Here are a few pictures from around the yard over the last couple of weeks, starting with the 18 or so raspberry plants a friend let us take from her garden!
I didn’t make it home the last couple of days. We were busy with “things” in town and didn’t want to drive that far. Just as so often we would get home and not feel we needed to drive into town.
There isn’t a lot of “pull” at the moment. There are things that need doing, but very little that I want to do that I can do. At least not independently. And Matthew is busy, Tom works and Grant goes to school. When I am home I am alone. More alone than ever before.
And yet… Home is beautiful. The gardens are full of life, even as unkempt as they are, and they are mightily unkempt as every available moment and shred of energy has been going into salvaging what we can. On Saturday, Tom mowed some of the grass — it was nearly up to my waist in a few places, and over knee high everywhere but in the back where Tom mowed five weeks ago.
A week or two ago, the salmonberries started to bloom, their cheerful pink blossoms waving in the breeze. Now the trailing blackberries have joined them, constellations of five-pointed star flowers emerging from the gloom of winter into the sunlight. And a few Himalaya buds are threatening to open early. Why?
Why not? So much this year is out of kilter.
The “ornamental” quince that bore such pretty little fruit last year has been blooming for some time, and the peach now, too. The apple is splendid, a pink and white cloud at the edge of the garden. I am waiting for the European pear and the quince to bloom, though the Asian pears are almost done already and the Russian plum finished over a month ago. The cherry and mulberry haven’t done much, not sure if they will this year. It is an odd year for my fruit-bearing plants.
The apple…
The European pear…
In the garden this year, instead of vegetables, it seems we will have flowers — bulbs and groundcovers, lilies and roses from up near the house now rest in the garden beds.
We harvested some lettuce on Saturday and just finished it this evening — red sails, green leaf, romaine. Tasty and full of life. The celery in the garden is thriving, and the remaining rosemary, wormwood and “curry plant” are clearly established. There is an artichoke with little chokes on it… and in the original cold frame where I planted seeds in the fall are finally well-formed baby bok choi plants!
Little by little, the signs of life in the landscape are overshadowing the deep holes in my heart. I have so many holes to fill in.
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