Face Toward Spring

Very little happening here.

Sometimes my life feels about as blank as the pages of the little book

I bought in which to create music.

Hours outside my home are spent either in the Special Care Unit 

where my mother resides 

or on the road getting there.

The Scene in our Garden is bleak.

It vacillates between the enchanting beauty of new-fallen snow

and its disturbed, dreary aftermath.

Our cars' shines are quickly dulled by the disgusting residue of slush.

As you can see, my enthusiasm for winter peaked LONG ago,

 and while at home, I read.  Mostly old books. 

Many of them books of the seasons.

Always Exaggerate...

"Generosity"  in one of our 2014 flowerbeds....

“Cram, cram, cram, every chink and cranny … I like generosity wherever I find it, whether in gardens or elsewhere … Always exaggerate rather than stint. Masses are more effective than mingies.”  (Vita Sackville-West, garden writer and creator of Sissinghurst, UK)

After watching our third episode of Love Your Garden (thanks to the tip from FlowerLady), I told my husband I was a little worried about the density of planting employed by A.T. and his cohorts.  Though I personally love the look of "generosity", I worried about root-rivalry and eventual plant atrophy.

However, my anxieties have been lifted, and I look forward to creating exaggeration and masses in our flowerbeds - old and new - next spring!

By the way, I got that Sackville-West quote from Jack's book review.  I've added Sissinghurst to my winter reading list!  Maybe you'll want to, too, after reading about it!

What ARE They?

He called me away from my pleasurable read (My Garden, the City and Me:  Rooftop Adventures in the Wilds of London, by Helen Babbs) to tell me,"You ought to go look at those plants you brought from Dave's" (my brother who lives in North Carolina).
After marking my place carefully, I did!

 They've been slow to take hold in the northeast Indiana spot

in which I casually plunked them a few years ago.

This IS the best I've seen them!

And how I love the variegated leaves and demure lavender flowers!

(Actually, I think I've divided them a couple of times.

Maybe I interfered with their intentions, 

but now that I've established a bit of a border, 

I think I'll leave them alone to do their thing.)

Can anyone tell me what they are;
...and have I asked that before?????

The Pleasure of a Good Garden Read

 I spent a beautiful hour in the back yard on this glider/swing finishing

a witty, wonderful book.

Besides communicating the pleasure Elizabeth found

 in developing her country estate,

this book is full of garden details, wit, and grand descriptions

of life in Victorian times.  

I am "in the market" for my own copy. 
It's a book I would read again and again and never tire of it!

I understand that she wrote 22 books.  I'm looking for THOSE, too.

Let me know if you have a copy to spare.