xoxo

Wishing you much love this Valentine's Day!

xoxo

winter dreams

I promised you supermarket flowers, didn't I? White carnations, with the faint scent of cloves. Can you smell them? ;)

Texture by Sarah Gardner. There is still time to join her texture giveaway and donate to a wonderful cause. Check it out here.

i mourn

Yes, I am fickle. And inconstant. Yes, I longed for the cooler weather of fall, and now I can't help mourning the loss of summer... here is the last of the obedient plant, basking in the evening light of late summer. Happy autumn, dear bloggers.

grasses

This is my little homage to Albrecht Durer's Tall Grass, which I have loved since I was a teenager. There is just something about the attention to detail, where each blade of grass is so lovingly delineated, that speaks to me. This is one of the places of my heart, and I love each stem and leaf. :)

And yes, things look quite different here at the moment. I have been playing around with my template. Not sure I'm done playing yet, but I'm sure having fun. Have a wonderful week, dear bloggers! :)

mary, mary, quite contrary...

Just a little bit of summer goodness, from the deck... How does your garden grow?

in the deep heart's core

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
William Butler Yeats

thank you, charles

I pride myself on being a practitioner of what I like to call "Darwinian Gardening." Think of it as survival of the fittest -- whatever survives my lackadaisical care and the predations of our large deer population is deemed fit to stay in my garden. In practice, this involves a large number of Siberian Iris, which is just fine with me as I love their ethereal grace... This particular clump are all volunteers, which is the ultimate in Darwinian Gardening. :)

almost summer

"In summer, the song sings itself."

~William Carlos Williams

my favorite season

Major writer's block here, but in the middle of my favorite season in the garden. Happy spring, dear bloggers. :)

i ♥ spring

Do you see the little sideways heart at the top of the image, just a little left of center? Yes, I ♥ spring, even when it rains for an entire week...

Wishing you a sunny weekend, dear bloggers! :)

dans les siecles, des siecles

Surely if there is some reward for days on end of nothing but rain, it is this. :)

candystriped

Seen at the New York Botanical Garden, May 2011.

bring me the sunset in a cup...

"Bring me the sunset in a cup,
Reckon the morning's flagons up
And say how many Dew,
Tell me how far the morning leaps—
Tell me what time the weaver sleeps
Who spun the breadth of blue!

Write me how many notes there be
In the new Robin's ecstasy
Among astonished boughs—
How many trips the Tortoise makes—
How many cups the Bee partakes,
The Debauchee of Dews!

Also, who laid the Rainbow's piers,
Also, who leads the docile spheres
By withes of supple blue?
Whose fingers string the stalactite—
Who counts the wampum of the night
To see that none is due?

Who built this little Alban House
And shut the windows down so close
My spirit cannot see?
Who'll let me out some gala day
With implements to fly away,
Passing Pomposity?"

~Emily Dickinson

for you

A tiny vase of violets for you on this rainy Wednesday... :)

i will survive

"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night."

~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

There is a frantic nature to spring as it advances -- rain and warmth beget bloom after bloom, until it seems as if the entire world is bursting with color. And in the middle of it all, this tiny fritillary popped up in my garden. It almost seems too delicate to survive the onslaught... :)

a most improper lawn

Often, the end of April finds me lying on my stomach in the lawn, photographing the wild violets. It's not really much of a lawn -- more of a field that's been mown over the years -- and it is scattered with violets and dandelions, bugle and buttercups. A most improper lawn, really.

And I adore it. :)

*****

Thank you so much for all your kind comments over the past week. You guys are the best!

everyday magic

The soft petals of my flowering quince appear almost translucent with the late afternoon sun shining through them... a little bit of everyday magic. :)

blue and yellow

Just having some fun with the first few forsythia blooms and a vintage blue bottle...

green

It's beginning. Can you feel it? :)

Happy Spring

It's here, it's here! Spring is finally here, officially. Happy Spring, my dear bloggers! :)