I haven’t been this itchy to get back to it in about 4 years. Hatching plans and counting down the days to planting weather.
When it gets 10 degrees warmer and I know what I put in the ground will not die, it is time.
All posts by carolyn
Intermittent Snow
It’s probably gone by now but I woke up to a frosty dusting.
The Witchhazel blooms
Feeling fortunate, as I almost always miss seeing the first blooms of my favorite tree in the winter. The smell, so intoxicating, is just starting to come alive. This is the first thing I put in the garden 10 years ago and it still gives me so much pleasure.
Hellebores
I’m itchy for things to start growing. Only insane people go to the nursery in January. It’s been ten years since I bought the original hellebores and they are looking haggard and lost. These two are in pots where you can actually see them.
Black Diamond / Blue Lady Hellebores
You say that now.
More of this needs to happen next year.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564/65–1637/38)
Spring (between 1622–35)
Oil on wood, 16 15⁄16 × 23 1⁄4 in. (43 × 59 cm)
Muzeul National de Arta, Bucharest, Romania
M.I.A. Dahlias
I was such a better gardener back in 2009. Sigh.
The dahlias were found growing behind a much bigger plant which had to be pointed out to me.
{2016}
{2009}
The tomato crop was gorgeous this year.
Kicking ourselves for not remembering what version the black ones are called, would be enthusiastic to plant those again.
Lilies
Lilies, pretty much the only thing left in full bloom.
Also dead grass.
My friend Sharon gave these to me years ago and I keep meaning to have her over to see them.
Sweet peas
Sweet peas are the best thing in the yard right now.
Aunties
Photographer Nadia Sablin’s created a series about her Aunties which reminds me of everything I hope gardening, chores and persevering in daily life will bring. I keep coming back to this these poignant and touching portraits.
“In northwest Russia, in a small village called Alekhovshchina, Nadia Sablin’s aunts spend the warmer months together in the family home and live as the family has always lived—chopping wood to heat the house, bringing water from the well, planting potatoes, and making their own clothes.”
(excerpt from the book Aunties, 2015, Duke University Press)
