Last Week of May

News from the garden:

Trellises on the rise - G & I dug the post holes for what will be one of two trellises for three fair, comely and rapacious gallon-sized yellow Lady Banks. (LSJ asserted that they are 'the yellow rose of Texas.' ?!) Nearly killed ourselves... was so sore I tossed and turned all night. Had to move the baby flax to get them out of the way of our climbing rose extravaganze; they went over between the grapes and the Coriopsis along the south side of the garden fence. For now, one more post to go for stage one--an 8' x 8' to blot out the neighbors.

Gloria's Hot Compost Pile - She completely rebuilt it the end of last week. And lo and behold, it IS hot inside! We're excited.

Brilliant colors - Echinacia s l o w l y opening. Lavendar flowering. The grapes, well, we thought (silly girls) that the mass of tiny green balls were tiny baby grapes. No. A mass of itty bitty sweet-smelling white blossoms. [Read about grapes?] Stunning squash blossom. The basil seems happier after a week in the garden proper.

Weeds - pigweed babies. Endless sprouts of silver leaf nightshade, endless lush patches of bindweed.

Amazing: *How hard that friggin' dirt is. *G spies a bee with an underground lair. We gently push aside some wood chip and sure enough, a round hole the size of a pencil eraser. *The amount of fruit tossed down by the white Mulberry. Slick, clumping onto the bottom of your shoes like accidentally stepping in gum.


Pace: at last, not quite as frenzied. Some spits of rain, but nothing substantial. The forecast for the week ahead is for hot and dry. The To-Do list is as long as ever, and there are things coming along that will need attention later. *I'm worried about the blackberry canes that are popping up 10 feet from the existing patch in several directions.... with all their Dante-esque qualities and promises of delicious bits. Buddha Buddha Buddha nature. *the corner of the garden G didn't finish sifting out. She left the peppermint... and I can feel it plotting its next move. And of course, elm babies everywhere. Doesn't something eat them?! sigh. And speaking of To Do... something new and unexpected to plant. Completely delighted to say that Linda Johansen has some carnation seedlings and gave me a few yesterday. She has a mature plant that's covered in unassuming simple white blossoms the size of a half - dollar. Ohhhh they smell peppery and fabulous. She also had trimmed the hell out of her sage plant, so sent us home with clippings for G's compost pile. We were nearly overwhelmed by the time we got across town. What an amazingly pungent, lovely scent. But perhaps not best to be stuck in a closed space with more than a sprig of it at a time. Come to think of it, it would make a whopper of an air freshener--a conversation piece dangling from the rearview mirror. [Having trouble with my formatting, so below is that amazing squash blossom. G is checking the 2 plants daily for squash bugs, because last summer we were completely overrun with them. It was hellish. I'm drawing a blank for being emphatic...]
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