Monday

It was raining lightly when I woke up tired on Monday after a weekend of work in the garden. I showered and dressed in khaki pants and a cotton shirt with long sleeves and a collar.  I had no meetings on my calendar for Monday, so I dug out my brown and white suede Pumas.  Comfortable feet would assist me in my lonely work at my desk on a drizzly Monday.  What could go wrong?

At 10:00 I was in my office reading my email on my desktop.  A faculty member in a gray suit knocked softly on my door and walked in with a strategy professor from Stanford.  I stood up and shook her hand, pleased to make her acquaintance.  They asked for a library tour and when I walked around my desk to the door, the faculty member stared at my shoes and took a step back.

Around lunchtime, I met a project manager with a faculty member from Kazakhstan, also in a dark suit. He was interested in a library tour but was too polite to focus on my footwear.

At the end of the day, our communications director in a cashmere pashmina and dainty high heel shoes, brought three people for a tour.

Those were the first library tours I have conducted in 2013. When it rains, it pours.

Maybe it is pouring at work, but at home in the evening, it was only cloudy and the garden was more colorful than ever.  Since you asked, here is how my garden looked today:

 

Azaleas tall enough to hide a six foot fence exploded with color.  Wildflowers like bloodroot and iris cristata hug the soil beneath.  Hostas in blue pots protect the wildflowers from marauding dogs.  That means you, Shelly.

 

 

The gold azalea in the middle is native Rhododendron austrinum with a delicious spicy scent.

 

 

Red buckeye welcomes the hummingbirds each spring.  I heard the first one this morning.

 

Tubular flowers are the perfect form for their pollinators, the hummingbirds.

Native columbine's red and yellow bells also attract hummingbirds. Wild ginger and bright green epimedium contrast with a red bicycle sculpture.

Shelly is a mighty force as she patrols the garden, but she is dwarfed by the new life exploding around her.

A makeshift herb garden in a small sunny spot off the driveway is half hidden from view by a giant holly tree.

In the front garden, mayapples, one of my favorite wildflowers, spread their umbrella leaves near the giant hosta, 'Sum and Substance.'

 

Papas garden is a calm green oasis, protected by a potted 'deer fence.'  In a few weeks, the containers will be completely hidden by the foliage.

Happy spring to you.