Just sitting.

I'm sitting under the Beauty Bush, enjoying the perfume. I'm remembering when the bough was just a graceful arc over the deck partition, but now it is big enough to provide a bit of shade and even shelter from the rain. When it comes into bloom it is like an old friend returning to visit.

It is around 8 pm on a Sunday night, and only a few bees are still buzzing.


I started the day trimming, weeding, mowing, staking and transplanting, and heard a woodpecker hard at work as well, but didn't manage to see it. The racket it was making, it could have been a Pileated.

This weekend Rob and Alex were off to the Grand Prix and I was gallery-going, garden-hopping and enjoying the backyard. Soon enough we will become Boat People, and the glimpses I get of my backyard will only be before I head out the door to work.

I still have lots of dirt and mulch left over, when the poppies are done I'll fill in the area. I'm hosting book club here in a couple of weeks... maybe I can give garbage bags of mulch away as party favours?

In bloom now: Beauty Bush, peony bush, sage, chives, columbine

Just finishing: poppies, bleeding heart, ajuga, bugwort... I can still make out hellabore flowers

Coming soon: clematis, roses

The tree peonies are long gone, but the seed pods look just like velvet jesters' caps.