spring? more like summer

it always amazes me how a few days of hot weather and warm nights brings on a rush of growing things. my mulberry tree survived the winter, and is leafing out rapidly; the flower buds look like little eri caterpillars.

amongst the soil in the clematis pot, a colony of moss captured my interest; the little worlds are so alien. i only wish i could grow it inside, but my green thumb has yet to achieve such feats.

after my foray outside, i happened to glance at my leafless flowering orchid, and noticed a little wanderer. a teeny tiny grasshopper that wouldn't look out of place in my dollhouse.

planting color

i'll be the first to admit that i haven't much of a green thumb. some would say, black; or at least grey. my orchids have survived, for the most part. however, putting aside all that, today was a day to dig your hands into soil, rip roots loose, and arrange heights and colors in a container of clay.

we have a front porch that sits mainly in the sun, which perhaps makes it seem barren and harsh on the best of days. it's nice to sit out there once the sun falls behind the house, but at that point the mosquitoes become your bosom buddy. i've learned that the little blood suckers absolutely abhor lavender. so to my way of thinking, "lets plant lots of lavender on the front porch, thus fending off the mosquitoes". lavender loves the sun, anyways.

so into the neighborhood big box garden store, which of course, did not have a stem of lavender. but oh, there were lots of pretty smelling flowers. so i started grabbing plants which met three requirements: strong scent, either pinky purple or yellow green flowers, and of course differing heights. so these were the groupings i put together when we arrived home. i hope they like their new neighbors. this is definitely new to me, you know, gardening. better luck tomorrow as we go a'hunting for that lavender!

some of us just take longer to mature

i've had orchids for 10 years now, and without a scale invasion 4 years ago i would have 22 of them. sadly, i have but 6 remaining. i never got back into it after the scale devastation of '06, so i have not added a new orchid in quite some time. i have one which blooms for 4 days once a year, one which blooms off and on throughout the year, and one which bloomed 2 years ago and not a peep since, the other three have invisible blooms that only pixies can see, or so i thought.

luckily though, one of the first orchids i bought survived unscathed and gave me quite a surprise four days ago; it bloomed and has flowered into a most funny face. the reason for the surprise is that when i bought this plant 9 years ago it was but a baby and the shop owner told me it would mature in 5 years and then bloom. as you see, i had no expectation of it ever blooming once we got into year 8 and there was still no sign. it is a pretty thing to see, and has made my current "cold virus from the depths of hell" suffering brighter.

thoughtfulness

my mother's been feeling down lately, and there isn't really anything i can do to fix it. however, on my way home from work the other day i stopped in at madame chrysanthemum's, a local florist, and got her a spur-of-the-moment bouquet. she felt much better for a little bit at least; and look there's a giant heart in it!