A New Hoe and A Few Pictures of the Yard

Well, there are the pugs posing with the new hoe I received last Friday. Carol, on May Dreams Gardens here at Blogspot recommended this stirrup hoe from Tierragarden.com. It sounded like what I'd want so I got on the site and ordered one. What an excellent buy. It is extremely light and the narrow hoeing area is perfect for my perennial garden. Also, and what I think is the most important thing, is that it is very long -- I'll be able to reach into most of the garden without having to test my gymnastic skills on the balance beams (railroad ties) of the Main Garden.

Don't the pugs look really enthused over this new garden tool? Actually, behind that door is a small closet where we keep their food. When I put the hoe up against it, they wrongly assumed that dinner was going to be served. The picture should be entitled "Pug Disappointment".

Today was gloomy with rain periodically so a perfect time to take pictures of some of the things happening in the yard. (My penfriends in England say one should never use the word "yard" when one is speaking (or writing) of the out- of -doors around one's home. A "yard" is a rather rude and utilitarian area, generally unkempt, and not used for growing things. Don't you just love that! I do.) Anyway, the above, right, is one of the very many corydalis I talked about before. And they are everywhere this year.

The hyacinths are nearly open - purple ones first. And the daffodils are also coming along.

There is a rather crudely carved bear head (it looks much more like a pug) that welcomes everyone at our front steps and he is always surrounded by pots of flowers.

And here is another bit of whimsy near the house. This little guy disappears behind hostas, wood asters, and miscanthus by July so he's always a surprise to me in the Spring.

These are mini daffodils I put in last fall as a dare to the voles to eat the poisonous little bulbs and get REALLY sick! I don't remember the name but they are very cute at only 5" tall. (The daffodils, that is.) And strong wind and rain doesn't faze (is that the correct spelling???) them.

Here is the back yard, oops! I mean garden. Just hidden behind that oak trunk is a wooden swing Steve surprised me with a few Christmases ago. It faces the house and the Main Garden. To the back and right of it is the vegetable garden and a number of stands of lovely ornamental grasses (you can see that I haven't cut them down yet.) In front of the just opening daffs will be large hostas of different varieties. That area used to be a tangle of buckthorn and bracken, but Steve saw the potential it had and made a wonderfully peaceful resting spot.

I was planning on potting up my violas that have become huge, in the basement ,but the weatherman says by Wednesday it will be in the 20s at night!! They haven't been hardened off very much and that would probably be too much of a shock. They will just have to wait until next weekend. We've got Good Friday off so I should have plenty of time to get the rest of the outdoor cleaning (the fun kind of cleaning!) done.

Bird Alert: Steve saw an Orchard Oriole hopping under the bird feeder this morning!

Over the whole land

Spring thunders down in

brilliant silence.

Ted Hughes (b. 1930 English poet)

Bye for now,

Alyssa