Spring exhaustion

Several salvias are going great guns, shooting up and terminating in buds. But a few spring flowers are hanging in there. Such as several varieties of dianthus. My favorite is an unassuming little pink which has not only survived for the past five or six years but in it’s modest way gradually covered more of the garden.


To tell the truth I’m exhausted by spring. The sunshine, bursting buds, and growing numbers of flowers in the garden have whipped me into a frenzy of activity. Over and above the need to get into the garden and plant, I find myself drawn to any task the garden has to offer. The lure of being outside in the lovely spring weather we've had was to hard to resist.

Over the past week I have received my seed order from Pinetree Gardens, all nineteen packets of them. So far I have planted Cleome (White Queen), Cosmos (Sensation Mixed), Gaillardia Pulchella (Sundance Bi-Color), Lemon Mint (Monarda Citriodora), Zinnia (Classic White) and finally Tarahumara Chia a herb. The last is a mystery to me but I thought the description looked interesting. The remainder of the seeds, mostly warm weather vegetables, will go in my vegetable patch in the community garden.

As I tend to order seeds from a catalog the way I order from a menu in a restaurant, with eyes bigger than my stomach, I will no doubt have a hard job fitting all my seeds into the vegetable garden. It is at present home to newly transplanted tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil and fennel. Not to mention peas, lettuce, sorrel, beets, carrots and potatoes which have been there, in some cases, for months and are gradually maturing. Trying to fit everything in is probably going to be impossible which I predict will lead to anguished decisions over what to sacrifice.


My Crepe Myrtles are just starting to leaf out. I had to get my sewer line replaced two summers ago, and the digging process cut right through the roots on one side. Last summer did not suit them, but that may have been the weather as well as the damaged roots. I hope they will do better this year. I envision them in great billowy clouds of color overhanging the driveway. Maybe this will be the year… The gardeners perpetual cry of optimism. As the humidity and temperatures climb I am finally forced to face the possibility of summer. I’ve been able to put it out of my mind while the cool nights and clear days persisted, the present being so much better than anything else I could imagine. Now I will cling to the idea that plants like warmth and therefore sun. Not our July/August sun but they will respond to longer days and warmer temperatures for a few months before we all get fried.