Showing posts with label May Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label May Day. Show all posts

Thursday, May 01, 2008

May Day Blues


Last fall, as I dug up the grass to create the garden along the fence, I discovered a few drifts of this plant growing amongst the sod. It looked familiar to me, though I couldn't identify it right off...and so far, I still have sorted that part out. (What's an identity, anyway, right?) I was pretty sure it was the same plant which I'd hosted a little bit of in the Eastham orchard garden, the one that provided the tiny blue flowers...and it appears on that score, at least, I was correct, for look what appeared to welcome the May!!

While I don't know it by name, there was enough of this plant that I was able to rescue four or five good-sized clumps of it, which I replanted in the foreground areas of the new border. I'll do some more research later on (like after I've been treated for what is becoming a rather annoying sinus infection), but in the meantime, if anyone else recognizes these tiny beauties, I would be glad for your thoughts. (I know they are NOT forget-me-nots, though...)

Meanwhile, although we had a frost warning last night/this morning, it was still time to graduate that first class of ten sunflower plants (at bigger than a foot each, it's hard to still think of them as seedlings) who've been growing by leaps and bounds on the window sill. So I cobbed together some little greenhouse types of things with some branches I trimmed to size, and these great plastic bags.

Today, the bags were mostly protection against the winds, which were a little brisk, and threatened to bend my sunflowers right to the ground...but I can also pile dirt around the bottom of the bags for the next time we're warned of cold temperatures. But hopefully, that is nearly done, and these sunflowers will be towering high above the garden before long.


It's hard to believe the grape hyacinths are already fading, their little blossoms shriveling up and turning to seed. They never last quite long enough, I think, which might be why I plant a few more of them every year.

I was sorry to learn today that the blog Cooper's Corridor has closed its doors. The reasons are a little more than I'd like to get into here (you can check out Joe.My.God columns of the last two days for the details). I am very sad to see Coop leaving our blog circle (hopefully temporarily), as I could always count on him to bring a smile, or some bit of inspiration. However, his reasons are understandable, and I wish he and his family all good things!

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

A Golden May Day



This first morning of May was a most lovely one, warmed by that golden orb of Apollo. To greet to the new month, the yellow tulips in the back garden opened quietly, grape hyacinths clustered at their feet. Always love the pay-off to those April showers!

A random related tip: a well-known nursery is offering a magnolia tree with blossoms in that tulip color. It's called Butterfly Magnolia and you can see it here. Wouldn't that be a lovely tree?


I had thought the tiny daffodils I'd featured earlier were small...until these latest itty-bitty things opened up yesterday and today. The sweet little blossoms of these new arrivals are only about an inch across.

The forsythia are blooming like mad now, big beautiful splashes of yellow on our recently gray and brown
landscape...and I couldn't resist sharing a bunch with you.

But I also took this pic(above, right) to give kudos to the cherry tree in the photo: we last saw this happy little fellow in bloom on January 5th of this year. Again so soon! Who's not impressed...?

And speaking of magnolias...they have also come into full bloom over the weekend, and they are just beautiful, as you can see, so no need of me writing sonnets to them. It was enough that the sight of them put "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans" into my head for the day.




And now, with no further delay, the Forsythia Show.