Hmmm… days and days and no blogging? What’s up with that?!

I’ve been building my raised bed mandala of insanity. I have the blisters, sunburn, and hammer-bruise to prove it. Turns out it was way easier to draw on graph paper than to build. Figures.

But it is almost complete – M has hammered in the stakes (at great cost to his physical well-being), I’ve mulched the beds with cardboard and dried leaves, and I’m waiting for delivery of topsoil (delayed by truck woes) and chomping at the bit as June slips on and still no veggies in the ground.

Don’t tell me that filling the beds with soil and building the fence will be hard work; I’m not listening. Lalalalalalala!

Longwood Gardens is over 1000 acres of horticultural intensity.

Huge conservatories, an orchid house to die for, meadows, tree houses tucked into the forest of tulip trees, Versailles-worthy fountains, giant topiary…

We spent two days there and I feel like I just scratched the surface.
You should go.

In the end what struck me most were details.

The stonework everywhere:

Shapes and textures:

And the most beautiful Copper Beech tree I’ve ever seen:

I’ve come home with a whole lot of inspiration for the next jewelry designs. And an even longer list of “I need” plants than I had before.

We just got back from a little vacation in the Brandywine Valley of Pennsylvania. The highlight for me was visiting Longwood Gardens (although the new Star Treck movie was fun too.)

I’m going to post pictures of Longwood but in the meantime here are some pictures of someone who was discovered on the back patio a week ago:

Isn’t that the best belly?! The impertinence didn’t last long; we released him in a nice weedy patch out of sight of the hawk flying overhead.

Hand modeling thanks goes to Ellen.

I will not post a picture of the collection of seeds I have acquired this season, in an attempt to protect myself from the mocking laughter of all who know me. Let’s just say that my purchases have been ambitious.

I defend myself with the evidence that seed catalogs are very very pretty, and it’s not my fault I was given a book on heirloom melons, and anyway who can blame me for wanting any and all plants dating from when the house was built. On top of which it is extremely difficult to pass up seed when you live in a county sporting seed racks in every grocery and hardware store… so let’s move on.

I am willing to post pictures of my favorites, which are the seeds sent to me by gardening friends. It doesn’t get better than receiving Chrisi’s Magic Morning Glories:

Or the mail bringing a small box wrapped in hand-drawn paper and filled with these treats:

Coincidentally while unpacking some plant pots I found an envelope of calendula seed with matching handwriting, given to me by the same Michigan friend back in 1998 when we shared a garden, years before the children who illustrated my parcel were born.

I did a viability test, soaking the seeds on wet paper towel and hoping that against the odds they would have survived over a decade. They hadn’t. I’ll compost them, the envelope as well, so that they can play their part in the cycle after all.

Meanwhile the morning glories are soaking. It’s a full moon tomorrow.

The earliest of the daffodils I planted in the fall have been blooming for 10 days and are still going strong.

Early Sensation is just that, and is brilliant on the rainy days we’ve been having, shining bright and hopeful.

Indoors the first of 3 Benefica Amaryllis I received as a gift opened fully today. Deepest, most satisfying red.

Spring.

He came from space, expressly to steal peanut butter.
Must find squirrel kryptonite. Or a bigger, heavier, better, tougher baffle.

First it was the birds, who came for the feeders I put out. There was a blissful week of nature romance; hours spent watching them and identifying their colors in my Sibley.

Then came the squirrels, clued in by the birds, who brought the dream crashing to the ground and started me on my campaign to find the perfect baffle.

And now this gal and her friends.

She’s so pretty, and will probably reduce the sunflower bed I’m bound to have growing under the feeders come spring, but come on – I want to garden! Vegetables. Fruit. For me. Not deer salad bar!!

When I get back from Phili I’m buying a book on fencing. And figuring out how to get rid of the mice. ‘Cos yeah, they’re here too now.

There’s lots to do in the city to get ready for the big move so this week we whipped up to the house for a quick 24 hours to meet with the contractor and do a little maintenance and tidying.

M decided that the time had come for tackling his “white whale” project – taking down the flagpole. It’s been bugging him with its brazen rustiness and he wanted it gone.

Armed with WD40 and wrenches he set to it. Surprisingly the bolts gave way quite easily. He came in to get the hammer and I followed him back out to document the process.

Feeling confident.

All business.

It’s going well…

When I saw this expression on his face and his arms shaking I worried I was photographing his demise and yelled “D’you need some help?!!” but he was much too focused to hear me. (This is the picture that’s been cracking us up for days. But only because he was not crushed by the pole.)

Success in sight.

I’m still flirting with the idea of flying the Scottish flag (this one, or maybe this one) while M just wanted the flagpole gone so the compromise was to take it down and store it for possible future rehabilitation. The only space long enough was the 2nd floor of the barn which required some leverage,

and more help from me than it would appear from this picture.

All done.

I’m thinking a planter or some shrubs would be good where the base is. That’s if M doesn’t take it out with some dynamite while I’m not looking.

This guy was hanging out on my back step. I left the door open for the longest time, afraid to smoosh him. The eye spots are wild. Anyone know who s/he is?

Rose rightly identified it in her comment as an Eyed Click Beetle. See more information here, and here including, “In hot weather, they are prone to enter people’s houses at night if entries or windows are left opened.”

This one did not “click”, although we did find it upside-down later on, so perhaps it clicked when we weren’t looking.

The former owners left me some treasures they found while working on the house, and I’ve been discovering others, like this little wasp nest tumbled from the side door frame.

And when I set out to weed the old compost heap it led me to weeding in front of the barn door and then to picking up pieces of broken glass and plastic, which led back to the heap where I sorted and picked a whole lot of plastic and found a rich mix of treasures such as these:

Doesn’t everyone need a plastic three-headed monster? I know I do.