being not doing

One of the lovely purple bearded irises. The purple irises against the side of the house. I love irises. There’s something about them that I find jaunty, and jauntiness is a quality I value highly in a flower. Also, they grow by the sides of ponds and lakes and in swamps, so I enjoy them [...]

The varieties of daffodils that bloomed in March and April, mostly unidentified. A friend of ours acquired so many spring bulbs with the house they purchased that every time she wants to move or remove or plant something in her yard, she unearths dozens of bulbs. Since other parts of the yard are invariably already [...]

It’s always exciting to see the first daffodil buds, particularly since I’ve moved the bulbs and as a result am never sure I’m going to get flowers. This year I have crocuses in the little bed I created by the lamp post, so even if I did plant them too deeply (as I suspect) they’ve [...]

This autumn found us with a number of refugee plants on our porch that required a permanent spot in the yard. The sad demise of the hydrangea and the clethra twigs at the end of the summer left some space open, and we expanded the planted areas to include spaces in front of and under [...]

It has finally begun to rain again, which means that the plants are less brown and the rain barrel is filled up again. I was surprised to empty it, and it definitely came in handy during the dry spell. We have yet to set up the second one, although we could have used it. The [...]