"How does your garden grow?'

Mistress Mary's garden may grow with silver bells and cockle shells but I'll tell you how mine grows: IT RAINS ALL THE TIME NOW! Every. Stinkin'. Weekend. Enough already.

On the bright side, the small front "yard" garden I started from scratch last year is looking pretty green and lush. With the exception of the red plum tree and the puffy wisteria vines, all of this was planted in May 2008. And if I do say so myself, it's not looking too shabby.


Of course there's no SUN, but you get the idea.

I complained about the wisteria quite a bit last year. We have to trim this sucker back substantially every other week. Or it may eat our dog. Or people will make it their home, like the bird family now squatting in its branches:


The neighbors say it has never bloomed, and I've read tons of books and advice on getting it to bloom ("Trim back often." Well, I've got no choice there...). So imagine my surprise when it managed to eek out two blooms, front and center, last week:

At this current rate of bloom production I should have a nice full vine of blooms...when I'm 87-years-old.

The Hydrangea I planted looked a little sad last summer but seems to have rebounded after a long winter's nap:

Not much is blooming yet but judging from the sizes of some of the greenery I'm in for some good Black Eyed Susans and Lillies. The Spider Wort is covered up by the spectacularly sized Iris that just finished blooming, so I have to get in there next weekend and reassign. I actually bought another Spider Wort plant last week. I was in the market for annuals to fill a large pot, but when I saw the Spider Wort for $6.99 I figured it would be a cheaper, easier way to do it...and since it's a perennial it should come back year after year (I planted some perennials in pots last year and they returned).

This Spider Wort is different from the others I have. The flowers are a bit darker, and the leaves are sort of blueish with a deep purple outline:

I potted herb seedlings early in the spring that are doing nicely. I'm especially proud of the mint I cultivated (there's not a word I'm able to use much!) from last year's plants.

The "sunflower incubators" are off to a good start. Here's one of them:

Look at the cute little seed hanging on:

In the next week or two they'll be ready to move into the garden. Judging by the number I've got this year (more than last) I'll be gifting neighbors. Spreading sunshine, if you will. BECAUSE IT RAINS HERE ALL THE TIME.

And...I won this amazing flower box this weekend!

I went on an absolutely fabulous kitchen tour in Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ, on Saturday. The tour was insanely well organized and they had fabulous raffle prizes. I won the flowers and two gift certificates to local stores. Whoo hoo! I never win anything, so that was the icing on the cake of a wonderful day spent with my mom and aunt.

Then it started to rain again.