughter faux painted them to add character.  They are so heavy, the person who decides to steal these will walk off with pots and a double hernia!  I planted Confetti Lantana Topiaries in them with Callie Orange Million Bells and Royal Purple with Eye Verbena in the base.  Lovely.

Now for round two...

lavender for the soul

As Rosemary is to the Spirit, so Lavender is to the Soul.   ~ annonoymous



If ever I loved my job, it is when I am harvesting lavender.  There truly is something soul-healing about quietly handling and cutting each bloom.  The fragrance alone is enough to quiet my chaotic thoughts.; add to that the beauty and touch of them and I'm in another dimension altogether.

One of my aims as a gardener, both personally and professionally, is to have beautiful and useful gardens.  Lavender is both.  Every year, I gather as much as I can.  I make lavender wands out of them to use as sachets in my closets and drawers, bundle and hang them upside down to dry, and use them for cooking (lavender and lemon cake is to die for!).    At Christmas time, I use the bundles in my decorating.  It's aromatic, natural and beautiful.  I've even made soap with it!

It's best to harvest your lavender early in the day: after the dew has dried, but before the heat of the day, this keeps the essential oils in the plant itself and causes it to retain most of its fragrance.  Also, cut them before the flowers begin to turn brown.  Make sure you leave enough stem to make the plant useful.

With the proper care, many lavenders will bloom all summer.

lady's mantle

Lady's Mantle: it is exploding in all my gardens!  The plants are so showy, they border on ostentation.  I am in love with them!

If you don't have lady's mantle in your garden, you should.  It makes a great border plant, ground cover and second mate to showier plants like roses.  They thrive in partial shade, but do well in full sun as well.  In the morning, the dew settles in the slightly cupped leaves and just sparkles.  In early summer, the plants produce a profusion of frothy chartreuse flowers that you can see here.

Once they flowers finish blooming, cut them back and you should get a few more blooms from them.  But even without the flowers, it is a wonderful plant.

snow princess

Every year I have my favorite new plant.  A few past winners were variegated nasturtium, purple wave petunias, and heliotrope.  I have planted them to great success and talked about them to anyone who would listen (that could explain why some people tend to run when they see me coming).  This year's winner is...

(A new hybrid from Proven Winners called) Snow Princess Lobularia Hybrid, or Snow Princess Alyssum! 

It was used in test gardens last year to great success and introduced to us this year.  It is a vigorous grower, so it needs to be cut back often (I just pinch them back every time I water and fertilize).  The difference between these and past alyssum is their trailing habit.  They are considered sterile plants, which means they are grown from cuttings and not seeds, so instead of spending all their energy reproducing seeds in later summer, they produce more and more flowers on long trails.  Million bells are along the same lines.  Pruning is for appearance sake, not to keep them from 'going to seed'.  I love them!!  Try them out!

15 seconds of fame

Well fellow gardeners, I just enjoyed my 15 seconds of fame (I'm still holding out for the 15 minutes)!  The editor of a local magazine (Pocono Flair - a really beautifully done magazine) got wind of this blog, read it and asked me if I would be interested in writing a short article for their upcoming issue.  How very Julie/Julia is that (minus the TV spots, article in the New York Times, book contract and movie)?!  So yours truly is in her first (hopefully not last) magazine!  Today the Poconos....tomorrow....Scranton!  Dreaming big here!

Anyway, since many of you have no access to the actual magazine, I've attached the link for your perusal.  Unfortunately for me, the add on the adjoining page is so startlingly odd it kind of distracts from my article but soldier on and give it a read.  I'd love to know what you think.    Local Flair

Very happy gardening!

three is not a crowd

Hola!  Just a quick word about planting techniques.  I often see people planting their flowers in rows like little soldiers.  While this technique could be effective in creating a border, I generally stay away from it.  In my gardens, I like a mass of color rather than little specks dotted here and there.  So I plant in groups: usually threes.  That way the plant (in this case Victoria Blue Salvia - one of my very favorites) will make a statement and hold it's own against the rest of the garden.  With the exception of spreaders (wave petunias, nasturtium, licorice, etc), I plant all my annuals like this. 


In this picture, you can see how well the salvia holds its own against the hydrangea and cosmos (the cosmos were also planted in a group).  I love the way the blue color just grabs your attention!  Isn't it beautiful?

Anyway consider doing this in your own garden this year.

I am exhausted; another long, sweaty and dirty day in the gardens so it's off to bed with me!

soil, sunlight, ripping and decapitation

Its been crazy around here, between my job and my life, I feel frenetic.  The other day I took tons of pictures for the blog...and realized when I got home the memory card was still in the computer and not in the camera.  So this is take two.

As I plant, I think of so many tips for this blog; it's like a running conversation in my mind (ok, ok, I admit it, I am a chronic talker to myselfer anyway).  In one of these delightful conversations I decided that just in case I have novice gardeners reading, I am going to begin with the basics.

When planning a garden, soil and sunlight are KEY. 

While its true that different plants like different types of soil,  the majority of them prefer rich, well drained soil.  Well drained around here is generally not a problem because we live in Rocksylvania, but if you are unlucky and have thick, clay soil, get rid of it in your beds and replace it with good quality topsoil.  I am in love with mushroom compost; everything I plant in it grows like crazy!  Just make sure you mix it in well with your existing soil or you could burn your plants. 

Watch how much sun your garden area gets in a day, you may be surprised either way.  I recently planted a rose in an area I assumed had full sun only to discover that the roof  line of another building shaded that exact spot for hours.  Bummer for me.

Final tips for the day: root bound plants and pinching. 

All those gorgeous flowers you buy whether in flats or pots are gorgeous because the containers are so small the plants are forced grow quickly.  Thus when you take them out of their containers, you get a mini root ball.  Have no mercy; rip it apart!  I have included some pictures as an example.  This particular plant's soil was very moist when I planted it (always a good idea to make sure your plants aren't dry when you plant them), so it was easy to work with.  I take the root in my hand and break it open cross-ways.  The more root you expose to the soil, the better your plant will take root and grow. 

Pinching back - painful but necessary.  I will use cosmos as an example but I also do this with saliva, heliotrope, and zinnia, to name a few.  After you plant that sweet little flower, decapitate it: pinch off the buds and flowers.  I know, I know, it's brutal, but if you don't, your flower runs a very strong chance of being tall, leggy and scraggly.  Pinch back those first flowers/buds and more energy goes back into the actual plant to make it grow out and up.  Trust me on this one.  

I will be back soon (hopefully - sitting at the computer is one of the last items on my to do list - you should see how behind I am with my email!) with more.  Enjoy the spring!

rain and mud and shopping

The threat of frost is finally over and it's planting time!  I have been driving all over Northeast Pennsylvania and New Jersey looking for the best product I can find for my gardens.   It's tedious but worth it.  Although I confess I do buy from Home Depot now and then, I buy 90% of my plants and flowers from local green houses.  I find the people who own them are wonderful to work with.  They know and stand behind their product, are eager to share their information with you and have a vested interest in your progress.  Because they are local, your success is their success.

(Tammy Clucas, owner of Clucas Farms on Rt 521 in Harmony, NJ has been a terrific source for me.  Not only does she know a lot, her product is wonderful; I have never purchased something from her that did not completely satisfy me.  I often ask for plants or flowers she doesn't have or doesn't have a lot of.  Each time I do this ((she probably groans when she sees me pull in)), she does all she can to find it for me somewhere else.  You won't get that kind of service at Home Depot.)

Today I woke up all fresh and eager for my day in the garden.  Even though it was raining (a soft rain), I was undaunted in my fervor to dig, plant and prune.  It wasn't so bad in the beginning, but the soft rain became a steady rain and the steady rain became a hard rain and the hard rain broke me.  My pants were so wet they were sticking to my legs, my gloves were soaked through and it was so cold I could see my breath!!!  That was where I drew the line!  I packed up my stuff, called Bentley to follow and headed home where a hot bath was awaiting me.

Now I am warm, dry and ready to go at it again tomorrow.

(Get ready Tammy.  I need a few more baskets of bacopa)

ps  the lady in the picture isn't me, but isn't she hilarious? That was my expression at the end of the day too.

just say no

I know what you're doing.  You're frothing at the mouth at all the beautiful flowers being sold everywhere you turn.  'It's warm outside', you say, 'I bet it's safe to plant now; they wouldn't sell the flowers if it weren't safe to plant'.  DON'T DO IT!   A few warm days does not mean it's safe to plant your annuals.  It could still frost and wipe them out.  I know...I've done it.

Did you know that Mother's Day weekend is the biggest gardening retail weekend of the year?  We just go crazy buying flowers...and don't even tell me it's all for your mom!  Grocery stores, Mega Hardware stores, roadside tents and even gas stations are selling us flowers right now.  That doesn't make it time to plant, it makes it time to sell (where I live, Northeast PA, there is a chance of frost until May 15 this year).  Let me qualify that, though.  You can still plant perennials and hardy annuals, but leave the impatiens and other tender annuals alone for a bit.  What I usually do is plant my containers now (because I can easily move or cover them if there is a chance of frost) and hold off on the rest until after threat of frost.

Many of  you may have early planting success stories; if so, you were lucky.  My advice is to wait.  Just say no.

service project

New projects and a new challenge, I love them.  And I got both in spades this spring.

A little church in a town nearby was in desperate need of a makeover.  The building inside is a gem: gorgeous stained glass windows, rich wood work, fabulous details.  The exterior, however, isn't.  It is suffering in a way many homes suffer: the disease of 'same old same old'.  People often come up with a solution that works for awhile, but every garden needs to be rethought now and then.  Overgrown shrubs, weedy grass, tired plants are a few of the most common offenders.  And they offend, let me tell you!  Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and pull things out.  There is nothing sacred about plants. 

The challenges here are a very small space and an even smaller budget.  But it can be done.  I will post from time to time so you can see what you can do with a bit of imagination a lot of hard work and a little cash.  This should be fun!

lilac time

One of my very favorite things to do at the end of the working day in the gardens is to cut whatever is ready and make a bouquet for my clients.  For them, after a long day at their jobs, it's nice to come home to a treat like that.  Plus I just love to do it!

Here, I used lilac and dogwood. But each week it's something different.  Spring blooms don't last long, so I make the best use of them by bringing them in and putting them all over my house.  As I type this, I can smell the white lilac (which reminds me of my mother) and crimson azalea in the mason jar on the table beside me.  (And that is a very good thing because it is so windy and cold outside, I am doing my work from inside the house today!  Even my poor puppy is on his own.)

master gardener

Try as I may, I can never outdo the Master Gardener.  Where I live, Northeast Pennsylvania, I am surrounded by hills and forests. It's just beautiful. The Delaware Water Gap and Appalachian Trail are only minutes away and I hike there as often as I can. In the spring, the streams are bulging and run into creeks that are rushing into waterfalls and are gorgeous.  It seems to surprise me every year.

In my own little corner of it all, there is a lovely woods that surrounds my neighborhood.  Every morning, I take my puppy out for his morning potty into this woods.  Today I was feeling a bit more sluggish than usual and grumpily trudged out to the woods with Bentley when I was assaulted by the most glorious fragrance (not emanating from him, I assure you)! Everywhere I turned, the wild honeysuckle was beginning to bloom and the smell was incredible!!  What a treat!!   In a few weeks from now, just as the honeysuckle dies off, the wild roses will take over.

There is a Master Gardener, and it's not me.

empire of dirt

Lest you conjure up images of gardening being a bucolic, genteel past time, I decided to show you my feet (which were encased in Wellies) after two hours of cleaning out a flower bed yesterday.  As bad as they were then, you should have seen them at the end of the day.  Not a pretty sight, I assure you.

I also got myself into an altercation with a  Herculean vine that turned out to be poison ivy.

My client's dog decided to relieve himself (in the solid form) right where I was battling the aforementioned ivy.

While working and sweating profusely, a giant wind swept by and blew the newly turned dirt right onto my wet self...and took up residence.

And to top it all off, my pretty new gardening hat gave me hat head so badly I was actually astonished (it didn't keep me from being sunburned either) - stupid hat.

And yes, I realize my socks don't match.

verses in spring

I love spring!  Really, who doesn't?  Ellis Peters said, "Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment."  Isn't that a delightfully true quote?  Now that the garden is waking up, I will endeavor to post some pictures along the way.  I've been weeding like crazy, laying Preen for the first time ever (will keep you posted as to its merits or lack thereof), and spreading holly tone and lime hither and yon.  All in preparation for the big build up of the blooming season.  Oh I can't wait!!!

The pictures I'm posting are of a fragrant and beautiful viburnum bush and a branch of the espaliered apple tree in gorgeous full bloom.


One last thought:

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.  ~Margaret Atwood