Looking out my front window on a gray day, last weekend I believe. This is the part of the yard I have been working on this spring, it is the eastern side of the front yard, to the right as I walk out the door.
I have to admit the view makes me happy. Well, my whole yard makes me happy, even the parts that are rougher and need more work, they are just fertile grounds for my imagination. But for now I am happy to be working here, in this stretch of earth. I've been out every day this week, digging, planting, trimming, weeding, coaxing, and just generally revelling with my hands in the dirt.
It feels like I have done a lot, and I have, and of course now I just have to sit back, tend, and hope. Of course that is sometimes the hardest part, hoping that the things I plant adapt, hoping that they thrive over their first summer, hoping that they survive the winter, hoping that they come back next year, when, even though I shall hopefully anticipate them with bated breath, I shall also be thrilled and amazed when they finally arrive, a new parent all over again. In the photo above I am sitting in the grass after planting some iris cristata. This photo was taken earlier this past week, eyeing the hakonechloa and black mondo grass (ophiopogon) that I had planted before easter. They seem to have settled in, and are sending up new leaves, the first good sign, a small milestone that warms my heart.
Yesterday I noticed that the new iris cristata are blooming. These are the "Tennessee white" iris that I went up to Sunlight Gardens with my friend Anna to buy. While I was there I also saw some blue iris crostata, I do not know the specific name, and they are blooming as well. (below)
Right now these are teeny isolated specs of color, but if I have chosen well, in terms of positioning, and they thrive, I will eventually have mats of greenery and waves of tiny blossoms. The anticipation is almost as pleasant as the flowers themselves. Ahh, hopes and dreams.
I also noticed that the new Celestial Dogwood is blooming. I had not expected that, the tree overwintered somewhere in a pot, and was just planted, so I really only hoped for leaves. Perhaps I should have known better.
The first rose is opening. There are buds, but so far only a single blossom. It seems terribly early, but the roses have been exploding in leaves and growth since the first initial warm spell, subsequent frosts seemingly not slowing them down all that much. I would usually cut them back in early to mid February before growth started, but they were already green, reaching for the sun when I cut them back. I was struggling with fear of cold damage on fresh wounds, whereas they were simply reaching for the sun.
Otherwise much of the rest of my yard, is much the same. Above is the walkway from the garage, around the eastern side of the house. I Love the lush informality. The Japanese maple at the end of the walk is the same one seen in the photos above, in the front of the house.
Hellebores everywhere, lush and beautiful, with scattered bits of colors and emerging plants. I'm not sure I will have much else to show you, garden wise, this year. We will just have to see how things evolve.
The pink azaleas I see (and posted previously) from my sunroom window.
And then the other side of the front yard, the less finished side (west). Hopefully this will be next year's project, but I may be distracted with other things. There is little point in sprucing it up now, as this is the side that the trucks will be coming in and out, and there has already been plant damage on that side. They will never match, there is far more sun on the east, shade on the west. But I see that the small tree near the mailbox is another dogwood, and I like the symmetry offered by a dogwood on each side of the yard, and there is a crape myrtle hidden in there, almost being choked out by some other small trees which crowd around it and are far less appealing to me. The offenders will be removed, but otherwise, for now at least, there will be this uneasy balance, the more intentional east garden, the untended western wooded area, and the lawn in between. Perfect setting for a world of dreams and imaginings.
