A Garden Day

Ah, today was one of those rarest of pleasant days, one spent almost entirely in and around the garden, away from the often-troublesome world of Man. I don't mean to sound like a particular Amazon of Note, but only to express that, as a species, we seem to needlessly complicate things sometimes, and to me there is no greater pleasure than spending my time in the company of Nature's way of things.

Things got off to a fun start, when I discovered a small garden snake basking in the sunshine. We were both pretty surprised that I decided to pick him up for a closer look, but we also both stayed pretty calm about it and--while I'm sorry I didn't have my camera at the time--this was a pretty cool start to my day.


This nuthatch and his mate greeted me enthusiastically, it seemed, as I came out to the back garden for a cup of coffee on the bench, contemplating the back garden by morning light and calculating the goals for the day. The temperature was nice...getting into the mid-sixties today, though a cool breeze kept the sun from ever feeling particularly hot. They say there's humidity coming our way later in the week.


I don't exactly put together a plan for the day in the garden, per se. There's usually plenty I hope to accomplish, but my time out there often closely resembles one of those dotted-line maps of Billy's adventures around the neighborhood in the Family Circus cartoons. I sort of wander from one task to the next, sometimes abandoning one for another, or stopping to enjoy some newly discovered bit of nature. Surprisingly, I usually get a lot accomplished, but there's always a trail of tools in my wake.

Today, the goals included choosing sites for and planting (1)the recently acquired rose bushes, (2)a sixpack of dianthus, (3)a very special pot of chrysanthemums and (4) some gladiola bulbs.

By day's end, all this was done, and I also managed to do some serious weeding of grasses out of the three central beds. There's still plenty more to be done, but at least these three locations are taken care of. And while some of the earliest are fading, many of the hyacinths are still holding on and scenting the air as I do this close work around them.

I also had some transplanting in mind, and moved one large clump of grape hyacinths and tiny daffodils (now fading) to an assortment of different locations around the perimeter of one bed. I'd also thought to transplant some other things, but I managed to break one of our older shovels, which shunted me off to a different course of action. It's always nice to have something left to do another day, a reason to come back.


I also climbed a ladder at some point in the afternoon, to trim some lower branches from the white pines closest to the western edge of the garden sight. An assortment of dead branches came down easily and were added to the latest shelter pile.

And while I was way up in the middle of the air, I spied these blossoms in the upper reaches of the ancient cherry tree at the bottom of the garden. I like the mossy old branches of this tree and have therefore been hesitant to do much pruning. Also, this end of the garden has not yet been on my priority list, though I'm expanding in that direction.

However, I've had a glimpse of how lovely this tree might be, and in light of the current flush of blooms on other fruit trees around the perimeter I've worked on, I'm encouraged that some thoughtful pruning later in the season may have delightful consequences for this tree, too.

Meanwhile, the pond is quite full with the water of recent rains, with the old log in front of the house sitting just out of the water.

Lately, we've been spotting a pair of turtles basking there. Experience has taught us that getting any closer than this just causes them to splash away, and they looked much too content to disturb.

This robin sang a pretty little song as the sun began to fade in the west.

Like many other species, the robins also seem to be spending their time in pairs lately.

I was working on the glads by then, planting about a third of what I have (two kinds, gold and purple), to spread their eventual bloom over a long period during the summer, in various locations amongst other things. I'll continue planting throughout this month and we should have a nice long showing as a result.

There were bumblebees (and a few pretty moths and butterflies) in the garden today. I was wearing a bright orange t-shirt, and on more than one occasion had to wave some enthusiastic bumbler away with the admonishment that I was not a giant flower.


Here's a zippy dianthus that caught my eye. I always like this plant, and its cousins Sweet William and (I think there's also a relation here, at least through similar habit) the Creeping Phlox.

I've always been a fan of the way they spread around and fill in an area. This one's color is a bit vivid, I'll concur, but I'm imagining a whole drift of these things and how could I possible resist that?

Here you can also see (no flowers yet, of course...just potential!) a grand little clump of foxglove, as well as our primary stand of peonies, and a nice spread of shasta daisies, mixed in with some agastache and bee balm, and--like many other places--some columbine seedlings.


Damn, aren't these cherry blossoms something up close?

In other parts of the garden, the strawberry vines are full of these pretty white flowers.

By the driveway, another group of daffodils have opened, revealing yet another variety.

Another angle on that old log the turtles are so fond of, though by now, they had departed for wherever it is they park their shells at night. And good advice, that. By the evening, I was a bit sore, sunburned, scratched and bitten and so I retired sleepily to watch a little television, whilst picking ticks off me.

Ah, but what a day it was.