Unexpected Tradgi-Versity 31 1/2

There was a frost a few nights ago and it killed the basil... you know what that means! Happy Non-Anniversary to Bob and me! Okay, so the fact that our non-anniversary typically lands towards the end of September or beginning of October means nothing when you get a bizarre and unexpected frost that obliterates your only-just-planted basil but every other tender annual you tenderly started from seed... Oh the horror! The horror!
I lost two full flats of zinnia linearis (from my own saved seed!) which are impossible to buy at nurseries nowadays. A full flat of heliotrope (that I started from seed) and a number of individual "premium" annuals that I'd secured for filling containers succumbed, too. I was pretty much devastated but then Bob and I decided to celebrate 31 1/2 years...
So I had to re-purchase the plants that I could (tomatoes, peppers, basil etc) and simply mourn the ones I couldn't (whole flats of odd ball annuals). I lucked onto a slew of calendulas (in the same color range as the zinnias I'd planted) and bought enough to fill the bed that empty. It will look fine by mid-summer but I really LIKE those zinnias I lost!
Here's the replacement calendulas... all things considered, they'll look pretty good quite soon.

There's Maggie in the background. Hello Maggie! (She likes to watch Robin and I plant.)
So other things going on...

Be still my heart! We all know I am crazy for Delphinium; oooooh! This is a long running love affair. And wouldn't you know, I go to Stop and Shop for something and I see- across the parking lot, despite my face mask fogging my sunglasses- a truck unloading flowers at the other door. I make a bee line, but am told they have to unload the truck before they can sell the flowers. (Yeah, it's eight feet up on a huge rack.) So I procure whatever food was I needed, put it in our car (shout out to Trusty!) and immediately reapproach the plant people who have now offloaded. Sold!! I have to go all the way back in to the store, but this Delphinium is coming home with me, baby!

In a heavy mist today, I got a lot done in all parts of the garden, including the Shade Border which looks quite okay despite my sort of ignoring it while I plant many other things. Here's a close up of the Kerria Japonica:

Nice! Single orange blooms, impeccable variegation... this is a winner. Lots of nice things erupting here, suitable for my next post.
And I know you can't smell it from there, but the Abelia is amazing! Loaded with blooms- top to bottomus- and just great:

Also, the lilac that Mommy gave me a million years ago is blooming. I'm so happy about this. This particular offspring is from a white lilac that Mommy had- in Durham!- like fifty years ago is now residing and flowering in my Lilac Border. that made me happy (and a bit sad). But it smells so nice...

Gardening Like There's No Tomorrow

So it's started: that mad scramble to buy, assemble and compose, feed, and plant. This part of Spring is so incredibly busy... that's MY excuse for not having posted sooner. I take my vocation as a "life style coach" VERY seriously and it's on me when I neglect my hungry followers. I apologize! But sometimes, living that heady, fast paced life style precludes the reporting on it.
So the picture at the top represents my initial foray into container planting. It's so much fun gathering all these colorful and seductive annuals and arranging for them to spend the summer together. Sometimes my head spins with the possibilities. Here's a shot of some of my raw material:

These are some of the plants I kept having to move out of my studio and back in every night when the weather was still chilly! It became quite the ordeal. Now I'm of the mindset that if we get a cold night- too bad! And that's only a fraction of what I've already planted.

Here's a shot of the amazing tulips that we obtained through our friend Hanneke who works at a tulip importer called ColorBlends. We can't say enough good things about their bulbs! Spectacular! So much better quality; the tulips and daffodils bloomed longer and were altogether bigger and more vibrant. Our Spring displays were amazing. Of course the irony is that few people got to see them as COVID 19 has put a cabosh on visitors!

Here's another tulip bed. These were inferior "Big Box" tulips and are already gone by. They also did not stand up well to the harsh weather and winds we experienced. I sound like an advertisement but boy there was a noticeable difference. I'm planting this bed in with cannas and zinnia linearis. That will be posted soon enough!

And Bob has been busy in the vegetable garden. We have been devouring salad after salad of wonderful delicate little greens.This is the same bed I featured in a previous posting. You can see how much these seedlings have grown. And take a look:

Bob meticulously transplants all those individual plants so they have room to grow. We eat the thinnings... I'm so lucky. Nothing I like better than tiny tender lettuce!
So forgive me if it's another few days before I post again; we're both busy in the great outdoors. We've also started grass seed in the horse field, mowed the lawn, Bob's planted his birthday present azalea (Delaware Valley White) and peonies (Festiva Maxima, Scarlett O'Hara and Do Tell) in a completely new display garden by the driveway. That way, when people pick up their metal plant supports (mostly peony rings!) they can see his work in action. It looks terrific! No wonder we're tired!

Color COVID

At what point do I get to wake up somewhere other than Vladimir Putin's America? Here it is- May 9th- and I'm swaddled in my winter clothing, picking through the woodpile searching for a few sticks to burn? It's actually flurrying with the sun out and we're all still quarantined from COVID 19 and WTF!! When I walked back from the mailbox, it was near white-out conditions...
I have begun the lovely task of assembling annuals, perennials and shrubs and vegetable plants to populate our many gardens and beds but I had to hustle them all back into my studio so they didn't freeze to death last night. And what of the hummingbirds?!  There have been a bunch of them- right on schedule!- flying around and landing on our feeder; I may have to install a nectar heater! But where do they spend the night?

This isn't half of them! The seedlings and tender things are all over our dining table and every available window sill. (We have temporary shelving on several windows...) Even today, the wind is so strong and sharp that they're all hunkered down inside.
So I had an exciting adventure yesterday morning. I called our local hardware/feed store and ordered and pre-paid for the horse food I need so that I wouldn't have to enter the building. As is typical protocol now, they said they'd leave the two bags on the rear loading dock. I drove our trusty car (running like a top!) to the back of the store, put it in reverse and hoped for the best. I say this because the driveway leading up to the loading dock is seriously narrow and surrounded on both sides high concrete walls and a chain link fence too boot. Add to the already trying circumstances is that I have my sunglasses and face mask on so that the mask was causing the sunglasses to fog slightly. I carefully calibrated that the right passenger side of the car was the trickier side to gauge my proximity to the imposing wall and backed up... BAM!!! Oh, I hit something!!
I pulled my car forward, exited and went to survey the damage. Trusty the Car looked fine but when I turned around, I realized that I had hit the corner post and it had caused the chain link fence to bow out. Yikes!

See? Nothing! Bernie didn't even get scratched! (I had feared having smashed a taillight or dented the fender area.)
Needless to say, I was mortified and knew I had to do the right thing. So I gloved up- already in my mask- and entered the store, which of course, was packed with customers and there were no sales people free. I exited and instead confessed by cell phone what I had done. I also walked to the back of the store and found three (3!!) male employees on the loading dock (all wearing masks) shaking their heads and... LAUGHING! Like "hahahaha; dumb blonde!!" In this case, I really didn't care as I confided just how stupid I felt and offered insurance information if they needed to press charges or put in a claim. But they were great and made plans among themselves to straighten it out. (In truth, it wasn't that bad!) They actually asked if I had gotten my two bags of beet pulp okay (yes, but need I remind you, these weigh 50 pounds apiece!) and told me to "have a nice day". I told Bob that the next time he went to our hardware store, he should view my signature "Damage by Rita" installation. I may avoid the store myself for a while as I'm certain they'll all be giggling at me when I come in...

Quarantine Day ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Between Quarantine in general and the dark, cold, rainy days in particular, I'd just as soon crawl back into bed. Or stay in bed once it reaches something called "morning". I need sun! And flowers! And... trips to nurseries and garden centers!!!!!
I remarked to Bob that I'm sort of a junkie. I started itching and scratching and twitching and generally behaving in unpleasant and unattractive ways because I (and I'm assuming many others) am experiencing a spring in which I can't do one of my very favorite things: go to nurseries.
So I called around. Many garden centers/nurseries are open- but only if you pre-buy and pick up at curbside. This really cannot work in the horticultural arena. I need to look at and mentally combine combinations and colors. Also, I need to pick out my own plants; how can anyone else know which
specimen I think is best suited to my purposes?
I did locate one garden center in the next town over that said as long as you wore a mask and practiced social distancing, you could wander around and get your fix. Needless to say I was in my car and barrelling towards nirvana in a matter of minutes...

And here's Bob (and one of his new sculptures) proudly displaying his mighty row of garlic. He's done a fine job of organizing and weeding and mulching the vegetable garden. Bob is also displaying a more stoic approach to the cold wet weather and seems more inclined to spend time outside. Just yesterday, I got all excited and gathered tools and tarps only to find that the clouds had rolled back in and the sun had retreated. I retired to my studio.

Here's a shot of the lettuce row. The cover protects the tiny seedlings against too much rain, sun or even spatter after a quick rain shower. Bob is going to transplant the seedlings soon; I can't wait for those first tender little shoots! One of Spring's great pleasures!

Here's another view of the seedlings. It's so important in this time of death and uncertainty and lack of leadership and tragedy to have a hopeful outcome to look forward to. Great organic things to eat! Not having to run to the store for picked over produce! Yay!
This is why I'm craving warm, sunny weather: I need that time outdoors to move plants around and remake and remodel garden beds that have become chaotic and weedy. Just to dig in the dirt. Even our perpetually sunny dog Robin the Good has been melancholy and not sure she really wants to go out. (Lots of standing at the door but not moving when the door opens. Sigh.) My mission today is to cheer her- and me!- up.