Spring. I never remember what it’s like until it comes around again, and then I’m bowled over, each year as if it were all new. The scents! The colors! The bravery as daffodils get snowed on again! The first robin! The first quail (today, in the driveway, little chatterbox).
Last summer my front yard was removed in order to make the road wider for bike lanes. The overall effect is still a little raw and unprotected looking, so I thought I’d show you close-ups of what’s beautiful. This narcissus bulb and its eight or ten sisters we planted at the base of a new white dogwood.
The scent of daphne — there are two, planted side by side (cultivar Carol Mackie) — greets me as I walk from the car to the front door, at about waist level in a raised part of the garden. This was one of my only calculated plantings when I first moved in, 17 years ago. I’m still not an experienced gardener, though I know more than I did back then, including how much trial and error is involved in making a true garden. The light, the soil, the drainage, the wind, the neighboring plants, it’s all important. My motto is: read up on things, ask your neighbors, and then just try it.
My friend Alan Haight, of Riverhill Farm, first told me about cerinthe. From four little starts in two-inch pots I now have about 30 plants. They come up in late fall and last through the winter, blooming in March, and then the minute it even pretends to get hot they fade and disappear. The leaves are almost like succulents. It’s also called Pride of Gibraltar and, goofily, “blue shrimp plant.”
Did you know it’s not just the snazzy fruit trees that flower? This is a maple my friend Heidi gave me to start putting psychological distance (and beauty!) between me and the newly-wide road. I love the red blossoms, so easy to overlook when a cherry tree is waving at you.
A cherry tree like this one, for instance, famous in our town (Nevada City, CA) that shades Ike’s Quarter Café‘s lovely patio and drops its petals quietly into your iced tea when you aren’t looking.
This photo was taken after a weekend of rain, and the flowers are still holding, stunning on even a gray day. But my favorite view is just before they pop, in early morning sun.
What’s happening in your yard this month? Are you snowed under, like my friends in Vermont, or further along than we are here, as people are in San Francisco? I hope it’s glorious, whatever is going on, and that you’re taking a minute now and then to look closely.
I have been so excited to see little grape hyacinths pop up all over my yard. Silly me thought I would help Mother Nature by shaking the seeds around the plant when I cut them back last year. The birds and the wind have spread them everywhere 😍👏😍
It’s not the worst thing to have popping up all over the place, though. I love them. And I love that funny impatience we get, wanting to help nature out in our excitement and delight. Like a little kid digging up a seed to see if it’s growing yet. 😉
Beautiful garden survey story. I’m glad your dogwood has narcissus at its feet, a mythical statement about how sweet self-absorption will eventually be overshadowed by grace, how you are the thumping heart of your garden.
The dogwood pods (that can’t be the right word) are getting bigger and bigger, and I’m so looking forward to seeing them bloom, or the bracts open, or whatever it’s called! Will send you a picture.
Congratulations again on your new and most distinguished title.
”FIRST POET LAUREATE OF NEVADA COUNTY.”
It pleases me so much for you and in somewhat it just plain tickles me. I would sent you a bouquet to celebrate, but you have a yard full of bouquets. I am sending you instead my good wishes and my hope that Nevada County appreciates you and knows how lucky they are to have you.
Thanks, Ruth!!
Hi Molly,
Your garden is beautiful. I would send pictures of my yard if I knew what to do with it after I take it. I have an exceptionally rough year physically and fatigue has laid me low. I get better and then slip into exhaustion again. Nothing definitive wrong according to the doc. AGE!! My garden is still raw except I do have an overabundance of basil, egg plant that has yield 4 lovely purple globes , a few peepers and if course tomatoes. Unfortunately the white cat with the black mustache on his head eats the ripe one before I do. I think of you often. I am still planning on a trip to the Poetry /sculpture garden when the weather cools and after Julia Connor has her procedure to end her horrible tremor. Also thinking about a workshop if you are interested in doing one. Julie is interested in attending and I think she will help me if Candence is too busy. If you are interested give me some dates when you might be available after September, since in September Julia goes to Florida for the procedure.
Love, Ruth
Stunning! Glorious! I want a cherry tree!!!