Getting Out

The forecast for the weekend was reasonably benign. A chance of showers here and there, no euphoria-inducing temps predicted, but generally workable. Marg spent a couple hours assisting with a plant sale at the school where she nurses on Friday, and we exploited that to acquire a number of plant starts.

So, aside from just the weekend-to-weekend yard upkeep and the ongoing installation of annual veggies and flowers, there was that to deal with. It's certainly a lot more tolerable to lean into the yardwork when there are flowers and critters abounding as they have been, making for a feeling of being out in Nature.

I'd guess the Lilacs are still at least a couple weeks out. We have at least four major shrubs in that group, double-purple and semi-yellow the most exotic of the lot. But all beloved. We haven't managed them as well as we should have. A farmer's market vendor of incredible lilac-bouquets stated that she prunes out one-third of each tree. I hope to be more aggressive (as time allows).

In the meantime, do you know Burkwood's Viburnum? The scent defines Spring for me. Lovely flower trusses. Ours happens to be located near an under-appreciated somewhat-hidden Star Magnolia, another with a very-enjoyable scent.

I planted out the starts of baby bok choi, purple Brussels Sprouts (!), and an Italian heritage kale yesterday, together with the last of the Broad Bean seeds. I lost track of Marg, who was weeding and planting furiously elsewhere, though I know she got some celery starts in the ground today and mixed greens and onions yesterday. I too mixed pulling out with putting in, today doing second planting of three peas, Sugar Snap pole-size, Little Marvel semi-pole, and Snow pods. I also brazenly set about planting three of the dozen or so tomato starts Marg bought in the ground, despite the early date, using water-walls to hopefully shield the little darlings from any night-time chill. And as long as I was gambling, seeing as the soil temps I was measuring were in the 66-70 range, I put in a teepee of pole beans too, a mix of Kentucky Blue and Scarlet Runners.

I made time the other day for a trip to the Arboretum (I believe technically known as the Washington Park Arboretum, or something along those lines). It's a stretch to get there RT via bus from down-town on a lunch-hour, so I don't indulge in this luxury too often. But it really shouldn't be considered a luxury - this sort of wild-and-free territory not far from downtown is (or should be) what keeps a lot of us from losing our marbles, e.g., turning all-limbaugh). Among so many things, I spied a terrific on-the-brink-of-bloom Elizabeth Magnolia, promising yellow flowers. My previous focus on yellow Mags involved "Butterfly," possibly a smaller tree. Exciting to find an alternative. I'd like to get back to Arboretum very soon to catch that Eliz bloom.

Must also check on Dove Tree status, another personal Spring harbinger.

My pretext for the trip was that I have come to realize to my amazement that a co-worker whose politics in a word "suck" (I want to think he would not stoop to limbaugh, but his politics alas are in the vein) is quite invested in vegetable gardening, and I wanted to surprise him with some Scarlet Runner Bean seeds, which he'd never heard of. I suspected gardening store near Arboretum would fill my needs.

Marg and Eric are somewhat amused after all they have heard from me on the score of Todd's politics (and, okay, classic x-generation narcissism and non-procreator self-indulgence in toys and gadgets of every possible flavor), flinging around the "bff" dig. It's okay. He and I are from very different worlds - he has stockpiled banned pesticides, I am watching warily while spouse experiments with latest herbicides that may-or-not be pet- or plant-proof.

I doubt any political conversion in either direction is in the works. But it is interesting to find another way to relate to a person whose politics are deplorable. Not connecting at all is not helpful.

And, lest I forget, new bird arrival update. We saw our first Goldfinch of the season today, and that is a very happy note, so colorful and dramatic. I first heard and then saw what I believe to have been a Bewick's Wren. I detected a Brown-Headed Cowbird at the bird feeder early on today and then watched a quartet of them drink and bathe in newly-filled bird-bath.