I love this time of year. The garden changes daily, and while this means that I can’t possibly keep up with the mowing, it also means that there is something new blooming every time I go outside.
The azaleas are in full swing and the rhododendron is getting started.
The unidentified purple things (probably also some stupid oversight on my part) are blooming everywhere – whatever they are, they spread.
One tree peony has started blooming, though not the other one.
I love the colors – it makes me want to dye things. And plant things. And play hookey from work.
This past weekend was a camping medieval recreation event near Pittsburgh. This is one of the few events that I can truly dress like a Viking, with all the layers (linen, wool, wool, wool), because it is rarely cold enough here for that much wool. Friday night it was 34F, which is definitely cold enough. I was comfy, but a lot of people weren’t. Saturday night it rained, and made me happy that I didn’t have to camp like a Viking, but was staying in a modern waterproof tent.
I worked diligently on the socks (mostly the multicolored ones), though I did learn that trying to knit in the dark in 40F temperatures is not sensible, and leads to frostbite and unknitting the next morning. Wouldn’t you think this was obvious?
I also came away from the event with plans for:
- a new sprang project
- two pieces of tablet weaving
- some spinning I’d like to do
- and of course more knitting
Plus I want to write a book. Or several. The writing doesn’t intimidate me, but making enough samples to illustrate it adequately may be beyond my capabilities, or at least my available time.
on May 22nd, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Hi!
I think the blue plant might be bee balm/bergamot. I will need to hear about the sprang/tablet weaving, also, of course.
–Laura
on May 23rd, 2007 at 2:18 pm
It isn’t a mint family member since it doesn’t have opposite leaves or the right kind of flowers, nor are the leaves at all aromatic.
It reminds me more of a Centaurea than anything, but I can’t find an
ornamental Centaurea that looks like that. I’ll take a better picture.
Oh, er, um… take a look at this page:
http://www.floracyberia.net/spermatophyta/angiospermae/dicotyledoneae/asteraceae/centaurea_montana.html
That’s the one, I think – Google to the rescue!
on May 24th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Always good to know what’s living in your garden. It did seem oddly early for bee balm, but I thought I might have just forgotten. If you don’t have bee balm, you should get some–years ago I saw hummingbird moths that loved the red ones; maybe you could entice some to move in. http://www.naturalsciences.org/education/treks/hummers/pages/Hummingbird-moth-at-bee%20balm-1.html
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
(I naturally had to do some “research.”) For PA, there is one pictured under Sphinx moths.