Outside

It feels good to be outside again.  The dirt is just right for planting.  We had an incredible thunder and lightning storm last week, and then another day of rain two days ago.  Everything looks clean and green.  My daughter came for a visit and stayed in my sewing room, so I couldn't really get in there to work on my projects.  Perfect time to work in the garden.

"Alchemist" climbing rose (a gift from my daughter) just starting to bloom.

Ladybugs hatching on a board.  Fascinating!!!

 Crape Myrtle tree sporting some very interesting bark and tiny buds.

Odds and ends waiting for some pretty plants.

Since moving to this house 10 years ago, I used the existing planting areas that were set up by the previous owners.  This year I'm finally going to change things around.  Tomorrow a neighbor is coming by with his rototiller to turn the dirt.  I finished cleaning everything up today.

Here is the before picture.

Stay tuned for the after!

I have nothing crafty to show, except a few more rows of my white crochet blanket (boring) so I will leave you with a list of interesting gardening books to think about, and a cross stitch piece that I made over 10 years ago, that still hangs in my kitchen.  Oh, and for you yarn lovers out there.... Jimmy Beans Wool is now stocking Malabrigo Dos Yarn (DK).  It's all natural dyed merino wool in very soft pretty colors, and it's a limited edition, when it's gone, that's it!  I ordered some in "Rosado".


 Books:

Two Gardeners, A friendship in letters.
Katherine White (editor of the New Yorker and wife of author E.B. White) and Elizabeth Lawrence.
This book chronicles the letters passed between these two women for over 20 years.  I think they would have been great bloggers.


Gardening with a Wild Heart and
The Landscaping of Jays
both by Judith Larner Lowry
If you live in California and have an interest in backyard restoration with native California plants, these books are really worth reading.

Second Nature, a gardeners education
by Michael Pollan
What can I say, this guy is my hero. (Besides Bill Bryson.  I love Bill Bryson, but he has not written a thing about gardening.  Get with it Bill!)  Anyway,  I've read everything by Michael Pollan.  This book just happens to be about gardening.  If he wrote about the lifespan of mold spores I would read it with gusto.

Get outside!!!!