Whoa–March just zipped right by, didn’t it? Between the news, and the news, and the news, and even more news, it’s all added up to one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that we all could’ve done without.
I hope you and yours are well, and remain so.
I’m a borderline hermit by nature, but I confess I have been feeling a little restless at times. I text with friends, and meet up online. But yesterday, after early morning senior hour shopping, I took the long way home. It felt good to get out, even if it was just a drive along familiar side roads.
I’m starved for outdoor warmth, and eager for Spring. I made the mistake of looking through a garden catalog, and all I will say is that many page corners have been folded down. I should know better than to get excited—the photos all show well-established masses of blooming shrubs, ground cover, flowering plants. Then you look at what you can order, and it’s a single little stick in a 3″ pot. Hundreds of dollars and a few years later, maybe I could match the catalog images. Maybe.
That said, I am looking at a few things. Azaleas. Coneflowers. Milkweed. A house for mason bees. I also need to get outside and assess what I have—the columbine is poking up through the leaf cover, as are the astilbes, the lobelia, and the bee balm. Daffodils are thisclose to opening, and the crocuses and Pink Fizz hellebores are leading the way.
Before I have fun with planting, though, I need to clean up the lawn and getting the mower up and going. Poor Ferdinand the Toro will be 16 this spring, and the local repair guy can’t get parts for him anymore. I hope to keep him going for another year, but I’m also comparing prices and features of battery-powered mowers. Some of them look pretty darn good.