Wordless Wednesday: Bluebirds

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May Weekend: Birds, Beef and Strawberries

Sometimes the world of busyness becomes overwhelming and I get lost in my head. Do more, do faster, do better! Then I know it's time to move outdoors. 

For the first time in ages I set up the tripod to photograph birds. This year the bluebirds failed to claim their box and a titmouse family moved in. 

Last week we had a scare. The headlights of the car one evening caught the neighbor's cat perched on the top of the bluebird box. I feared a titmouse tragedy, and inspected the ground below, where one tiny white feather rested on the mulch. But the next day the titmice were busy bringing insects, as usual, and disappearing into the hole. Cautiously, I opened the box, ready to photograph the baby birds. The soft mossy nest covered only the bottom third of the box and the little birds were hiding. I was secretly relieved.

The catbirds returned in mid-April. They think the birdbath is theirs.

The garden is lush and green. Not many native plants are in bloom in this lull between spring and summer. But the penstemons catch the morning light. 

I have missed the old routines. My husband and I were finally able to go to the Carrboro farmer's market on Saturday morning and then to the Hogans' farm to buy steaks. 

I like being able to see the cows eating grass or lounging in the shade. The cows were too far from the road to get a decent photo, so I'll go straight to the meat. This grass-fed beef raised by friends is our exception to a vegetarian diet.

Magnolias are already in bloom. It's hard to be sad when smelling a magnolia.

After many weeks of talking about strawberry picking, we finally did it. I need deadlines, and the note on the website of the Whitted Bowers biodynamic farm said this weekend may be the last for strawberries if the heat keeps up. We picked 8 pounds of berries.

They taste as good as they look. I think they're the best strawberries I've ever had.

At the farmer's market, they gave out free packets of pectin for freezer jam. It was easy to make (even for the cooking-impaired).

There is an awful lot of sugar in jam. Best not to dwell on that.

The recipe said it would make 5 8-oz. jars of jam. Hmmm... We also have a ziploc filled with strawberry jam that I decided to exclude from the photo for symmetry's sake.

It would be nice to have a snappy conclusion to this post. But I must get ready to leave the house yet again for another showing. Who requests a showing on Sunday at 5 o'clock? 

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Wordless Wednesday: Mystery Rhody

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April Blooms

I accidentally hit the publish button before writing any text. Perhaps that is fitting. There is too much to say. It is the one-year anniversary of my starting this garden blog. Spring has been stunning - at first too fast, then slower with cooler weather. I am struggling with being a gardener whose house is for sale. Do I put in new plants? Or do the minimum effort necessary to keep the garden looking good? It is sad to know I will have to leave a garden that I have created for the past eight-plus years. (Sometimes, however, the stress of not knowing gets to me and I just want to turn my back on the garden and start a new one, this time with more sun.) 

The garden after many years is maturing to that full, more cottagey effect, with serendipity playing a large part in the garden's look. The columbine, below, self-seeded in profusion among flagstones. 

Tiarella (foamflower) is adorable along the path edges and a long bloomer, though photos never do it justice.

The light transforms a mainly green scene.

Tulips fall from the sky. Usually they are broken and faded, and my husband and I have been known to disparage the "mess" created by poplars. But this one was a gift. I now understand why the tree is called a tulip popular.

Iris cristata has taken over a large swath of shady slope in just 2-3 years.

The stunner in my garden the last two weeks has been the grape-purple columbine of an unknown variety purchased from the farmer's market 2 years ago.

Azaleas are now past their peak, but here are a few photos from a week or so ago.

Japanese roof iris spreads beautifully.  

Bugleweed seeds itself around, but I let it.

More of the purple columbine edging the path.

Green and gold is probably my favorite groundcover. Tough, easy, native, pretty.

Japanese kerria has graceful arching branches. It thrives in part shade and fits a woodland aesthetic. It is past its peak now, but was at its prime a few days ago.

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Vocation

Credentials

I wish it were possible to state in so

few words my errand in the world; quite simply

forestalling all inquiry, the oak offers his leaves

largehandedly. And in winter his integral magnificent order

decrees, says solemnly who he is

in the great thrusting limbs that are all finally

one: a return, a permanent riverandsea.

So the rose is its own credential, a certain

unattainable effortless form: wearing its heart

visibly, it gives us heart too: bud, fullness and fall.


~ Daniel Berrigan

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Pairs

Emerging leaves on redbud 'Forest Pansy'

Mourning doves 

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Spring Snapshots

Redbuds are in full bloom around town. The redbud I planted six or seven years ago is finally flowering prolifically. 

Ice Follies daffodil in spring sunlight.

The camera fails to capture the subtle beauty of spring, but I still try.

A view of part of the woodland border at the back of the garden. This area used to be a weedy "lawn."

Narcissus 'Thalia' below. A favorite daffodil.

Ice follies daffodils and hellebores. I didn't plan it this way, but they peak at the same time. 

Bloodroot emerges and blooms quickly. Pay attention, or you miss the flowering.

Sometimes flowers kiss. 

The emerging foliage of Japanese roof iris catches the fading sunlight near the moss-covered boulder. 

Below is one of the many hellebores that grew from seed. It has some pure white flowers amid the more typical pinkish white blooms.

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