Waiting for the Garden to Dry Off

I made an early trip out to the garden, slogging through the wet shin deep grass, to pick a few red strawberries for breakfast.  I chased three rabbits from the garden on the way.  Our inability to get the grass around the garden cut has given them cover and they take advantage of it. Yesterday a wild turkey and her babies spent the entire afternoon in the "short" grass around the garden.  I could see the wet hen clearly, her shoulders and neck were above the grass.   Ed saw the babies, but I never did .  We really want things to dry off so we can mow around the garden.  Now it is too easy for the critters to slip into the garden under cover.  That can be murder on the plants.  It also makes it so that we can't see what is out there.  Seeing the wet turkey hen was nice, but I wanted to see the babies too!

My Clematis is beginning to bloom.

Jane's Rugosa rose looks lovely when wet and still has its beautiful scent.

Our friendly flower spider can still be found in the same iris.  It looks quite comfortable and fairly dry under its flower petal roof.

I discovered another patch of nettles along the edge of the driveway. They must have come up after the Red Admirals had passed by.  Here the plants are still green and growing.  This butterfly is not one that I have been able to identify.  I don't think I've ever seen one like it before.

The morning fog has lifted and the rain has stopped.  Perhaps this is the day things will dry off enough for us to make some progress.  Today we hope for partly sunny.  I heard that tomorrow there is a possibility that it won't rain at all.  A wise, blue, furry monster name Grover once said, "Where there's life there's is hope."   There's still lots of hope here at the Stone Wall Garden.

Just When You Think All Hope is Gone

This spring I ordered a maidenhair fern. I wanted it for the shade garden. There used to be one in the woods in the back, but I could no longer find it. When it arrived the  plant didn't look very alive, but we put it in a pot to await its time to be planted outside.  I had placed the empty looking pot  on the shade  garden wall near where it was to be planted. It had been there for several days when Ed came in and told me that something had dug in the pot. When I went outside I saw the flash of a chipmunk as he darted into a small hole in the stone wall. I was angry! "* &%! chipmunk" I muttered to myself. I reached out and dumped the pot of dirt, and there to my utter amazement I found some black roots and a tiny bit of green growth . Ed planted it for me immediately! The tiny little green frond is just above the "a" in Maidenhair. My apologies to Mr. Chipmunk. This time at least, I was wrong about him. Hopes for Maidenhair fern live if only by a tiny bit.

 Here we have my clematis. Last year with the late frost this plant looked dead! So very dead in fact that I ordered its replacement. It just goes to show you what I know. Not only is the plant alive, but check out the flowers. I gave up way too soon on this one.
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Here we have some lilies that were frozen to the ground by last June's hard freeze.  Fall cleanup found a pathetic lily leaf lying on the ground.  That was all the growth they managed last year. It was a complete surprise to see them this year. I have to wonder how a plant can stay dormant for an entire season and then come back looking great. I know it happens, but is is miraculous to me!

Early this morning while I was drinking my coffee and staring out the window at the misty morning, a male indigo bunting landed on the ledge just outside my window. He stayed for several seconds and I was transfixed. Before this I have only seen  brief flashes of that incredible blue among the treetops. This time we were  very close to each other and face to face. What a picture it would have made, but all I had in my hand was a coffee cup.  I've never seen anything like the blue of that indigo bunting. I'll probably never get that close again, but it made this morning special and there's always hope!

 Ed and I were lucky enough to see a green heron today too. Cloudy rainy and gray or not, it was a great day!

Blue Clematis

I think I'll let this picture of my blue clematis speak for itself. The plant is covered with blossoms and is a joy to behold. It is the cheeriest of greetings when I come home.