That Time of Year!

 

In case you've been wondering where I've been (besides recovering from our unfortunate highway incident!) take a look at the following pictures; they explain a lot! And ol' Trusty the Accord may not be the biggest car in the world, but boy can I pack the plants into him! (*1)

That's just yesterday's haul above. Our good friend Bob the plant guru called and asked if I'd like to go shopping with him. YES! was my resounding answer. Off we went... visiting a total of six nurseries and garden centers, spread out over quite a state-wide are. This was doubly an interesting day because it was the first time since last fall that I'd even seen one of our friends in person, due to COVID. Now that we're all vaccinated, in-person visitation is possible... without masks! Up close! Yay!!! (*2)

Bob and I are such plant geeks that we play "stump the stars" and often confuse even the employees at nurseries with inquires about what that one unlabelled plant is. Yesterday was no exception. The owner of the first nursery we stopped at noticed us perusing his "unusual" plant corner. "I'll give you this plant for free", he crowed, "...if you can identify it!" Of course we did, as it proved to be a Mukdenia (a member of the saxifrage family). I got the freebie as Bob already had a Mukdenia in his collection.

Bob's car was so stuffed full of greenery by the fourth stop that we went by my car, parked in a commuter lot and off-loaded the first haul. Then on to more nurseries!!

Look at this giant agave! It's big and blue and spiky! Love those exotics!

And a charming assortment of individuals for our containers! there's Bacopa and Angelonia and Calibrachoa and Spilanthes! I get goose bumps thinking of all my new friends! Interestingly, there seems to be a pink component to my selections this year; my palette does shift a bit seasonally.

I also have these plants from my first solo trip out last week- a couple of great Coleus and even a tri-colored Plectranthus! 

And how could I forget to mention the seeds I started myself?

                                    

Yes, Nasturtiums and Zinnia... See? I have been busy and this isn't even counting the plants tat Bob gave to me or that my friend Elanah sent! So many plants, so little time!

(*1) And yes, Beatrice and John. I carefully cover Trusty's seats in plastic before attempting to stuff him full of horticultural delights.

(*2) But it was weird, too! I haven't been in any other person's car in so long... except for that ride in the police car!

Shrub Border Part II

And to reinforce just how much work (and fun!) I experience when creating a new border, here's a partial pile of the rocks I unearthed! Single-handedly wrenched from this stony, unforgiving New England soil. (Stirring images of doughty pioneer women...And I did get just a touch of poison ivy.)

Here's the pile of brambles I chopped, yanked, pulled and sawed down. I think I really needed to see my hard work documented...
And while I was busy hauling and planting and watering, all this other stuff was erupting:
                                                                            

Tulips! That transformed from yellow to orange and were simply super. (Sorry my picture placement is all wonky. As usual- because of that blasted Mercury retrograde or a virus, our computer is behaving oddly. Actually, I think it's still something to do with that upgrade to Windows 10...)

That's not the greatest picture but it looks really super in person... less empty space!  Robin is skulking away in the back ground; she probably stole something from me, like a perennial pot or a glove. Very sneaky! Tonight while I was planting the pansies a friend gave us (thank you Bob!), Robin stole my watering bottle, three (empty) annual packs and tried to wrestle the hose to the ground as if it were a giant Anaconda- she's very helpful!
Additionally, the sand cherry is blooming like never before and the Magnolia is still in bloom. It's really been a pretty spring. I am just beginning to feel a bit swamped (Jeremy Swamped that is) because I need to get started planting seeds and there are already weeds. No rest for the wicked!

Garden Clean Up and Othe Innocuous Postings

Nice clean garden beds! The wonderful warm, sunny (maybe a little windy!) weather begged me to begin the vernal ritual of garden clean up. It is so good to see tiny nascent leaves exposed and
bits of green shoots and snouts poking up. I start to recall all my horticultural fiends...

(There's my helper Lil' Robin the Good, overseeing my efforts and making sure that I don't miss random sticks and leaves. Actually, she photobombed me- appeared out of left field!) It took three full days to chop everything down and rake it into sizeable piles. I confess I haven't picked up all the piles yet; tired of lugging tarps through the gate...
We still have one small ridge of snow in the shadiest section of the yard, but Robin and I ran through it a few hundred times and tried to scatter it so maybe by today it will be all gone. Who needs a reminder of winter?!?!?
Bob and I are finalizing our seed orders and are hopeful that we'll have a beautiful and productive season. We'd better as we committed to being on a garden tour- in the end of August, which means we have to make the garden look good for an extended period of time. And what's blooming in the end of August?!!?! And we're on the tour the same day as a man who is a Master Gardener and probably has a gardening staff (with names sown on the pockets of their uniform tee shirts, no less) and I'm certain the tour will be in for a huge comparison shock. But we do have exotic sculpture and many "Items of Interest" to view.

I splurged and bought two really nice urns to adorn the soon-to-be-constructed terrace area. Many of our old planters- mostly half rusted cooking pots and the like- were simply falling apart. Don't worry: we still have a good assortment of weird containers, but I liked the color and size of these. (And they were a hopelessly good buy!) I know poor Bob is very busy working and making metal work for heads of state and royalty, but I just can't wait to start pulling up decayed boards and ridding our world of the rotting "deck"; remember, there was good sized clusters of grass growing in it last year.
The back of the BauHaus Chicken Coop will look amazing once that's done...
(You will notice- and be thankful for, no doubt!- that there was not even one reference to The Orange Menace in this entire post! He and his evil henchmen are busy destroying the environment and signing executive orders to permit the dumping of toxins into our water and rolling back regulations to allow the use of hideous pesticides... we are happy to be growing many of our own vegetables!!)

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!

Spring and Normal (What ever that is...)

Here's Maggie curled up in the sun and enjoying the first warm weather like a cat. She even tried grazing today, although I think she's betraying a healthy dose of wishful thinking as the grass hasn't begun to really emerge just yet. And every hair on that horse's body is falling out- an avalanche of shedding! I considered saddling up the splendid palfrey and trying to ride, but the wind was so fierce I decided against it. (Wind makes horses very high!)
We heard peepers, tentative, but peepers sounding off last night after I got home from work. I could hardly believe my ears. I think the only one sorry to see the snow recede is Jules who prefers snowballs to almost anything- even tennis balls. There's one small patch of snow by the horse barn that is my reservoir for snowball activity, and Jules is making sure that none of it goes to waste. He and I took a super long walk today; we just kind of kept going. I'm sure the suddenly nicer weather has put me in a better mood about being outside.
And I had my first "normal" day of working in my studio in a while. I bought paper the other day as I feel a collage series coming on. Today I just got into my studio and it felt like home. I began to make a mess and sort of fool around. That's what it takes! I think the extreme weather this winter (remember all that cold and snow?) and my showing in NYC and the hectic schedule of work... all of it contributed to my feeling a bit out of alignment. But now that the weather has changed, I feel like creativity is reawakening.
And Bob and I are starting some seeds tonight! That's a sure sign of a Spring full moon!

Jules was getting jealous that I hadn't featured a picture of him, so here he is. The funny thing about this photo is that Jules looks so small... like a little tiny puppy. Maybe it was the angle.

Form and Function

We are very fond of Blue Hubbard squash and were going to grow it in the vegetable garden this year but we ran late and it's not easy to procure the seed from any but secialty seed companies. So Bob bought this individual from a local farm stand and not only will we enjoy eating it for several meals, but he's drying the seed for planting next spring.
Thisone is ideal because it's a slightly smaller variety. A former neighbor gave us a specimen several years back that was so huge that it lasted for months. It rested on a pedestal in the living room as edible sculpture and then got sliced into four or five sizeable chunks that were then baked individually. Here's what last night's dinner consisted of:

Sort of resembles a vessel from an ancestral culture! Bob put a little local honey (from the same farm stand) in the cavity and roasted it for over an hour and a half. I just love the color throughout the whole process.