electric mist

where is the freaking rain?

You know, we usually have afternoon showers this time of year, pretty much every afternoon. It's a pain, of course, if you're trying to plan anything outside because they're generally so unpredictable, but right now, I'd be happy to suffer a little. Everything's drying up and dying. I just spent two hours watering the front beds because the soaker hoses just were not delivering enough water out there to combat the temperatures. I am now going to go shower because I swear, I think every bug that was out there, all 12billion of them, decided to hitch a ride on my shirt and I feel a serious heebie jeebie fit coming on.

the not-fern

Just to show you I am not completely crazy (hush), here's a photo of the fern-that-isn't:

This is what a baby Golden Rain tree looks like. I pulled all of these little monsters out of my front beds yesterday and lost count after 200.

We spent the day at the strawberry festival (I'll post those photos next entry) -- we went mostly to listen to Luke play (drums); they were the opening act. On the way home, we stopped at a couple of gardening centers to get some things we needed -- hoses, bedding plants, etc. I'm still planning on getting more of the althea ferns, hostas and grasses from the nursery (out-of-town) because I can get that wholesale (contractor's license allows for that); I'm hoping to send Luke there next week.

More photos up in a few minutes.

weeding

There's something immensely satisfying about weeding. (If my dad saw that sentence, he would have a stroke, since as a kid, I could not have told you where the back yard was, much less how to weed anything.) Of course, lest I sound like earth mother or something, that sort of satisfaction is one of those things that, for me, a little goes a long way.

I woke up this morning at 5 with a headache-from-hell. To the point where I was apparently writhing in agony and woke Carl up. He tried to help (massaging a couple of pressure points in my neck usually helps, but not much this morning), and so I simply could not face the computer today.

Instead, I weeded the front beds, enjoying my new yellow tea rose bushes (I'll take photos tomorrow) and the daffodils still blooming. I had all of these new little baby fern looking things sprouting up, which surprised me since I hadn't planted anything like that... I intended to buy a few althea ferns (like wood ferns), but was thinking, "ooh, cool... I don't have to buy any since all of these are growing now."

Which begged the question, where did they come from? My first thought was that they had been seeds mixed in the soil we'd just brought in to build the beds. Then my neighbor drove up and I tagged him to come over -- he speaks "master gardener" and I pointed to the "ferns' and said, "Um, David, this is probably a dumb question, but are these ferns?"

He laughed.

Turns out they are the seedlings from a golden rain tree he has in his yard -- which has a fern-like leaf. I had carefully weeded all around all of those "ferns" today, because I was so pleased to have ferns. And now I am going to have to go out there tomorrow and pull all of those damn baby trees, because there are like, one billion of them in my beds. Grrr.

So, now it's back to plan A, buying the ferns I want to fill in between the shrubs. I wants ferns, some hostas, and some various grasses -- wide-bladed and reedy-bladed, for variation in the beds. Then I'll finish it with bedding plants and take photos. And next, on to the back yard, which looks horrid right now.

On a side note, I am about finished with the tax audit information I had to prepare (which I haven't discussed yet on this site -- that's a horror story for another day)... and next week, will do the actual taxes and bring that to the CPA. At that point, I think I will get my actual life back -- my writing life. I have been writing in bits and pieces around all of the other work, but I cannot function like that for long -- I am used to having set projects and getting them finished in a set frame of time... not dribbling them out over months and months. Must get back to writing or go nuts, you know? Well, if you're a writer or an artist, you know.

spring fever

It is so gorgeous again today, I just made a trek to my local plant nursery to make a list of plants I want. I'm going to add to the front beds to finish filling them out, because I was going for the "cottage" look and the woman who did the landscaping just couldn't wrap her mind around something not being traditional and very organized. There are a few things she did that, once done, I didn't know how to re-do without spending a lot of extra money -- she bordered one bed with a very traditional look -- everything in a neat row alternated by another plant, the entire border identical. It's not what I wanted, but it does look pretty, so I left it. I also left it knowing that I could intersperse a lot of what she did with other things to soften that "rigid" traditional look.

We had a plan drawn up, but it's one thing to see it on paper and another to see it in the ground. I have a knee-jerk "ick" reaction to anything too regimented, hence the love of the whole "cottage garden" look. From now on, though, I'm going to draw up my own plan. At any rate, the front beds are far far better than what they were when we moved in, and after I get this next round of plants in, I think it's going to be what I want.

I'm just itching to do it today. It's so beautiful outside, I cannot stand having to stay inside to work. But, I keep reminding myself, there are several other weekends that I can plant, but not any other weekends where I can finish this tax stuff (finishing out an audit)... so, damnit, I'm going to be good and not buy plants until I can take that break and do it myself.

But it is killing me.