So last Friday I was really looking forward to a reunion with my garden after being away almost all week. A local landscaping company called Greenwise was supposed to have done the spring cleanup while I was gone, and I was eager to see everything nice and neat, along with whatever might be newly sprouting or in bloom.
I know lots of people who are excited about the impending premier of the 8th and final season of Game of Thrones. It’s a compelling show, no doubt. But where will these people turn when the season is over? I would humbly suggest the book Ghost on the Throne, by James S. Romm.
If I were a superhero or a Viking or something like that, I would like my name to be “Yew Slayer”. Fact is, I have taken down a lot of Yews, particularly Japanese Yews (Taxus cuspidata).
It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I really don’t like Yews (although I guess that does make it personal). To me they are just big green blobs. Most of the Yews I’ve taken down were installed as foundation plantings around various houses we have lived in.
Spring’s progress this last week reminds me of that song The Ants Go Marching. Like a lot of people, I want spring to burst forth with great masses of colorful flowers. But so far, the flowers have been marching in one by one, more or less.
Well, the seed starting is coming along nicely, not withstanding one unfortunate mishap.
Our friend Alison at Bonney Lassie came up with the brilliant idea of a blog meme which involves showing the unflattering aspects of our gardens. This is a healthy antidote to the steady diet of stories about perfect gardens, all gorgeously photographed, which I and many others greedily consume.
You’ve heard of the slow food movement, right? We seem to be living through a slow spring movement. Don’t be anxious for all those spring flowers, the weather is telling us. Be in the moment – savor the season day by day. Most years, the slow spring movement lasts only as long as there isn’t much going on. Once spring gets really good, it forgets about being in the moment and rushes headlong into summer.
In the meantime, though, I’m pleased to say that one of the tulip pots is full of pointy little leaves of ‘Princess Irene’. The other pots still have no signs of life, but this is still a good sign.
So a little while back I came across this 2017 Washington Post article about using sedges (Carex) as a substitute for mulch.
Friends, I am truly pooped. Pooped, but happy. Danny and Beckee got married Saturday, and it was a long, loud, and joyful event. Then we hosted the post-wedding brunch this morning, which was fine except that Judy woke up with a stomach flu, which meant she missed the festivities. She’s feeling better now.
It’s been a whole week since I’ve written a post. I have good excuses, though. First off, work has been much busier than normal. Second, and much more exciting, our oldest son’s wedding is this coming Saturday. (!!!) We have only limited responsibilities in this regard, even so there are tasks for us to check off and errands to run.
gardeninacity 