Spring at last....

[mechtild]

June 25, 2011

The week of storm is over (but chance of showers and storms Sunday and Monday - ah, well). The sun came out. Plants are blooming. Yay! Here are some garden photos, to celebrate....

Comments

[jan_u_wine]

I'm.....speechless. May I come live in your garden? I'm certain I'd make a great Gnome....

[mechtild]

Why not? Come on by and you can experience spring all over again! :)

[jan_u_wine]

trust me, we don't have spring like *that*. But then again, we don't have W I N T E R like

*T * H * A * T *

*practices gnomish behavior, is chagrined to find it comes naturally, hopes that hobbits and gnomisssesss get along*

[mechtild]

Oh! *light bulb* Do you mean garden gnomes? The statues? I really should get a few. Maybe some fiberglass flamingos and a Mary in a bathtub, too. :)

[mole_caz]

Someone has put a lot of hard work into your garden - is that you by any chance? I really like the bark chippings (would like them in out garden but hubbie isn't keen) and what is the pretty purple flower in the foreground of the 3rd picture? They are in front of the irises.

[mechtild]

Yes, that's me. My husband helps occasionally, like chopping out the dead ninebark last week so I could plant the new one. But I'm the main worker. I spread the truck load of shredded pine bark, a replenishing of what was already there. The mulch helps keep the weeds down excellently, also making the garden easy to walk through and tend when it's wet out, covering what otherwise would be mud. The downside of a thick layer of mulch is that it's much harder to cultivate or emend the soil. I almost never do anything to the soil. And I wouldn't use it if I planted annuals, which must be planted and cultivated every year. But I have only bushes, trees and perennials. If I were a real gardener -- paying at least as much attention to improving the soil as tending the visible plants -- I just couldn't have mulch. But I spend more time on the gardens than I'd like to already. :)

[mechtild]

I forgot to say those are spiderwort. I think they look bright pink, but I am sure they are the purple flowers you are talking about. Here's a link about them:

http://www.gpnc.org/spiderwo.htm

[shirebound]

Ohhhh, how beautiful! It's so desert-y and not very green here except in the parks. That first picture of the trees.... heavenly.

[mechtild]

Yeah, but you have what we'd think of as summer almost all year! It is I who am jealous of you. Seriously, it is very pretty here during the time when things burst into growth and bloom. It's just so danged short.

[ladyhadhafang]

Very pretty! Love it! :D

[mechtild]

Glad you enjoyed it. :)

[ladyhadhafang]

No problem. :)

[aliensouldream]

What a stunning garden! Beautiful trees and shrubs. Sam would be delighted :-)

Dear Mechtild, would you mind friending me? I've never asked because I didn't know if you would mind that I sometimes write/post about slashy things. But I don't want to lose touch with your posts. I've been here five years, it's time I got over the shyness in asking these things.

[mechtild]

Thanks! They'll all look even better once the plants come into flower. It's very beautiful by the end of July

[aliensouldream]

Thank you so much for friending me! I've friended back, though I know there won't be much in mine you would wish to read. My love for LOTR and Frodo is still massive. I adore the films and books and Tolkien's world and although I just can't and never could keep up with all the LOTR fic out there I still love it and try to read the pieces my friends write. I started off in LOTR - for beautiful Frodo - but got diverted to Faculty - for beautiful Casey. But the world of LOTR has a magical pull on me and I especially love the halcyon take on a pre-Quest Shire. I think your posts are beautiful and the partnership with jan-u-wine has given the fandom a new treasure. I look forward to catching up with what I've missed over time. Many thanks xxx

[mechtild]

I still love LOTR and Tolkien, too. I haven't posted much, I just don't have anything new to say. Apart from featuring Jan's stuff, which I think delicately, sensitively, deep-down faithful Tolkien's characters' world, and begs to be more widely read -- which is why I love to feature it -- I haven't been able to find things to say. Going to the EE's called forth a report (I can't wait for ROTK!), but that's not a common occurence. ;) (Gardens and the weather are always something to talk about, obviously.)

In the meantime I've been doing lots of reading, non-Tolkien, but also lots of books and essays about Tolkien. I re-read the Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales, and lots of the History of Middle-earth this year, too. I feel the richer. Maybe I was getting all talked out! :)