Spring:

The new lilac (Nadezhda) is lovely.

Morning song

Repeated song just at dawn: carolina wren. Big sound for a small bird.

Tree Gone

Sunday a tree service man came to give an estimate. Tuesday night the tree was gone, along with all of our piles of twigs and branches. They will return to chip up the stump. We never heard from the 3 other services we called.

It's a relief but the yard seems uncomfortably exposed. This is why I got that tree in the first place!

crape myrtle? small magnolia? how big a tree?

Weather

Lovely days. sun, warm but not oppressive. Soft breeze morning & evening.

Combinations

Heliotrope & cosmos
Liatris & white echinacea
Orange daylily and purply pink phlox
Variegated liriope & yellow daylilies

Volunteers

Several Verbena bonariensis volunteers are up. The first bloom is caught in the curve of a yellow lily's petal.
Cleome is (are?) showing up here and there in various shades. Always welcome.

Blooms

Sunday morning I weeded, going after the rampant bindweed with some success, and attacking the cluster of mulberry seedlings with a hoe. The parent birds (robins & mockingbirds) were out with their toddlers. The house wrens seemed to be still taking food to the nest. The double daylilies (flora plena or some such) have started blooming, taking over from the classic orange. The patch of yellow daylilies by the front step--4 different kinds-- is looking fine. And in the back corner, one of the 2 plants in the clump I moved to make room for a buddleia turns out to be red with a gold center, very hot. Moving along the beds, inspecting, weeding, thinking about new possibilities, is satisfying work. And play. No committees, no meetings, no project plans, no milestones on which to report, and no one else making any decisions or judging the outcome.

Cloudburst

Fairly hot, overcast, lilies blooming. One trumpet lily scents a room without setting off a headache. Went out at lunch time to walk & get some take out .
Late afternoon: cloudburst, downpour. Then steamy and sunny.

Butterflies so far

Cabbage white
Eastern tailed blue
Tiger swallowtail
Question mark (or comma?)
Silver-spotted skipper
Some sort of sulphur, not well seen
Painted lady (or poss. american?)