Patterns in the garden

On a quiet Sunday morning, finding patterns in the garden:


stripes . . .


and dots . . .

It's my favorite time of the week.

Festooning the nest

A little corner of my 'studio'


bedecked with thrifted ribbons and beads.

We all like to festoon our nests.

A day for garden visitors

The garden guest book for today:

lots of birds, of course, and the honeybees.

Also:

a baby toad, a hummingbird,

a doe and twin fawns (in a client's garden),

and a dragonfly.

And here is a lantern for the midnight fairies.

Honey Bees in the Garden

We have a beehive! Back in early May, our neighbor set up a hive in our little garden. He has quite a few hives, at his house down the street and near some cranberry bogs up in Wisconsin, and had asked us if he could put one here. Oh, yes!

A few weeks later the bees arrived. He opened the back of his vehicle and there were boxes and boxes of bees for the new hives he's setting up -- and a few strays just flying around.

He set up the first part of the hive and then put in the queen. (She's in the little rectangular box in his right hand.)


She's sealed in the little box with a bit of beeswax and when the other bees find her, they eat away the wax to release her into her new kingdom.




All the bees are poured on top of the racks and when they settle down, with a little smoke applied to calm them, the top boxes are stacked into place.

And here's our new hive. It's so fun to watch the bees and see where they are each day. They were very busy on the crab tree a few weeks ago. Yesterday they were all over the patch of mourning-widow geranium. Usually I deadhead the geranium a bit early so it doesn't self-sow all over, but this year I'll be waiting for the bees to finish. And I'm planning to put some more plants in just for the bees. Then maybe they won't mind sharing their honey with me at the end of the summer.

Birthday wishes

Spring means birthdays for my two sisters. L has an April birthday. When I was a little girl I was enthralled and envious of her birthstone. Diamond! Like so many little girls, I dreamed of Wedding and all that goes with it. I remember a long family car trip to Montana. I sat in the 'way back' sketching out wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses on little scraps of paper that my father brought home from shop. And my sister's birthstone was tangled up in my wedding reverie. L did not have a birthstone ring, but it was enough for me that her birthstone is diamond. Lucky duck.

My other sister, C, has a May birthday. Oh, yes, I had a reason to be envious of her birth month as well: her flower is lily of the valley. Muguet des bois. The most beautiful of all the spring floral scents. And the perfume! Oh how we loved that perfume. The scent of lily of the valley and the greening of spring and my sister with the blonde hair that I ironed for her . . . .

Sweet memories of a shared childhood. Flowers and car trips and daydreams . . . . and my little envious wishes for me have turned into many many joyful wishes for you, L, and for you, C.

Happy birthday sisters.

I Heart Fritillaria

Here and there in the garden are fritillaria. These little checkered lanterns dangle in the shade right next to the hellebores.

Another fritillaria, this one from Turkey, has beams of light along its edge.

This must be the night light for the garden fairies -- a soft green glow cast onto the earth.

I heart fritillaria.

Bloesem

Hello beautiful May: crab, larch, redbud.

(If you're looking for me, I'll be in the garden.)