Although we sense the plants in the yard wanting to burst forth with spring growth as the days get longer, winter weather lingers.
Just a few miles away and less than a thousand feet higher in elevation, the landscape looks magical…
Yet here in the valley, the two three-year old monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana) enjoyed a new circle of fresh mulch spread in dryish weather this morning…
…as the solar fountain gurgled under darkening skies.
Knowing that some areas of the meadow/yard stay moist most of the year…
Time to transform the wet parts of the yard to new looks, like turning parts of the peat bog into a place for gunnera (Gunnera tinctoria) to grow under the shade of the forest’s edge.
And a few feet from the monkey puzzle trees, how about bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) in the little depression that stays moist all year long in the middle of the backyard?
Don’t know that the bald cypress will get this big but who knows, it’s possible.
On a cold, damp day like this, when the green tips of daylilies, iris, forsythia and other spring plants show they’re ready for warmer weather, one thinks toward summer days and wonders what the mown meadow will turn into this year…
It’s time to turn the old dining canopy that sits over pallets in the meadow into the meditation platform/shelter with bench in the woods for observing the swamp under dry cover year-round, raise the wooden walkway (stepping up from the first prototype made of old pallets into a more permanent path) about water level between backyard and swamp gate, and finish the two-foot tall fenceline around the flower/veggie garden, using the fencepost pieces cut in half that are piled on top of the red trailer in the meadow.
Won’t be long before daffodils are blooming!
Then the row of evergreens will turn from burnt bronze to emerald again…
Meanwhile, fungus among us!
Life in the garden is good!
A Celestial Journey 