After four days of much needed rain the sun came out this morning. The windows are open. I'm between semesters and it seemed like a great day to be out in the garden.
When the weather allows I drink my first cup of coffee while wandering the garden. This morning as I was looking for spaces to put some irises I spooked up a rabbit. It was hiding in this area, under the spirea and liatris. I would never have spotted it if it hadn't moved.
[Why irises? I just heard about a place called
Rainbow Iris Farm that has some really unusual colors. I don't usually like bearded iris but these beauties looks really funky and I'm willing to try them out.]
Then I went out to weed. I like weeding. It's relaxing. See plant. Identify plant. Weed or don't. Here's a dragonfly that was sheltering in my Mexican Feather grass - probably still cold from the four days of 60 something weather.
I was also deadheading. I like to deadhead. See plant. Decide if I like the looks of the seedheads or if I want more of that plant. Deadhead, or don't.
I'm leaving the seedheads on my Penstemon digitalis Mystica because I like the look of them.
These seedheads are staying because I want more of this plant. Can you recognize it? That's right. It's parsley. I'll get more if the Goldfinches leave me any seeds!
I was going to deadhead these snapdragons but I looked closer and saw... caterpillars? Red caterpillars? I'm working on identifying these guys but I don't know what they are, yet. The snapdragons they are feeding on bloomed with a dark, velvety red so the color may be deceptive.
Deadheading requires a slow and steady hand when working in my garden. I have a bountiful bee collection.
And butterflies! I'm slowly building up this population. At least two American Ladies were flitting around the butterfly bush and I saw (but didn't photograph) cabbage white butterflies and one rough looking Monarch. I bet there will be more once the day really heats up!
And none of these shows the sounds of the birds flitting around the garden (including a very fussy fledgling Robin being fed by busy parents) or the sight of a garter snake slipping into the bushes as I turn the corner. Or the neighbor stopping to admire the gardens and comment on how much work I must put into them.
Work? This is PLAY. I'd rather be doing this than work any day!
