Springtime in the Garden

Around the mailbox

Hello, hello, hello! ! ! !  First, I would like to welcome Anna, another lovely Italian with a wonderful little blog.  Benvenuto!  And thank you for following along!  I ran over to her blog and read every post.  I think you would enjoy visiting her as well!

It was a beautiful day here today!  I was way behind on my outside chores, so I spent the day trimming, pruning, and being surprised.

Remember the picture of the little strawberry blossom from my last post?  This is what it looks like today!  My first strawberry of the season!  It is almost ready for my breakfast!  Yayyyyy!  It even has some friends joining it!  Yummmm!

I had neglected things for so long, I had a lot of fixing and catching up to do!  The African Boxwood was trying to take over my poor neighbor's driveway, so I made that my first bit of business today and got it all trimmed up and behaving much better. . . . but, we'll see how long that lasts!  :-)

Then it was on to corralling the geraniums who apparently believe they should have free reign over the entire side of the house.  The naughty little dickens were even trying to cover and smother the poor begonias in their pots.  Over on the other side of the house, I found that the oregano had strangled the poor Serrano chilis to death . . .  well, it wasn't the best spot for them anyway . . .   And my cilantro had gone completely wild and was trying to take over the neighbor's yard.  Whack, whack, whack . . .  I cut it all back!  Who knew gardening could be so violent?  ;-)  I seem to remember it being a much more quiet and soothing activity.  Guess that means I shouldn't let it go so long next time!

I had planted some lunaria biennis, or Money Plant, seeds last fall and they are now flowering and producing the pods that will end up turning a kind of silvery white later.  Some people call them silver dollar plants because the pods are reminiscent of the coins.  The pods are still small and green for now, and when the sun is behind them, they sure stand out, as you can see from the bright yellow green pods above.  I am so looking forward to seeing them with the sun behind them when they turn white, making them look like they are glowing.  I am planning on using them in arrangements and potpourri mixes for visual interest.  I find them so interesting and intriguing, I might just gather them into a great big bouquet of silvery-white papery pods and set them in front of a light and wait to see if a band of dancing fairies come out to play underneath the makeshift lanterns!

But, the best part of the day was when I noticed the lilacs have their first little tiny blossoms!  I was so excited I had to run for the camera.  I just wish I had noticed them a little earlier while the sun was still on them!  I didn't even see the blossoms coming and I was checking very carefully for them last weekend!  I had a very difficult time trying to get a good photo because of all the background "noise" in the pic, which I just couldn't seem to edit out no matter how I tried.  I finally got a cloth bag to put behind it to make it visible.  Not the best pic, but  . . . the first lilac bloom of the season still needs to be recorded and celebrated!   Woooo-hoooo!

So, celebrate I did!  I grabbed some lemons from my tree and made a special batch of my fresh-squeezed peach lemonade to enjoy once I put my feet up for the day!  Even after a long day of work, and bags and bags of trimmings, I am not even half-way done out there but my back is soooo ready for a rest!  The lemonade was the perfect way to call it a day and savor the tastes and smells of spring in the waning sunlight!  Why don't you grab a glass and join me?