When I got home yesterday afternoon, I walked the garden. It needs a little tending… some weeding here and there, and some pruning. I was excited to see that my dragon lily plant is blooming. The plant got really big this year because it was warm early, then cooled again. Usually, spring gets hot quickly and the dragon lily withers. Since the plant is so big, I have multiple flowers. Woo hoo! And apparently, they’ve already been open a couple of days, because they didn’t smell like rotting meat. Woo hoo! Maybe if they’re still blooming tomorrow, I’ll try cutting one of the flowers and putting it in a vase for Bible study night.
I cleaned my pond yesterday. The warm spring has let the algae get ahead of the other pond plants. But it’s weakening. The other pond plants are actively growing now, and are sucking the nutrients out of the water. That leaves nothing for the algae, and it starves to death.
On Thursday when I came home, my new Panama Pacific waterlily had been dislodged from its pot. I think it was just the two-year-old girl from two houses down. She likes to dip the leaf-skimming net into the water. It was an honest mistake.
But then yesterday morning when I went out to clean the pond, there was a fish-catching net lying near the pond. Did someone kidnap some of my fish? Yes. Yes, they did. My biggest fish is gone. It was a bright orange one. I think others are gone as well. I didn’t do a count, but the fish I see all seem too small. Someone took all my big goldfish.
Not all my fish are gone, though, so at least there’s that.
When I cleaned this time, I pulled out a lot of the anacharis plants that were growing in the main pool. The clump was becoming monstrous.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
My lawn is made up of many things besides grass. One of the big ingredients right now is clover, and it’s in full bloom. I think it’s beautiful!
As I was standing there admiring it, I noticed a lot of movement. The clover was covered with honey bees. So now I have to leave it. I decided to take a picture of a bee to share here, and when I got closer to the ground I could smell the clover. It was sweet and delicious. How could anyone not like clover? Maybe I shouldn’t try to get rid of the clover in my lawn. Maybe I should try to get rid of the grass!
I know I just posted about flowers yesterday, but this is too cool. I hosted Bible study last night, and decided I should put some cut flowers on the table. I wanted something that smelled good, so I went to check out the peony bush. It has been in slow decline for years now, but I did have a single flower this year. Yay!
But wait! There was something blooming behind the peony bush. What is it? It’s a snapdragon. What a fun surprise! Snapdragons are annuals you usually buy at the store. How in the heck did one end up behind my peony? Ha! I love it! And after a stress-filled day at school, it was just the thing. God is good.
I liked my Panama Pacific water lily so much last summer, I decided to get another one this summer. They are tropical lilies, so they don’t survive the winter here. Last year, I bought a potted version for an embarrassingly large price. This year I ordered it bare root mail order. It wasn’t as expensive, but was still a lot of money. But it blooms every day and it makes me happy. Who can put a price on that?
May is a cruel month. It’s one of the busiest months of the year, so I’m hardly ever home, but the garden is exploding with color and beautiful tender new growth. I took some pictures yesterday so that maybe when things settle down I can go back and look at the pictures to see what I missed.
The oxalis (shamrock) flowers behind the pond are thick and gorgeous:
Iceplants are horrible weeds in warmer climates. Here, they’re just vigorous growers. They flower all summer long.
The poppies are starting to bloom. The blossoms are short-lived.
The hardy orchids (Bletilla striata) are in full bloom now. They are wonderful. I could just lie on the ground and look at them for a long time.
