A first

The lavender has flowers! I am very happy about that. I cut it back quite severely at the beginning of last summer and apparently that was a terrible mistake. It's now established enough to put out pretty little purple things and I'm a happy camper. But I am also so basically vicious and destructive in the garden that I am already thinking "maybe that means it's time to divide it". I should just lie back and enjoy the show.

Soon to bloom

The delphinium furthest to the south is going to bloom soon. I despair of seeing anything from the others. I think they're done for.

The day lilies will come out soon, too. And not soon enough, actually. The side doesn't have very much on the go.

Iris Eyes are Smiling

I am home in time to see the very end of the irises.

I am very sorry to have missed their peaks. I love the iris. The last of the white (bearded) iris flowers is lying somewhat disconsolately next to the pavement, begging for the end.

The last few siberian iris are still going, but so many have passed that I think we're going to see the last of them this week.

Mocking

The white bush in the front side yard is in really quite glorious bloom at the moment.

I wish I knew what it is. Is it a mock orange, I wonder? It doesn't smell at all, so I suspect not, but perhaps it's a breed created for flowering in not-ideal conditions instead of scent.

I'm back

I'm finally back after a lot of travel and some quite distractingly stressful work stuff. In honour of my long-anticipated return, I decided that I would tackle the hideously weedy front.

Before lunch, I pulled a good pile of uninvited greenery out of a small patch of the ground.

To be honest, I thought that as the inconsistent gardener, I might be going to stop with this one bald patch as my (not tiny) accomplishment for the day.

However, I surprised myself and in the afternoon, I pulled out all the other weeds I could find in the front. And once that was done, I cleared out the leaves under the shrubs. It looks great.

Unfortunately, it won't for long. What I've done is to clear a space for the next generation of weeds. I don't have anything in the wings waiting to be put in place. But I couldn't leave it as it was. It was completely overrun.

I think I'll tackle the side yard tomorrow. Unless, of course, my weeding muscles are in such agony tomorrow that I can't possibly even squat a tiny bit, pull a tiny bit, or bend a tiny bit. This is a real possibility. We'll have to see.

Profligate Nature

This morning, I swept the maple flowers from our back deck (again).  I am constantly amazed by just how much organic matter this tree produces and then ditches.  We're talking several pounds of plant bits.  Give a tree some air and water and see what it'll do.  It's incredible.  

And, let's be honest, a little irritating.  I have no doubt that our neighbours find it more so.  There really is a lot of gunk falling from the trees at the moment.  It can look like a light rain if the wind is just right.  Soon the tree-dropping season will turn into the tree-leafing season which won't be too long before the seed-dropping season.  That's the most wonderful time of the year.  I loves them helicopters, and Chutney the cat can't get enough of them, either.

Seeds

We went to the seed store today to get plot supplies.  It's been absolutely stunning weather here for a few days and the time to get seeds in the ground is most definitely now.  We might have gone a little overboard, but seeds are cheap and there were so many appealing ones.  

We've got "North Holland Bloodred Redmate" and "Tokyo long white bunching" onions, arugula, "Long White Icicle" and "Early Scarlet Globe" radish, "Improved Tendergreen Bush" beans, some fresh mesclun mix and an optimistic "Early One" broccoli.  No beets or peas or potatoes this year, most likely.  They didn't have seed potatoes of the kind we like best.  We've never had luck with peas (or anything that needs staking, actually ... it's just not our way).  The beets I may miss, but I think this year, I'll just buy lots at the market and let them use their garden space.  We'll plant radishes instead.

 The lettuce we planted a while ago has come up in a few sad sprouts but the onions are non-starters.  Too bad. 

 

I am not sure when we'll take the time to put these seeds in.  Soon, I hope.