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.

Spring Break!

Bob and I took a short but well deserved trip to the New York Botanical Garden today. We went to deliver more of Bob's fabulous metal work to the garden shop there, but they give us passes so we spend the day wandering around in a state of horticultural bliss. The weather cooperated handsomely and we got thoroughly oxygenated and made new friends. That's me with a new friend in the picture above. I have always had a soft spot for those tall narrow conifers...

Another fine fellow with a curious question mark of a top.

Look at that one! Bob spotted this charmer off in the distance. You have to laugh at some of these specimens. Here's another one:

Sort of a scrappy fellow! But it's surrounded- and honestly upstaged- by the lovely daffodils blooming behind it. There are daffodils everywhere. And entire hillside blanketed by what must really be a million blooming all at once. It smells intoxicating, too.

Here's a variety I particularly liked. It's apparently a very old type called "Seagull" (I guess you could have just read the tag...) that I'll be looking to add to my lilac/daffodil collection this fall. I did develop a real hankering for those white narcissus...
And look at this:

There are these amazing, magnificent blooming cherry trees all over the Botanical Garden. Huge old specimens with gnarly trunks and weeping over rocks; it's quite breath taking.
We had a fun and relaxing day and managed to get only minorly lost on our way home.

And So It Begins...

It was a nice day in spring... what can I say? I bought the above specimen. I couldn't resist as was three times bigger than it's similarly priced and potted siblings. And I've been pondering low evergreen ground cover plants but I didn't want the typical junipers (and besides, they're scratchy). This little charmer (which will grow-hopefully- to about four to six feet across but only be 12 inches tall) is a Microbiota Decussata; sounds like something you'd take for a nasty bacterial infection. It's also known as a Siberian (or Russian) Cypress and is the only plant in it's genus. It looks sort of like a juniper but lacier and softer. First thing I bought! (Except for a six pack of white pansies...)

And here's our window sill. It's definitely full of seedlings and germination is a big event. We started Nicotiana sylvestris, teasel, milk thistle, and I think Bob's got a million types of leeks, onions and scallions started- all members of the alium tribe. I have delphinium seeds prechilling in the freezer and am waiting for the next full moon to start four different single colors of delphinium. We're busy with gardening (in addition to many art project) and April is half over. Playing catch up as usual!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

It all began with my generous sister Beatrice and her partner John giving me this lovely spiky specimen of Yucca filamentosa... just what I'd planned when I organized this new bed last year. And they gave me this plant a good two weeks earlier than my birthday so we'd have it in place for the garden tour! That was extra thoughtful. (The small coleus to the right look really great with that yucca.)
Not to be outdone, however, Bob took me on a wonderful plant buying spree for my actual birthday. He did this for me last year and it was such a hit that he offered a repeat excursion this July 20th.
Here's what I selected:

Cryptomeria japonica "Black Dragon" as an evergreen choice. And, of course, I have just the spot for it. I've been complaining that come winter, it doesn't look like we have any garden as most of our plants were deciduous. I'm working on changing that! A detail, please:

Look at that cool bark! It really is reddish orange and very prickly. Nice!
And how about a Vitex agnus-castus "Abbeville Blue"? Isn't that a mouthful

This one gave me a problem when I tried to photograph it; it washed out and the flowers looked dull. In reality, the flowers are a lovely blu-ish violet and very stiff. Handsome! I saw this shrub last year and thought about it for twelve months... that's how obsessive I am!

And look at this! On the "reduced" cart! I had actually liked this last year, too, so getting it for less than half price is a treat. This is Abies pinsapo "Glauca" or Spanish Fir. He's got these splendid little checkered looking needles. Cool!
And not to be outdone, my sister Cathy gave me tow Carexes.

Such crazy texture. They look like Zsa Zsa Gabor wigs. Very different! And appreciated.
And then, as a sort of over the top gesture, Beatrice and John brought MORE plants. Remember those Home Depot rhododendrons that had me fretting about how I could make a forest? Well, look at this:

They got me five, and I had five so now I have... TEN! That's fabulous! I am so happy. I think that Beatrice thinks I'm nuts because she thought there was some mistake and we got our signals crossed. Make no mistake: I am well on my way to making that rhododendron forest!
And we also enjoyed a lovely Spanish wine and all kinds of food stuff. It was a wonderful birthday! Thank you to all!

Garden Creep

I am assuming that the title to this particular post is confusing, as I could well be the "Garden Creep". Actually, I am referring to the fact that I keep making new garden beds and therefore the garden is creeping out further afield and eating up lawn. Less grass to mow! This also distinguishes me as a "Garden Creep" from the "Roadside Creep" that lives down our road. That individual is the sort that stands out in the road, smoking endless cigarettes and staring at anyone who drives by. A pugnacious Roadside Creep! I actually reported to Bob that I saw him driving car at the local shopping mall, as we thought maybe he didn't drive. A Mobile Roadside Creep: the worst kind! Thankfully, he lives up the other way and I don't have to pass him on my morning walk.)
But back to more pleasurable pass times. We were thwarted in our intentions to work on my studio floor as the lumber yard decided to be closed for the Labor Day Weekend. Maybe that's a good thing, as it compels us to spend time doing other artistic pursuits... like measure the horse for hoof boots. (It's what they're all wearing.) And dig garden beds.
And look:

With my stubby little fingers for scale, we have a lovely example of the Dahlia Kelvin's Floodlight. He and several other gigantic blooms exploded this week. I have apicture of those, too.

These guys are big, too, at least eight inches across. BIG! And tall.
But back to my efforts at a new garden bed. Something about the termination point of the bed that ran at a right angle (that you can see in the top photo) never sat right with me. It seemed like it need a cross bed. So Jules and I set to work removing sod and rocks and applying compost (the dark stuff in the top photo. Believe me, I already have plants to put in it, too. Several nice things languishing in the cut flower area need moving (Stokesia which is a lovely color, and a nice red phlox) and of course I found a few bargains at nursery centers (Limonium and Vernonia and a half dead coreopsis that the nursery woman GAVE to me because it did look half dead) and even a Stop and Shop markdown- a salvia with terrific dark purple foliage. And I forgot! I bought myself (on sale, natch) a really smashing Chamacyperus Obtusa "Cripsii" as a late birthday gift. So the new bed is full before it's dug. I guess I'll have to dig another bed...

There's Blue and Then There's Blue...

Just what I needed! Another idea has sprung, unbidden! into my brain! A new project! A smaller scale project than say, the studio... but a new thing to spend time and energy on none the less.
I have been remaking/remodeling the Blue Garden, what with munificent birthday giftees that enabled a real structural approach (as opposed to helter-skelter compositional style until recently applied). Incidentally, I have been a terrible gardener, indulging my lack of time in all manner of unorthodox plant tortures like digging grasses out and forcing them to live in damp wheelbarrows for days on end. Oh well; today, in between doing a million other things, I'll at least replant my blue friends.
But the new project is the above haphazard pathway that describes the left edge of the Blue Garden (or is that the "Booze Garden"? Between having rows upon rows of blue wine bottles and blue beer bottles and corks topping the bamboo stakes (so as not to poke out one's remaining eye), it's quite the celebration of other people's drinking patters. We really don't drink white wine (much) and infrequently indulge in cheap, domestic brands of beer). But we gladly accept other people's empties!
Anyway, we have been working a lot with cement and concrete. (Remember that ongoing project?) Bob and I have been rinsing the cement off the tools and containers on this path. My thinking was that it gave it a thin coat of cement and made a casual "sidewalk". But then I realized that we could do a mosaic of sorts, using cement as a grout/binder/base and embed broken BLUE glass and dish fragments. Brilliant!

It's begun already. The other day at work, I mentioned my new scheme and was promptly handed a box with some lovely, but badly damaged dishes. Gilt edges, no less. So any and all of my clumsy friends are invited to forward their broken blue dishes (or empties) to The BauHaus Chicken Coop. (And Wasil? Don't worry about sharp edges, okay?)

A New Member of the Family!

Don't tell my mother, but we seem to have a new resident here at the Bauhaus Chicken Coop. That's right, it's a handsome (traditonally) striped garter snake.  He/she chose to take up housekeeping in the pile of stones destined to become our terrace, right next to my Blue Garden. I had this funny feeling that there just might be snakes (thankfully the garter kind!) in this area.
Yesterday as I finished up planting and weeding, I happened to glance at the rocks and there it was. Being shy, as we haven't been formally introduced, he/she ducked back under a rock when I first suggested a photo shoot. But later on, Snake had reappeared and I caught the above candid picture.
Today, Snake is back; much more relaxed as I strove to plant and water in the rather oppressive heat.

Snake is positively sprawled along the top of the rocks. I think Snake likes the blue garden and seems pleased I took the time to weed and edge it. The Blue Garden was getting a bit out of control. I also pointed out to Bob that Snake might be in love...

because this bit of yellow rope was laying on the rocks, too. The yellow looks pretty similar to the yellow stripes on Snake's side. Perhaps a case of mistaken identity?
It must be Reptile Season as I spied a Box turtle careening across our lawn three days ago (gone when I fetched the camera). On my morning walk with Jules, we encountered a large garter snake who had been unfortunately run over while crossing the dirt road. Plain bad luck! Probably three cars a day drive on the dirt road- if that!- and the snake gets nailed. At least our snake is far away from the road and harm.

Master Blaster Asters!!

Isn't this a great back yard? I didn't plant- and can no credit for!- this aster display, other than to say that we didn't mow them down. This spring, I thought I recognized woodland asters by the foliage and it gave us less acerage to mow, so let them grow! And we have been wonderfully rewarded. It looks like Fairy Land.
Here's another shot; they go all the way back to Bob's studio. It has been a long lasting display, too. They just keep blooming. As this is very dry and thin soil (not to mention lots of competition from chunky spruce roots) I'd be hard pressed to plant anything else there. They didn't even require watering or weeding. Best of all is that asters are amoung my very favorite flowers.

Just Like the Great Wall of China!

Well, sort of like the Great Wall of China. I mean, you can see the Great Wall from outer space but WE can see our new garden bed from upstairs! We have this really kickin' aerial view...
But of course, all good gardening stories have their vast dilemmas. In my case, I got a wonderful variety of interesting plants from family 'n' friends for my recent birthday. I promptly de-sodded and began digging in this really long straight bed along the side of the path that we take down to Bob's studio. It's the major axis in the back yard; our version of the Champs Elysees (another allusion to a historical, monumental site!) So I'm happily arranging plants in their containers when it dawns on me that in order to plant this one where I really want to see it, I need to move that one waaaaaaaaaaaaay back over in the older section. And then it strikes me how much like making art gardening is. Sometimes, it's all a very roundabout route to get results. I believe I heard someone refer to this need to see something in a specific place as "the genius of place". And that is really true. I'll lie awake all night if I don't put that plant exactly where I imagined it, even if I have to move three or four other things to put it there.
And that's not to mention that I need to move a section of fence in order to plant. The new bed is (inconvieniently!) bisected by our fence and we all know my recent history of fences and eyeballs. So I'm going back into my studio instead!!!

Instant Garden- Just Add Water!

Sort of "instant garden" anyway! I have many perennials that I brought from our previous garden and they have spent the spring and early summer vacationing in the vegetable garden. Now I'm busy translpanting them but there are still eight million rocks and roots and all kinds of "junque" to remove before the instant part can happen. There are some happy combinations occurring; some I lifted wholesale from my old borders- like the "Gold Mound" spirea and small deep red day lily.

I had a rude awakening on Sunday when I went to Bob's mother's house to retreive the other half of my perennials from her vegetable garden where I had healed them in. Apparently, despite a fence and gate, the deer snuck in or over or through the fence and ate all of my plants. I mean I stood there for several profoundly awful minutes wondering just where all those plants were. Then I started to find stumpy bits of phlox and rudbeckia and hostas. But the Cimicifuga and other good friends have vanished. So I transplanted what I could locate and have healed them into a hospital ward in our vegetable garden, where I hope they will revive and regenerate for next spring...

Here's another view of my in-process borders:

Look at all that empty space! It's so wierd because I'm one of those "fill it up" gardeners who likes to see plenty of plants and very little raw dirt. I realize it's all part of the moving process and soon enough the beds will be full (and need dividing!). But it looks so empty.

Artistic Blockage of the Worst Sort

I knew that moving was going to disrupt the artistic process of both Bob and myself but I had no idea just how monstrously! We spent so much time disassembling and boxing not only our house, but the contents of two studios (and those extensive gardens...) Then we camped out- sans studio space- in the dead of winter. Not to belabor the obvious, as laid out in excruciating detail in my previous blog postings, but moving is and has been hell. It also unseated a deep seated stability or sense of place so important to artists like us.
Some artists are paripatetic and seem to be able to create work on the fly. I hear about these artists, but perhaps they're like yetis or Big Foot- makes for a good story but they don't actually exist. I think a sense of place and a studio home base are essential ingredients for many artists.
So I'm kind of blocked. This has only occurred a few tragic times in my adult life. I realize with the deepest part of my being that this is a temporary blip in the bigger picture, but it sucks. The other day, I was feeling so strung out and melodramatic...
But I had a revelation or an epiphany, and I know that it probably seems obvious to anyone else, but we have to re-invent that sense of place here. So I got busy, not with emptying the thousandth box but with planting our garden. Quite literally for me, it's all about digging in the dirt and creating our environment.
I'm feeling so much better now; tired in that truly filthy, dirt under the fingernails, muscles aching from shovels impacting rocks way. But better.
By the way, that picture is of our main mixed border back at the old address. I guess we have a long way to go as that photo is of a garden that's been under cultivation for eighteen years! But I'm psyched,

Dogs and Gardens- Part 1 (Excavations Anyone?)

This bit of lunar terrain is compliments of Jules, our accomplished canine sub-contactor. He has so many uncategorizable talents!
Jules discovered the tip of a rock. That led to some serious digging and a volley of rapturous barking: either he was attempting to shout the rock out of the ground, or he was singing some dog rah-rah cheerleading song to bouy his spirits during the hard work of destroying our back yard. He's been pretty mum about his rationale. In any event he managed to isolate this particular stone and he now guards it as if it is very special indeed. And this is not the first or only stone to so capture his affections. Ah! The inscrutability of the dog mind!
Bob has come up with a clever plan that we will test out today. We are going to have Jules focus on digging where we're clearing sods and planning a perennial border. (This is chain-gang type labor as documented in a previous posting as the rock population is legendary). Jules should be in seventh heaven and we'll have double dug beds... or we'll experiment with that low maintainence lunar theme when the blasted yard is laid to waste.