The Kumquat is in Bloom Again. And Other News.

I had this disoriented feeling, at 5 this morning, like seeing the sun and the moon in the sky and not knowing (in my woozy, what the hell am I doing out of bed state) whether it was dawn or sunset. The kumquat has new buds--at the same time that it's sporting what appears to be a bumper crop of little fruities.

As this is my first kumquat, and I have such lousy luck with fruit plants (though I persist in buying them) I have no idea if this is an aberration. But we have Carol--The Prince's ex-girlfriend thrice-removed-- arriving tomorrow morning and staying with us for a week and so I am particularly pleased at this development. I'm never more attractive than when I'm looking modest. I'll lower my lashes as she enviously sniffs the delicious scent of the opening blossoms that I've had absolutely nothing to do with producing.  

Sunglowered

Not My Sunflowers

This is what my sunflowers should look like by now.

Package with Note: Mid April

And this is how they do look. I bought these seed balls in March as a gift for The Prince who likes them and maintains a (pathetic) strip of a garden along the curb in front of our neighbor Pat's house--she's allergic to gardening and I don't allow him near mine (except when I need him to do something that I don't feel like doing).

See, he has this stingy concept of gardens, giving constipated haircuts to the borders -- a technique he learned on trips to the Jersey shore when he was a kid, spending weeks at the beach with a house full of relatives and toddling along after his Uncle Bus who edged the garden each Saturday morning. He does not share my affinity for the wildly out of bounds, which extends to hair. Specifically mine. But that's neither here nor there.

Please Visit Me on Facebook!

Sometimes I can say  it -- or show it -- no better than the author and so the post goes to my Facebook page instead of this blog. For a noteworthy for instance, click on:

The splendid garden of Michael Trapp

Please "friend" me so we can share our finds! Who Needs Flowers on Facebook

Books! Wise, funny, beautiful...

Just added a connection to Amazon--and a collection of books that I return to again and again for inspiration. 

Of course, with me the inspiration rarely leaves the chair I'm sitting in, however, I do get this...rush.  And I fully intend to march forward with A NEW PLAN until I don't.

Have some books you have palpitations over? Please share.

Suzanne's and Wisteria...Again. Actual Tip Included!

The Wisteria - Again

Tom and Steve take care of a handful of gardens in Georgetown. Seven or eight I think they said as I had my nose in a bloody mary at the time.

Enough clients, at any rate, to afford them a two month holiday post Christmas tinsel hanging and poinsettia-ing in the grand homes of their employers and another week or so betwixt, such as the one they were ending at Suzanne's country place in Western Virginia last weekend.

Clearly they choose their clients very well.

One happens to be the wife of a near-president.

Crepe Myrtle

My internal debate over crepe myrtles always stalls around this time of year when the spring garden has faded and Washington's lethal combination of heat and humidity (and a bit of heat and humidity related apathy and neglect) has begun the sad process of turning the summer garden brown-- or worse -- riddled with a gray scrum of mildew.  Or altogether dead. 

But the crepe myrtles? They are spectacular. Like gigantic desserts, multi-colored meringues, or ices--the eye gobbles. So what possible issue can I have with them?

I always have issues with everything --- I was just sharing one with Maggie this morning, as a matter of fact. She's in England for the summer, which is where she usually is. This leaves me to grumpily stomp about by myself in the afternoon, which while a (meager) benefit to being self-employed is no fun at all. 


So I emailed her: