The Clueless Gardener

One of the Masters: cartoonist George Clark does a garden cartoon!

2012-01-06T18:31:00.002-05:00

I went on a George Clark kick today due to outside bloggy influences [thank you, Mike Lynch], but was delighted to see that there was a garden-themed cartoon in the bunch. Sans kind permission of the Internets...

getting impatient?

2012-01-06T13:52:00.001-05:00

The catalogs are starting to pour in...since we haven't even had what you'd call "winter" yet, I realize planting is a ways off....sigh.

Note the mini-boxes of Shiny Brites!

2011-12-28T15:30:00.001-05:00

2011-12-28T15:29:00.003-05:00

This year's tree is...

2011-12-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

...not scrawny enough, but I can see into the trunk, which was one goal. I stuff the lights way inside, then hang stuff so it's backlit and shiny. And then I leave it up til March.

2011-12-19T15:13:00.001-05:00

brown paper packages tied up with string...

2011-12-19T15:09:00.001-05:00

Except the post office and ups guys won't take the string part--haven't for a long while...I am sticking resolutely to gummed paper tape, however, for as long as I can locate some on the Internets. Got your mailing done? I've still got bulbs to plant, and now here comes Christmas....sigh.

2011-12-13T13:36:00.000-05:00

Christmas "Doo-Dads" from three generations...

2011-12-13T13:30:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSfbLYY-3k8&feature=email

My family always set out little toys, cozy houses, figurines, etc, at Christmastime. Apparently, I have just discovered, this is a German custom going way back, though none of us knew it at the time. I've inherited the doo-dads, as we called them, and now I set them out on my mantel...when I figure out how to embed the video itself, I'll do that, but in the meantime, gooo toooo UUUUU Toooooobe...

[excuse foil at Christmas tree base--it's to keep the cat from drinking the water!!]

Clueless gets crafty...

2011-12-04T12:34:00.002-05:00

first make a big mess with all your stuff...

start assembling project, near the kitty box, of course

coming along, but too big and blowsy....

...so a slimmed-down wreath may be in order...

...on the gate perhaps too underwhelming....

..while above the front door, my mop-top "masterpiece."

Feeling a bit ashamed after "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday"??

2011-11-30T11:15:00.001-05:00

http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/

...if you have doubts that camping out in front of WalMart and pepper-spraying fellow shoppers is the way to fulfillment, you might like this video. It's an education!

Stay on that site for other interesting and inconvenient truths, whilst swigging from water bottles filled with de l'eau from Fiji...

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-21T16:13:00.002-05:00


I guess I shouldn't get ahead of myself here...first holidays first! Behold here my autumn 'landscape' arrangement, forced on me to do at the most recent floral class I have since escaped from...

next quest !

2011-11-14T16:34:00.001-05:00

This is an unsheared Christmas tree. This is what I'm ready for. I'm so tired of overfull, artificially bushy trees that don't hold ornaments anyplace but against the very tips of the boughs. Scrawny is the word for this year's tree---but how can I find such a tree, considering tree-shearing is the #1 objective of tree farms?? Anybody got any suggestions?

they're doin' videography.....

2011-11-14T10:25:00.003-05:00

Since wrapping season's coming right up, Clueless gathered on-camera talent, cinematographer, and shiny props to create "How to Wrap a Present Without Tape," soon available on YouTube. Sorry, 3M, but tape on gorgeous wrapping paper is a total faux pas. Which, see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmnlPVS07nk

2011-11-07T15:44:00.001-05:00

"Plant all the way up until the ground freezes" says the instruction. Doesn't mention freak blizzards!

OOPS, I did it again

2011-11-03T11:52:00.002-04:00

Hope springs eternal when one is clueless, like me. Recall that ghastly flower arranging course I took last May, where I made a table centerpiece that looked like something out of a MadMen awards dinner? Well, the NYBotanical Garden revamped their entry-level Floral Courses, so I thought maybe they had gotten the message that the floral world is actually presently functioning in the 21st century. So, impulsively and dumb-dumb-dumbly, I signed up for "Floral Design Fundamentals--Style." Below behold the first class's result...two oasis-based inert centerpieces, one already picked apart, formerly featuring tall cattails jammed into a base of mums, supposedly resembling a landscape. The other, I guess, looks like a giant cupcake. That is my personal bastardization of so-called Biedermeier style. Because the styles we had to do were just so bad, and the teach acknowledged as much, I just acted out. The hapless teacher was himself a last-minute substitute who didn't really know quite what to teach us, in that he recognized the curriculum was a tad archaic, but was required to teach it nevertheless. I feel sorry for the chap, but nevertheless, what do I do? There are no refunds if I drop out. I wrote a complaint letter to the director of the program, and hubby predicted I'd never hear from them...so far he wins the bet.
I mean, it's fun shoving ugly flowers into oasis for three hours, but to what end? Sigh. Have another slice of meatloaf, or would you prefer cupcake?

2011-11-03T11:39:00.001-04:00

have some mum meatloaf! extra yummy, with a green, spongy center!


it's larger than a softball, smaller than a volleyball....but what IS it?

just before the blizzard, I picked the last flowers in the garden!

2011-11-02T09:03:00.001-04:00

nickis and verbenas...old faithfuls both.

The Mum's Curse

2011-10-06T12:33:00.001-04:00

I totally feel like a victim of mass horticulture marketing when mum season
comes around. Buy it, look at it a few days, it turns brown, and if you try
to plant it in the ground, it usually doesn't survive. Who needs that?
If you want a throwaway fall plant that's a little different, you could try
those equally useless but prettier sheared asters that are
starting to show up here and there. But basically it's all about
"last chance to blow your money before we get out the plastic
Christmas trees!" mentality at most garden centers.

Tired of conventional ways to save energy and resources? Watch this!

2011-09-19T11:37:00.002-04:00

Anyone who saw my Earth Day cartoon this year, knows I'm in a dark mood about the state of things. This is changing my mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOl4vwhwkW8

I really despair when I hear myself and my peers whining about the silly little ways we try to "save" the environment. I'm overwhelmingly fortunate, and to me, supplying my own reusable shopping bags, while minutely useful, really doesn't, in the end, change much of the mess the world is in. But please watch this video, and realize that there ARE small things that change lives. I don't know whether to smile or cry. Guess I'll do both. Go looky.

2011-09-06T10:18:00.000-04:00

a tad sparse...

2011-09-05T18:47:00.000-04:00

I just jammed some stuff in a cream bottle, is all. Looks cute in person, not so much in a photo...

the only good part of hurricane preparation...

2011-08-30T16:29:00.001-04:00

...is cutting lots of flowers for the house....but I really don't need an excuse.

Joe Pye--before he met Irene...

2011-08-30T16:23:00.001-04:00

I won't see 'til Friday how their date went. I did cut lots of mopheads to take into the house, using Irene as an excuse--sorry, bees...

meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

2011-08-28T18:02:00.002-04:00

Here's the small patch in back...the mini-thyme lawns are over, the Etoile Violette is over, the daylilies have been cut back, the rudbeckias are in fine shape, and as usual, the perennial lobelia is taking over the show cuz it seeds itself everywhere. Happily, the white anemone is coming into its own after having been planted, oh, 10 years ago, and hiding for 6. But, just as I relax with a beer---d'oh! --- Irene is popping over for a visit. More to come.....

I didn't buy it!

2011-08-22T15:27:00.000-04:00

now perfect

2011-08-21T16:55:00.001-04:00

Thank you, Pink 23 and Leanne!

have a seat, part I

2011-08-20T16:02:00.002-04:00

Here is my cherished stone bench, which is really my garden "folly" in the traditional as well as literal sense, since one cannot sit on it!

have a seat, part II

2011-08-20T15:57:00.003-04:00

This is the camomile bench at Sissinghurst. It inspired the lovely, mossy pile of rocks behind my own garage. Neither bench can be sat upon, but mine at least does not sport signs. I wish I knew how to airbrush those little signs out of what would then be a perfect picture.

2011-08-11T12:11:00.001-04:00

Here is a sigh-worthy, classic shot of "English Garden In Summer," courtesy of Renishaw Hall Gardens, the dark horse favorite of my travels here in the Green and Pleasant Land.

another pyrus salicifolia pendula pruned far better than mine

2011-08-08T08:43:00.003-04:00

This willow-leafed weeping pear tree is from the gardens of the unsung and utterly ravishing Renishaw Hall. Also in Derbyshire, and home of those wacky Sitwell Siblings, Osbert, Edith and Sacheverell. (Try pronouncing that last one.) So famous and celebrated in social and literary circles in the 20s to the 50s, now they are just known as oddballs. The grounds combined classic elements with blowsy perennials, and has many little nooks and garden "rooms." I think this garden is now my favorite of all the famous ones I saw!

visiting Chatsworth garden...

2011-08-07T15:45:00.001-04:00

we walked the footpath from the town, a 30-minute delight

a mossy wall along the way

Capability Brown's handiwork comes into view...

fab rustic fence

one of the undergardeners needs to take a chill pill!

peonies surround the foundation of the long-gone original conservatory; inside the walls, the lupin garden is over for the year

serpentine twin hedges-gorgeous

Then, as we approach the great house--uh--where is it? Under renovations, draped as if by Christo, possibly due to (1) there's a new Duke, and Debo has moved to a dower cottage, and (2 ) they want things nice for the Olympic year? It's a tad disappointing not to see the majestic pile from the lake and emperor fountain, but we came to see the gardens, anyway.

Animatedly sheared yews

Now, that's pollarding by experts

It's all very idyllic, if feudal in origin!

decoding Piet Oudolf in Hyde Park

2011-08-01T08:18:00.003-04:00

Inside an architect-designed black box on temporary view in Hyde Park is a small, enclosed jewel of a Piet Oudolf garden. I arrived shortly before opening time, to ensure some quiet contemplation, and found my dearest late-summer love, Joe Pye.

And there was a planting diagram available, and a plant list. I was delighted to study it for on to a half hour, making furious notes on the back of a newspaper. This is probably not in Oudolf's own hand, but I do not know...

close-ups of the diagram

A long view

Here are my notes, where I am trying to discern the movement of the planting design. Quite a "private lesson" from the premier garden designer du monde!

last pic from S'hurst: unexplained carving in the pavement

2011-07-31T16:38:00.001-04:00

What's On Today at Sissinghurst...

2011-07-30T17:08:00.001-04:00

This board gives updates of what's happening around the grounds that day, something I found very charming and visitor-friendly.

the glory of the White Garden...

2011-07-30T16:58:00.001-04:00

Though the famous central rose was over, there was lots to see in the White Garden. Notice the willow-leaf pear tree, the inspiration for my feeble one back on my own earnest little patch.

well, duh

2011-07-29T18:24:00.001-04:00

sign at the entrance of Sissinghurst...this wasn't here the last time I visited; are the crowds getting unruly?

S'hurst Rules

2011-07-29T13:44:00.001-04:00

Here's the view from Vita's tower, over to the yew rondel, at that modest little garden somewhere in Kent.....

wandering the grounds at Chiswick House

2011-07-27T06:05:00.001-04:00

copies of original vases taken off to Chatsworth are the sole attraction at the Italian Garden

a fency-like barrier created by alternating stakes and filling in with pruned or windfall branches. some were woven to make it sturdier. capital idea!

acanthus and phlox in a messy but pleasing border

protecting tree whips from various gnawing creatures

gnarly! note young branches shooting out at left

what classical property can do without Cedars of Lebanon?

The glass conservatory at Chiswick House gardens was gorgeous

2011-07-27T05:49:00.001-04:00

the fabulous row of slate benches, heated by iron pipes, in the camellia conservatory

beautiful iron handles open the greenhouse windows

Adjacent to the conservatory, the now-restored parterre Italianate garden is shaped out, but unplanted at present

stocks and bachelor buttons from Columbia Rd market

2011-07-27T05:45:00.000-04:00

dainty daisies in Chelsea

2011-07-27T05:44:00.000-04:00

2011-07-27T05:38:00.001-04:00

While poking around looking for Blitz damage in the City, we came upon this happy young woman with the lovely task of making this church ready for services.

Ha-Ha!

2011-07-26T14:05:00.001-04:00

Here's a close up view, my first in person, of a ha-ha, the ditch dug around a stately home to keep the cattle away from the house. From a distance, the even grassy ground doesn't betray the chasm there, so His Grace's view outward is not disturbed. My long shot of the ha-ha didn't come out, sadly, but it's more interesting to see it up close, right?

On the South Downs Way, E. Sussex

2011-07-18T06:10:00.001-04:00

Here's the scrubby cover at the top of the chalky ridge of the South Downs--things grow low to the ground due to salty winds, and is quite pretty in a Cathy-and-Heathcliff-on- the-moors kind of way.

peonies, nigellas and sea holly watching Gordon Brown on the telly

2011-07-16T12:53:00.001-04:00

The peony bouquet from Columbia Road flower market, the image of a former British Prime Minister, complaining, courtesy BBC.

Meh

2011-07-12T05:49:00.001-04:00

Isn't that the current term for indifference, bordering on boredom? Because that's my reaction to a full rose garden, even in full flower. Just not exciting, and most of the hybrids aren't even scented, to boot. Much as I'd love to kvell, can't do it. I like the scraggly wild field areas on the other side of this, Regent's Park...

Somerset countryside?

2011-07-11T18:11:00.001-04:00

Nope, Regent's Park, middle of London.

Rain: Perfect Day for a Flower Show

2011-07-11T06:24:00.000-04:00

Hampton Court : a typical "modern" show garden

2011-07-11T06:12:00.001-04:00

Like described below, the formula for the show gardens appears to be hardscaping looking like something from "2001: A Space Odyssey," but adding pretty Englishy flowers and trees within that. This one was the best of them; one BBC host described another as resembling a terrace at a "posh modern hotel." Golly, just the thing for the back yard at home...

This is for reader Dave...last issue, NOTW

2011-07-11T05:58:00.001-04:00

So, here's the last issue of 168-yr-old British scandal sheet supreme, News of the World. Apparently, this rag has many nasty nicknames, and from the look of this, they are richly deserved...I can't even read it for a laugh, it's so gross. But history is history, and I bought one; maybe I can sell this on Ebay in 10 years and send my rabbit to college on the proceeds. Below, back cover, with a quote from George Orwell to try and class the place up a bit. My main complaint: No Gardening Section!!!

When you gotta.....well, you know

2011-07-10T10:51:00.001-04:00

This garish show garden just blows taste out of the water. But maybe I should avoid references to water in this particular post. Note the Pepto Bismol color on the walls. Ick. The flowers are very vibrant and high-summery, true, but they're caught in a world they never made. Note the faucet; there were two faucet fountains on this terrace. So, check out these photos, then blow up the last one of the tent right next to the exhibit. I suspect this was a put-up job by Detrol to enter the piddle market in the UK after conquering the States? Anyway, at least they didn't add the smell of a dark alley after the bars close. Ew, sorry, but this exhibit was in such bad taste, anything I say here can't possibly trump it. [ EDIT: A few further clicks of the mouse, and I have now discovered the sponsor of the Piddle Show Garden is Astellas Pharma, Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline, makers of the other well-advertised anti-urge-to-go product, Vesicare. I must remark that it's odd that all the evaluations of the show garden itself fail to notice that it's really a promotional device to reach older Brits who worry where their next Comfort Stop may be. I guess I'm a cynic...]

2011-07-10T10:05:00.000-04:00

2011-07-10T10:04:00.001-04:00

Sentimental Fave

2011-07-10T09:59:00.000-04:00

This is what goofballs like me go to England to see---classic cottage-y stuff. After the modernity of the majority of show gardens, this is a fine breathing space. Built by apprentices in various trades. Grassy roof, not thatch... I especially liked the cobbled, muddy road. Looks ancient, but just installed last week. Sighs all around. Which see, below.

2011-07-10T09:52:00.002-04:00

the best headline ever?

2011-07-09T13:11:00.001-04:00

This isn't about gardening, unless maybe the hacking was done with a weed-whacker. The middle-aged Rupert, in a divine photo on the front page of the Murdoch-owned Times. Every time I come over here, there's a big scandal, so the papers are so much fun to read. Plus they have great gardening sections.

English Wevvar

2011-07-09T13:10:00.001-04:00

Back on my feet enough to slog out to Hampton Court Palace for the enormous Flower Show. This was my third time, so I know where the bathroom tents are, which is a plus. [Unlike American flower shows, the British ones understand that ya need more Ladies' Rooms at such events, and adjust the infrastructure accordingly.]
Had a very typical day there of classic English summer weather. Absolutely beautiful one moment, then pouring down rain the next. After four or five minutes of rain, sun comes out again. Then, ten minutes later, blustery and you know you must pull out the umbrella again. Then when the sun next breaks through, you raise your face to the sun in worship and submission. Literally, it's "rinse and repeat." Americans who use that phrase, "If you hate the weather, wait five minutes...." don't know what they're talking about. Here it really Does change every five minutes! I came armed for the mud with rubber shoes; many folks wore wellies, and very few had those over-decorated twee ones Americans seem to like. The grass was mud everyplace!
The pictures I took will be posted next---some nice stuff, but I didn't pass out from bliss. Gotta be Modern. The Englishy effects are often trapped inside some modern sculptural atrocity. But at least you get to sigh over some foxgloves here and there. Garden designers here seem to deliberately force themselves not to be English Garden Designers, so they use a lot of concrete, straight lines, and strangely, stainless steel, so the results seldom enchant, even if you do like it. Plus, you can see the exhibits better on the telly. Got some fun "bits and bobs" in the vendor area. My main reason for going is to search out eccentric garden stuff that I can fit into my suitcase, truth be told; the crowds often intimidate me away from the show gardens, and I can manage to glimpse them only for a few minutes before I have to cut out of the hoardes of teeming gardeners in order to get a breath of air. Or to get out of the rain!

reading matters

2011-07-06T17:51:00.001-04:00

Got over the pond just in time to get under the weather, but curling up with lots of periodicals is a good way to convalesce...

2011-07-02T16:52:00.001-04:00

The next bouquet you see will be from the Columbia Road Flower Market, London. Many thanks to all gods everywhere, including the FSM, for this unfathomable, wonderful opportunity. Cheerio.

Welcome to the Clueless National Bank Drive Thru Island

2011-06-28T19:54:00.001-04:00

Note the Stella D'Oro daylily, with bark mulch beneath. Oh, the humiliation. But I had to mulch prior to decamping to NW8 shortly, and that bark's what was in the garage. At least note the astrantia "Roma" flower in bottom right corner and try to forgive me.

This Blog Now In Its Sixth Big Year

2011-06-28T19:52:00.002-04:00

...just sayin'.

...and accept the things I cannot change...[that peonies are ephemeral]...a contemplation as the petals wilt

2011-06-21T10:31:00.003-04:00

In an effort to reassure my reader (s) that I'm not entirely superficial and silly, I'll reiterate my garden philosophy : I've always used my interest in flowers/gardening to express feelings about the wonderfulness/sadnesses in life in general. 2011 Peony season, which had me hallucinating, is pretty much over, as you may see, above. Like many much more acute, important and serious events in life, knowing the peonies will return next spring makes it easier to let go now. And even if the peonies don't come back next year, the theme, thanks to this year's bounty, is -- what a way to go.

Clueless has a Peony Playdate

2011-06-13T10:35:00.002-04:00

This photo is too dark, and too soft, but makes the arranging errors disappear...so it's a keeper. This is a re-arrangement of the original arrangement I made at the Little Flower School/NYBG workshop, after removing spent blossoms. I'd book this playdate any week!

2011-06-13T10:31:00.002-04:00

continuing play with my equivalent of legos....here are some nice, starry campanulas with the usual suspects

poppy, siberian iris, wild rose, weeds

2011-06-12T21:57:00.001-04:00

It's peak June in the Berkshires, and poppies, roses, peonies, iris, ammi, campanulas...you name it...are all competing for my attention...I'm getting dizzy!

Remnants of the workshop bouquet...

2011-06-12T21:51:00.002-04:00

A spent tree peony, a blooming one, astrantia, scabiosa, heuchera, various weeds

Is "Festiva Maxima" the best peony of all time?

2011-06-12T21:45:00.002-04:00

Palest pink, flecks of deep pink inside...my sentimental favorite. Actually, it is usually described as "pure white," but mine is just a breath of pinkie...my true white peony is really bright white in comparison.

A peony with just a single row of petals...

2011-06-12T21:40:00.001-04:00

...is refreshing and charming, and a nice break from the blowsy "bombs" we all love most of the time. Jammed in a bottle here with a fuller peony, wild rose, and weeds.

throw down the trowel, pick up the Pimm's

2011-06-12T21:28:00.001-04:00

Five o'clock comes happily in the garden, especially after a long day of "installing plant material."

2011-06-06T15:49:00.000-04:00

how many different birds in your dawn chorus?

why they invented the phrase...

2011-06-05T18:28:00.001-04:00


..."to die for." [tree peony blossom from Emily Thompson Flowers]

The Clueless Florist apes Redoute painting, fails

2011-06-04T18:28:00.002-04:00

...but my class, held at the New York Botanical Garden, taught by "The Little Flower School," in the very same classroom as previously, was a revelation. See below

now, this is more like it; Little Flower School's flower arranging workshop, where, unlike the other class (see photo several posts below), the instructors are not zombies

2011-06-04T18:04:00.001-04:00

When I walked into the classroom, the array was breathtaking...

the teacher told us "calm down," as we came in and saw all this

peonies, also some dark tree peonies, were on offer

roses supposes

no flower shop could possibly compare!

here's one of the two teachers, Sarah Rhyanen, making an arrangement

here's my attempt, in progress; other teacher, Nicolette Owen, at right

keep turning it and adding "moments," she instructed

a little too pyramid-y; keep trying

not done yet, but you get the idea

tussie mussie du jour

2011-06-03T16:31:00.001-04:00

New Dawn, Bonanza clematis, Caesar's Brother iris,white valerian

2011-06-02T10:24:00.000-04:00

last tree peony...see you next year, dearie

2011-06-01T12:14:00.000-04:00

two tree peonies in a chicken pie dish

2011-05-31T16:07:00.001-04:00

OMG, look what they made me do at flower arranging school

2011-05-29T20:49:00.002-04:00

...imagine opening one's front door, and the flower delivery driver hands you this....what does one do???

snowball, lilac, ammi

2011-05-29T20:46:00.001-04:00

...ah, this is more like it...and from the yard, not the florist....

The Clueless Florist

2011-05-17T10:59:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I attended my first workshop on "Basic Floral Techniques." I was "taught" to arrange these pretty but commercially bloated roses, with leathery green ferny filler and wax flowers, into this bouquet. To quote the instructor, a professional florist, the more modern 'Martha Stewart' style arrangements (!) are not particularly encouraged in the trade. Apparently, floristry-with-abandon isn't what the average customer wants....? Channeling FTD rather than Constance Spry is the way to go. But nevertheless, I am enjoying the insider information, such as how to wire blossoms, use floral tape, etc. Playing with this stuff is fun. I have a feeling they won't be covering peonies or summer bouquets with nicotiana alatas, but that's OK. People's aunties in their thousands aren't ordering those for their birthdays anyhow. [Going to skip the class on adding Teddy Bears and Balloons.]

after bringing this forgettable rose arrangement home, I immediately tore it apart and rebuilt it into something I could stand! Good practice, too. Oops, no photo; I gave that bouquet away

[Below, for contrast, a bouquet taught at a rival floristry class that I did NOT take. sigh....]

This is an arrangement by Saipua floral designer Sarah Ryhanen, from her blog. Hmmm, maybe I should just pony up and take her class instead ?

First Efforts...

2011-05-17T10:43:00.002-04:00

wrist corsage attempt

After spending an hour taping a leaf behind individual blossoms, we were taught to tape a series of flowers onto this little aluminum flangey thing with an elastic band. This becomes a wrist corsage. My version is on the vertical side, but Teacher said it was OK! Puffed up with pride, I hereby photograph it as it fades away before my eyes. When I got home, I couldn't stop playing, so composed a bouttonnaire with one of the biggie bouquet roses and some flaccid baby's breath... Maybe not Epic Fail, but definitely Prom Over.

buttonhole attempt

here's lookin' at ya

2011-05-15T18:25:00.002-04:00


My daffy love of this spring is the humble but lovely poet's narcissus, Pheasant's Eye. And golly, does it smell good!

so many daffs

2011-05-15T18:17:00.001-04:00

When I started planting on the hill, I tried always to get those crates of mixed leftovers offered by some bulb dealers. It's such a joy to see all the different kinds, although I can barely identify any of them.

ka-boooooom

2011-05-15T18:15:00.001-04:00

Bouquet picked at peak yesterday. Today it rained. Yay!

paging Princess Beatrice....got a new hat for you

2011-05-13T18:41:00.004-04:00

perfect wedding fascinator? plop this on!

you were never lovlier

2011-05-12T10:45:00.000-04:00

I hate to keep harping on my clematis montana, but this is the best year it's ever had...I guess that vasty snowfall-cum-blizzard shook it up and it is loving having survived? Thank you, Miss Jekyll, for pointing this plant out to me.

Ah, May

2011-05-07T15:42:00.001-04:00


A ravishing peony, hangin' with astrantia and other pals, on me mantel.

Add caption

o my darling, o my darling, o my darling clem----atis!

2011-05-05T18:05:00.001-04:00

This is clemmie montana rubens...I think.

an english bluebell wood

2011-05-04T10:24:00.001-04:00

Photo sans kind permission of the Guardian...ah, too gorgeous for words.

tussie mussies always hit the spot!

2011-05-03T20:43:00.002-04:00

These tiny bundles please me no end. This one has goodies from the urban yard: hellebore, clematis montana, bleeding heart, phlox, forget-me-not. Hiding in there someplace are dear little sweet woodruff flowerlets. Sigh.....

Don't forget to help our wiggly friends if they stray onto the pavement

2011-05-03T18:30:00.002-04:00

Apparently, earthworms take advantage of rainstorms in order to move house and go to a new location. Sometimes they don't get there in time, and start to dry up on the sidewalk. This stabs me in the heart every time. Ever since I was a kid, I have always picked earthworms up and "saved" them by throwing them back into the dirt/grass/flowerbed nearby. Of course, I had no idea if the spot I pitched them into is the spot where they wanted to go! It's a little bit icky and slimy to do this, but it's a good deed indeed to save these industrious garden helpers. How-to is illustrated below.

2011-04-26T17:23:00.002-04:00

Easter Candy

2011-04-24T11:50:00.001-04:00

more wonderfulness....

2011-04-20T17:47:00.000-04:00

Good fer what ails ya...

2011-04-18T10:27:00.000-04:00

When things look gloomy, especially in the natural world (see lamentations below), I always take 2 tussie-mussies and get fast relief! Here's one of them.

2011-04-18T10:19:00.002-04:00

'Planet Earth' is Just a Four-Letter Word?

2011-04-16T22:17:00.001-04:00

I uncurled from whining in fetal position long enough to draw this...now back to wailing. Feel free to join in. And between cries in the wilderness [what wilderness that remains], do what you can yer own self, because that's all we can do. The big fat guys aren't listening, and won't be listening anytime soon, so we have to keep busy lighting those single candles rather than cursing the you-know-what. Sorry for teh cussing, but really, this is what it was invented for.

2011-04-16T22:10:00.001-04:00

[click to enlarge.]

Pacific Petrel Party Pooper edition

2011-04-13T15:20:00.000-04:00

It's pretty hard this year to make funny cartoons about Earth Day topics. For all four unpleasant, guilt-inducing panels of this here comic, go over to ibrakefordelphiniums.blogspot.com,
and have a pleasant and convenient day.