In the late winter or early spring, is there any plant with more ephemeral beauty than the Hellebore? H. x hybrid 'Ballerina Mix' Granted, you have to stand on your head to see some of them, but according to many yoga practices and Martha Stewart, inversion is a good way to refresh the body and relieve stress. So is this. H. orientalis hybrid 'Blue Lady' (hellebore) And this. H. orientalis hybrid 'Red Lady' I am still waiting for another one, 'Honeyhill Joy' to bloom.  It will be yellow/white against dark green foliage.  So far, it's all foliage, because it is a young plant.  I'm also waiting on two more I've ordered from Heronswood, 'Ivory Prince' and 'Phoebe.'  After I paid a premium for these, I saw that one variety, 'Ivory Prince' was now available at Lowe's.  I'm listing the name of the box store so that anyone local who wants...

If New Mexico is the "Land of Enchantment," then, today, my garden became  the "Land of Surprises." This is what greeted me this afternoon after a long morning's work clearing out the winter weeds in the vegetable garden.  It was so cheerful, so bright that I nearly plunked myself down in the grass to observe it all day. Purple so dark that this sweet, little crocus was named 'Negro Boy' a very long time ago (1910).  Despite the rather demeaning name, this beauty is still worthy of planting.   I got my bulbs at Old House Gardens.  They were pricey, but now that they've bloomed, they are priceless, and I have many more waiting in the wings. With two 80F plus degree days, everything around the garden began to open.  The weather was glorious.  Sunny.  Little wind.  It was a perfect day to garden.  I worked so hard that I was...

March by William Wordsworth "The cock is crowing, The stream is flowing, The small birds twitter, The lake doth glitter, The green field sleeps in the sun; The oldest and youngest Are at work with the strongest; The cattle are grazing, Their heads never raising; There are forty feeding like one! Like an army defeated The snow hath retreated, And now doth fare ill On the top of the bare hill; The Plowboy is whooping-anon-anon: There's joy in the mountains; There's life in the fountains; Small clouds are sailing, The rain is over and gone! I awoke to 17 degrees F. this morning, and that is unbelievably cold even for March.  My blood was warm from the two weeks before when we had unseasonably warm weather.  Today, I hope to plant some cool crop seeds outdoors, but only if it warms up some.  Happy March everyone!  For more musing, please...

For the past two weeks, hungry for some summer color, I immersed myself in English garden videos of all sizes and stripes.  One thirty minute episode of A Gardener's Diary a week is not enough to survive the ups and downs of winter. On Netflix, I ordered  The Art & Practice of Gardening with Penelope Hobhouse.  Although I enjoyed this show, I still like A Gardener's Diary better, which is kind of an American version of the televised British garden visit.  When I ran out of the first disc of Ms. Hobhouse, I went to Amazon in search of more. As an aside, why doesn't HGTV put A Gardener's Diary on DVD?  I would be first in line to buy it.  I'd love to take notes on the one gardener who had all of the Japanese maples.  I know I could record it, but the teens in this house keep...