Wednesday Wandering

Oh, gosh! Today was another beautiful day. I worked outside from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. with a short break for lunch of oatmeal with cranberries and candied pecans. I mostly worked in the vegetable garden today planting out the cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts I started from seeds. I cleared the area for planting some dahlias in the veg garden this year. And I cleared the area for planting a few more potatoes. I have 12 plants up and growing but I do love potatoes and I still have some sprouted potatoes I grew last year so I will be planting more. I'm still harvesting asparagus and rhubarb is ready for picking and strawberries are blooming. Peas and sugar snap peas are up as are my lettuce, spinach, mustard greens and radishes.  Since hubby can no longer swallow and eat food and I do all the cooking for myself  I might just turn into a vegetarian because I do like a lot of different kinds of vegetables prepared in a lot of different ways and although I do also love meat it just seems I am not eating as much of it these days as I used to.  So, give me fruits and vegetables and some homemade bread once in awhile as well as a few dairy products like cheese, yogurt, ice cream and milk and I'm good. 

The tree peonies are starting to bloom. Tree peonies are not to be confused with herbaceous peonies that die back to the ground each year.  Tree peonies are more like woody shrubs. 

The air is full of the scent of lilacs in bloom.  This white one really needs to be trimmed back because the flowers are too high up for me to pick.  I took a cutting from the old homestead -- the place where my great grandfather settled when he emigrated from Ireland. The farm was in the family for over 100 years until all of my dad's siblings passed away and the acreage was sold. That was a sad day. As a young girl I spent a few weeks every summer there with my grandparents, aunt and uncle. Oh, those were some fun times! Well, anyway, I took a cutting from one of several lilacs along the circular gravel driveway the last time I paid a visit. 

I planted this variegated lilac in the middle of my cottage garden when I first started planting things there in what used to be a section of pasture land. 

There's three different types of purple lilacs in the front yard. They were here when we moved here.

Lilacs and May 1 also remind me of the May Baskets we used to make when we were younger. We had lilacs growing along the side of our house. For May Day we made construction paper cones (baskets) with handles, filled them with lilacs, hung them on doors of old folks in the neighborhood, rang the doorbell and ran off. I don't think anyone gives May Baskets anymore or even knows about the old tradition.  

Also in bloom in the front yard is the Viburnum or American Cranberry. 

In my native wildflower area Hepatica is in bloom. 

And so are Shooting Stars. I just love the cute little things. 

The Shooting Stars are delicate little things. I left the dandelion head in the photo so you could compare the size of it to the Shooting Stars. 

Also in the native wildflower garden the Camassia is starting to bloom. 

For a short time I watched a bumble bee jump from one bloom to the next but stay hidden from the camera. 

I have a little fairy garden - see the fairy door at the base of the sundial? And see that some fairies have arrrived and are camping?  The grandkids used to love the fairy garden. I would sometimes hide little treasures in there for them to find and add or move fairy things around - sometimes there would be a fairy with shovel and bucket and sometimes there would be a little clothesline and basket.  I have a lot of minature flowers in there too. Then along time ago a big mulberry limb fell right in the middle of the fairy garden and the grandkids grew up weren't fascinated by it anymore so the fairies let everything go weedy and wild animals stomped some of the fairies and gnomes and broke their wings, kept knocking them over and such.  But this year I am hoping to get the fairy garden back in shape. 

I unearthed a primrose in bloom in the fairy garden. It was hidden down in the darned saponaria that has become so invasive. 

There's also some wild or species tulips in bloom there. 

There's also a miniature hosta that looks like it needs to be separated.  The fairy garden is circular and there used to be a ring of red perennial dianthus around the entire circle but that has long ago disappeared. I'll have to find some seeds and try that again. 

Soon there will be a minature rose in bloom and a few miniature lilies. 

And finally there's a bleeding heart in bloom. Isn't it fascinating that there's a heart shaped flower? I always forget that I want to take cuttings of it so I can plant more of it in shady areas of the garden. Someday...

And sow on...

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

April 30 - Received a package with some triangle/qst papers, thangles and some fabric from a friend.