Words, Trees, Flowers, Keys

While my cat, Beans was stalking a chipmunk early this morning, I chased away a deer that was nibbling on wild berry bushes 10 feet away. Hopefully, it warned the chipmunk in time.


WORDS:  I'm really pleased that I've heard from some of my gardening friends in Boulder who are reading this blog.


Friend "A", whose vegetable garden I always admired and envied reported that her spinach, mesclun, radishes and scallions have come up.


The two rows of carrot seeds I planted have yielded a single, lonely half-inch tall sprout so far. The chard sprouts are doing a bit better, popping up along 1.5 feet of a 6 foot long row. On the bright side, I expect to be making salads with the mesculin mix in a week or so and the zucchini seem to be progressing. Even the withered potatoes I planted on a whim seem to be sending up hearty looking leaves.


Friend 'B", whose flower garden rivals the spectacular perennial garden at the entrance of the Denver Botanical Gardens, is ahead of his weeding thanks to several days of rain that made it easy to pull them up.


TREES:  Friend "A" and her neighbors have planted Braeburn and Honeycrisp apple trees. She didn't report the progress of her cherry tree. Seems like it's about time for her to be calling all her friends to reap its bounty. I'll miss the pies and sorbet I used to make.


Apparently this property once had numerous apple, pear, peach and cherry trees that aged out over the last 15 years. There's a lawn now where the trees used to be -- and where the deer was nibbling this morning. If I can catch up with the weeds here, I might allow myself to fantasize about putting in some fruit trees. And while I'm at it, I'll fantasize that the deer leave me some fruit.


FLOWERS:  The "magnificent flower" in my previous blog turns out to be a Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia). The plant that I thought was a tree by the screened porch is actually a leggy shrub. I'm enchanted by the structure of its flowers.


KEYS:  Look what I found while stirring the compost: