Palm Sunday Surprise

Well, this is a little more like it!!

The African violet at my bedroom window surprised me with a few delicate blossoms this morning. I had hoped to see some flowers here soon, as the plant's been growing nicely over the winter. I just didn't think they'd come so soon! Yay...

Behold, the miracle! Inside this wierd looking husk lies all you need for some of the most fantastic flowers possible. Just add dirt and water.

I got a five pack of assorted lilies at the Christmas Tree Shop recently for pretty cheap. Especially since this particular five-pack had six bulbs in it! The last one was a little small...so I'll keep my expectations low.

But I remain excited about the bonus and look forward to seeing what colors these will be. As far as I'm concerned, you can't beat lilies for adding some spots of random fabulousness in a border garden.


And it was fun to get out there and dig a few holes in the ground. It wasn't nearly as soppy as I thought it would be with the recent rain, so the drainage seems pretty good, save one patch of clay pretty far down the fence.

I'd already chosen things from the old place which had thrived in similar conditions to plant at that end...so perhaps all will be well.

I also found, during the Move, a packet of sweet pea seeds which Mom and Dad brought me from their trip to England.

They're a few years old, as they'd been misplaced during a previous Move, but I planted a bunch of them just the same, around the fence posts. I have a good feeling about them and it's the right time of year for planting.

If they germinate, I'll make some string trellaces for them to clamber on.

More bits of green are appearing here and there...like these chrysanthemums. I can't be sure, as things got a little mixed up during transition, but I think these are the imperial mums which joined the family last year.

A TECHNICAL NOTE: It's amazing how time flies. As of this entry, I'll have posted to this blog 1316 times since I started in April of 2005. I know this because I realized recently that there hadn't been the option for post tags back when I started and so most of my entries don't have them.

I spent some time today going back and adding tags to about two hundred of the earliest posts. Most of those are just pictures, but still, it will be great to have them all cross-referenced. For example, click on the tag "lilies" and see what you get!

Imperial chrysanthemum in full bloom.

A Parade of Pink

A pair of big thunderstorms rumbled across Eastham (and elsewhere) early this morning. Loud booming woke me, with a roar of rain behind it, and I recognized the feeling of a particularly heavy cat weighing down my feet...not with fear or anything, you understand. He's a cat after all. But there was some awareness of the storm in that weight...it was a momentary chore getting out from under him to shut the wide-open windows.

Once the second storm passed on, the sun quickly began to glimmer, as the day brightened, allowing for a quick look around the garden. I found no damage (I did later hear that some saw hail this morning...but I didn't notice any of that), just a garden full of plants heavy with rain...and already perking up as the day turned sunny and June-like.

This peony was as heavy with rain as the humid air was with its perfume.

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I couldn't be more excited that these "spiny" roses have begun blossoming. These long neglected plants put out only a short-lived bloom or two last summer...hardly anytime at all to get familiar with them. So I've been thrilled to see them heavy with buds this year. I must be doing something right.


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I found them growing just as they are in the field which has become the back garden. I don't know much about them as roses...there's no catalog that they came from, no details about their breeding and ancestry. Time has freed them from the weight of a name and now they live only to frustrate a string of unsatisfying adjectives.

I suspect these roses have been here along time. These roses, and the many drifts of oregano, peonies, irises, phlox, ferns and foxgloves, have been guiding me as I lay out each area's framework. As I begin to tend things a little more here and there, I continue to be surprised at what else is out there, just waiting to grow.

Anyway, I'm coming to appreciate this plant in many ways...it's quite dangerous looking, a spiky beast of a thing--but, hey, look what else it can do!!



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Other shades of sweet william have now been heard from, as these plants has come into bloom along the front driveway. These, too, remain from much earlier gardens.


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West Road Cherries

West Road, Orleans, MA, around 5 p.m.

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Pale pink morning glory. 

Morning glory. 

Pink sedum. 

The nice thing about working at home and at work on similar projects simultaneously has been that I've been able to swap some divisions back and forth between the two places. An assortment of things have found their way to the restaurant garden, while I've also been able to acquire a few bits of things to expand the variety here at home. This pink sedum is one of those, along with a clump of white siberian irises, and a few small divisions of daylilies.

A sleepy bee surprised by last night's cool temps waits for the morning sun to wake him up. 

Pink cosmos morning stretch. 

Rose of Sharon

 

 

Hibiscus reclines. 

Hibiscus buds. 

Pink cosmos. 

Rose of Sharon. (Hi Mom!) 

Pink Clover

Another bit of pink clover has popped up on the edge of the first giant oregano bed. Don't mind seeing it, as I know this pioneer species works to improve the soil for itself and any neighbors. And frankly, how could anyone not like this pretty pink flower? 

Pink cleome.