9th Year

This post was going to be several (innocuous) things. I wanted to celebrate the 9th anniversary of our house closing and the incredible saga of us moving in (amid three feet of crusty, frozen snow and all kinds of bizarre obstacles!) I also wanted to pay tribute to a new decade; a doubling decade! Happy 2020! May we see more clearly!*1
The hopeful little bowl of supermarket primroses*2 had cheered me up immeasurably: we keep having these dark, drizzly days (at least we're not on fire! Poor Australia!!) and despite the knowledge that the days should be getting longer, it really doesn't feel that way. I spent a day last week, laying in bed and reading seed catalogs and dreaming about this season's garden. That made me feel more alive!
But The Orange Menace and his cronies have other ideas and may have sparked World War III with some ill-thought out drone strike which will inevitably lead to retaliations... oh, hell do NOT get me going. You knew that the continuing impeachment saga was going to provoke tantrums and rash behavior and it did. No surprise! But really? Endanger life on this planet, why don't you?
I can't help it that I feel pretty grim right now. Despite having a house that I love, great companions- human and animal-, a show coming up and all sorts of exciting things afoot in my studio, I feel overwhelmingly troubled. Someone cheer me up... please!!

This bowl of berries has been holding its own since November. Minimal shedding and still colorful; I guess that's cheerful.
I don't know how, but I promise my next posting will attempt to be upbeat and lighthearted. Trust me!


*1 Why do I not think this is likely?!?!?!
*2 Supermarket primroses are the best! Cheap (usually on sale to boot) and if you plant them outside after the weather warms, they are hardy. I have a bunch of them in my shade garden and they come back year after year. Kind of amazing.

Who Doesn't Like Spring Flowers?

Wow! I am so happy with my endeavor to create a Spring Garden! Last's years hard work and obsessive vision paid off. Last post, I presented some of the white daffodils that I had planted and today we flirt with my modest lilac collection. Look at "Sensation" above- who knew that there was a
variegated lilac; the detail of a perfect white line around each floret is remarkable. (I got this plant at the local plant sale last year for a song! I can't wait for this year's sale on Saturday... who knows what I'll find.)
And look at "Pocahontas":

(Yes, that Lil' Robin photobombing my lilac shoot!) This picture doesn't do justice to the multitude of large blooms in a simply super deep purple-y purple. And it smells incredible!(This variety is courtesy of Beatrice and John for my birthday last year. Yay! Good job!) Here's a close up:

I can smell it from here! I keep making trips outside just to walk around and visit my lilacs. And look! "Primrose" bloomed, despite being a very small plant, only about a foot and a half tall.

Yeah, it looks white to me, too, but it's marketed as yellow. But several Internet sites assure me it "matures" to a very pale creamy yellow (probably just as the petals turn brown and fall off). But who cares! I like white lilacs and it looks great.
I have yet to really clean up all of last fall's leaves or do a early weeding- the one down side of a spring garden is the denizens start performing before I'm ready!- but between the lilacs, daffodils and the underplanting of vinca, there's quite a show. And there are several nice wild volunteers for additional color. A few small patches of wild anemones and geraniums flowered, adding an unexpected, delicate splash of color below. Next year it should be even better, as some of my other lilacs will be more mature and (hopefully) bloom. And I'm looking to add "Monge" and "Charles Joly" and more white daffodils...

*I must make mention here that this blog is about flowers because if it wasn't, it would either be about The Orange Menace and the insanity and havoc he is wreaking (This week? Pulling out of Iran Nuclear deal, opening embassy in Jerusalem etc etc) or the perfidy of "the art world". Don't get me going... aren't flowers nicer!?!!?!??!