Frequent Citations

Mystery Tree

TFL and I went up the road to a little summer home today and moseyed around the surprisingly run-down grounds.  The site is jaw-droppingly beautiful, but the gardens have a long way to go to recover from decades of neglect. 

Remaining undisturbed in their beauty were the enormous trees scattered about the park.  There were several specimens of one variety we've never seen before. It's enormous, with leaves that vaguely resemble maple leaves (though not as pointy) and it has big yellow and orange flowers--not racemes, more like magnolia blooms (only not).

Any ideas?

Spiffy in S.ho

One of my brothers runs a little garden system upstate.  The system was designed by the same minor deity who designed the Park I can once again see from my office. 

He blows into town from time to time (the brother, not the minor deity) for various events and meetings and, tonight, a fundraiser.  It's a cocktail party at a loft.  Said loft is owned by some Famous Person (of whom I'd never heard but I barely watch tv) and is therefore in a Highly Fashionable part of town.

Obviously, outfit and shoes were going to be critical issues.  Happily, they were dealt with long ago.  I'll be sporting a very closely fitted black suit (with a shocking pink lining in the jacket) and deep burgundy 4+" heels, and TFL will still be taller (even when he slouches). 

I'm thinking we may have to do dinner after.

Forsythia Blooms

The forsythia is in bloom, exploding all over the place.

Why does no one ever prune it properly? The right way to prune any shrub of that type, where long canes come up straight from the ground in clumps (think lilacs), is at ground level. Start at the bottom and you can prune away up to 1/3 of the shrub a year. Normally you would prune less than that, but if it's heavily overgrown you can hack off quite a bit.

If you butcher it by just cutting it back from the top (hedge clippers, anyone?) you'll end up with a boxy shrub that's more stick than wood, and with very few blooms. If you want those long, arching cascades of blossoms in the spring, prune from the bottom.

The park district is reseeding the Midway. I want to tell them that if they really want to keep the grass in good shape, they'll reseed twice a year instead of once, and more importantly they'll stop mowing it when it's soaking wet. Every summer I see them do it, send the mowing tractors out after heavy storms. All they leave behind are giant ruts and bent grass.

Secret Garden

I had a lovely few hours with TFL yesterday. Abandoning the library I headed home early in the afternoon and spent some time in the garden, pruning hedges and gaining blisters. (Note: for Mother's Day I would like new gardening gloves, since all of mine went missing in the move.) Then TFL grilled dinner, and listened patiently while I read lots of Property hypotheticals to him. After a nice meal on our back porch we watched a couple episodes of a fun and scandalous BBC show. Eventually I did trudge back to the library, but it was good to have a little break.

After the agony and uncertainty, and finally the relief, we bought this condo largely because of its little garden. It was so pretty, a gem of well-thought-out plantings and little areas to sit and enjoy the view. I've been thinking about the gardens I've left behind, how much work I put into them and how I miss certain particular plants and shrubs and trees. But this garden, it is a gift. I had to do nothing to make it. The only back-breaking labor involved was moving to it. While I'll always miss my first gardens, and wonder wistfully about their current state, I now understand how nice it is to move to an already established garden.

I can add little bits -- some flowering bulbs, a sprinkling of annuals -- but I don't have the overall responsibility any more. Someone else weeds, someone else mows, someone else turns over the dirt. I sit on my porch and admire, for at least part of one spring afternoon.

So Lovely

Someone else posted pictures of her hydrangeas, and I am ever so jealous.

However, please allow me to share one of my tree peonies with you. I do adore my tree peonies.

Flowers, Anyone?

GirlChild sold a few plants for her band's fundraiser:

That's not even all of them. Flats and baskets are covering my back yard. So if you ordered plants from her, please come pick them up! And pay me, if you haven't already, because I've decided I really need a new raincoat.

Spring Pictures

As promised, here are pictures of my garden taken with my new camera.

and:

The cherry tree blossoms only lasted a few days because of this heat.  That's what you see hanging down in front of the tulips. Gregii tulips, if you care.

Spring! Happy Spring!

At last some really wonderful warm weather. I filled up three enormous garden waste bags, laid down some of the new mulch, pruned the roses and a couple shrubs. The house has to look good on the outside if we're going to sell -- that whole curb appeal thing -- so I didn't feel at all guilty about shirking indoor duties for a while yesterday.

We finally hopped on the bike toward late afternoon and went back down to Hyde Park. It looked a lot better since there were actual live people there. I could swear I saw the dean of the law school on the sidewalk,  but maybe not.  It was a nice ride along the lake, and zooming through Lower Wacker is always a blast we of course were extremely cautious at all times and never exceeded the speed limit.

General Gorgousness

The weather this week is a vast improvement over last week's. We have had a couple of sunny and warm days in a row. Yesterday I even walked along the shore in bare feet. Mmm.

At last the crocus in front are blooming madly, a little carpet of purple and yellow. The hydrangea shrub I put in last fall is blooming. I forget the variety and I must go look it up -- it has small leaves and a delicate, arching habit with lovely white blossoms. So pretty.

I will miss my garden.  However, I have neglected it awfully these past few years so perhaps I deserve what I am getting.

I Want to Play in the Dirt

I'm looking out my window at work. Heavy clouds are rolling in off the lake and driving sleet is making walking ever so pleasant. In theory it's 34 degrees, but that's a nasty lie.

It's Easter weekend. Nearly April. Please may we have some decent weather? Not sleeting and maybe a little over 40, that's all I ask. Okay, 50 would be good. Then I'd be able to go play in the dirt.

My tree peonies have fat buds. The daffodils are peeking up a few inches already. TFL's birthday has come and gone so it's time to prune the roses. I want to get out there and tidy away winter's debris, turn over the dirt, lay down some new mulch. I want to get my hands dirty and get a runny nose and be bone tired at the end of a long day of gardening.

Please, weather, work with me.