I've been working in the garden again, preoccupied with boring but necessary tasks for the most part, but I did go out and buy one of those back-pack sprayers, the kind with a long, focused wand, so I can kill off some of the more persistent weeds, including those on the steep hill at the back of the yard, where I need my hands free for balance, if not actually grasping onto something to keep from falling. I am really excited about taking it out for a first run, but so far the times I have had available have been too windy to spray without risking damage to other plants.
Most of the floral action is still in the front and sunnier portion of my garden. You've seen most of it before, but last night I managed to get home early from an aborted meeting and decided to pull out my camera and see if I remembered anything from my earlier attempts at learning to use it. I'm not sure I remember much, and I have no expectations of ever being a fine photographer, but I'm going to plague you with the few shots that survived the cut, of the dozens and dozens I shot.
The top shot is of the iris and tulip bed, just to show the scale, really. I was lying on the driveway to take the shot. Imagine how tall daffodils normally are, and the yellow ones in the background are on the taller end of the daffodil spectrum (I don't remember their name at the moment), and then you can imagine how tiny narcissus hawera in the foreground really are. The second shot is the best I could manage, even in a gentle breeze, for the tiny blossoms of narcissus hawera. The tulips in the midground are small tulipa bakerii 'lilac wonder'.
A close-up of another one of the tiny bucharica dwarf iris. These are mixed in with the tiny narcissi, which means they are not really distinguishable from a distance, but are more than evident when one takes a closer look.
This is a tulip from the adjoining bed.
And finally a close-up of the pansies in the planters by the garage. These overwintered in the pots, and it is just within the last week that they have come fully into glorious bloom. The two snapdragons in the back were added this spring to fill in a gap.
I'm not at home at the moment, and I'm typing this from the reception desk at church, where I am filling in. Either the choir director or one of the choir members left a copy of the messiah on the reception desk, and I was happily reading it before I remembered that I needed to write a post. I'll be happy to return to it. I have rare opportunities to read a score (I really can't sing) but it is something I love, reading the separate lines individually, and then together, hearing the music in my head. Music being something that perhaps brings my heart even more joy than flowers.
