Saturday, May 09, 2009

May: April showers brought May flowers

But not a pilgrim in sight. It's been a frustrating mix of too rainy and too busy at the old McGarden these days. I still have not finished doing my winter clean-up, which means my clematis is all wound into the dead brush and my coneflowers are choking on mulch and I have so many dandelions I can hear them roaring late at night. The yard desperately needs core aeration and overseeding but I don't see it getting done any time soon. My neighbor pays a service to do her winter clean-up and every year I privately poke fun at her, but the joke's on me because her borders are lovely and mine look... well, casual is a polite way to put it.

I hope to get out there and fix up the back 40* later next week, after stressful meeting with dissertation committee is firmly behind me. In the meantime, life marches on...

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Tulips!

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Daffies, and spiky tulips! Don't ask me what varieties any of my bulbs are. I care deeply and obsessively about the IDs of the "real" plants, but the spring bulbs and annuals are lucky if I bother remembering the genus. OK, I exaggerate a wee bit, but not much.

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My Dicentra is underwhelming but bear in mind it's been moved, trampled, broken, or otherwise abused every year I've had it. I'm happy with whatever I get.

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Pulmonaria something. What was that about obsessive taxonomy? It's written down somewhere, I'm sure.

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Tradescantia zebrina 'Red Hill', just a baby a few months ago, surprised me by blooming all over the place. Always a pleasant surprise when houseplants bloom; I only grow them for the foliage.

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Foley checks out the perimeter at the in-laws' place in Michigan.

*more like 40 yards than 40 acres

3 comments:

mr_subjunctive said...

I like that Pulmonaria. Is the picture fairly accurate color? The only Pulmonaria flowers I've ever seen before were pink, not blue-purple.

Diane said...

It's pretty accurate - the flowers are pink when they first open, then turn purple, or is it the other way around? I mostly love it for the leaves, though!

Cathy S. said...

Very nice! I know what you are talking about when it comes to weeds I have half an acre of creeping charlies, dandelions, and wild strawberries it usually takes me about 2 weeks to pull all of them out of my flower beds. Your daffodils and tulips are beautiful.