A big part of why I haven't been blogging much lately is that the garden is taking up lots of my time. It's ramping down a bit now that the weeds are somewhat under control, the fertilizing is done for the time being, and we've imposed a moratorium on planting. It's mostly just watering and light weeding now. But 
what takes up the most time is the touring. At this time of year, I don't let a day pass without a careful inspection tour of both the front and back gardens. If I do, I might miss a day lily blooming, or let a slug get a strawberry before I notice it's ready. 
Or I might not have known that the jack-in-the-pulpits finally opened this morning.
There are at least a half dozen more blooms on that plant. It's going to be fun watching them open over the next month or so.
As you can tell by my banner image, lilies are my favourite flowers. Last year, I was whining about a deadline in my numerical methods class and the prof said "Well, I might be a bit more sympathetic if you hadn't had a full three weeks to work on this assignment."
I looked at him incredulously and replied, "Yes, three weeks during lily season!"
That was bollocks though, because the lilies take the least work of any flower in the yard. All I have to do is keep a mental note of where they are in the yard (we have about a dozen scattered all over) so that I don't yank them out by mistake. I don't feed or water them. I weed a bit, but only if I feel like it. They will bloom if I don't weed around them.
This is probably part of why I like them. I like low-maintenance humans too. Friendships that require a lot of upkeep don't last long with me. I end up resenting the other person too much. Sort of the way I resent the roses. The amount of thought that goes into their care is so much more than any other plant we have. It never seems worth all the pruning, drip-watering, feeding, garlic planting, and just general fretting. I'm hoping once they're all better established this nonsense will stop. I was ready to pack it all in last week. But then two big pink beauties opened up and, well, maybe it's worth it after all.
Like the lilies, the bell flowers require next to nothing from me. All I have to do is make sure to show everyone what their greenery looks like around mid-spring to make sure no one weeds them. One of my biggest problems as a novice gardener is weeding things I later realize I shouldn't have. Like foxglove. And, (SOB!), poppies. I don't want to talk about the poppies. It wasn't until I saw the plant at the nursery, for eight bucks, that I realized that I had yanked out the flower that I most wished was growing in my yard.
The cutest thing in the garden right now has to be the grapes. They are so teeny.
Macro shot:
Micro shot:
The daisies have seemed ready to burst for weeks, but they still haven't. 
The feverfew more than makes up for the daisies' timidity.
Sassy's little people have been fiddling and boozing late into the night lately and haven't been taking much care of their yard. They did some renos, adding a window, but it wasn't very well installed. If they're not careful, they're going to negatively impact property values around here and raise the ire of their neighbours. The fir tree is already getting a bit pissed off.
Finally, the biggest surprise in the garden for me is the rejuvenation of my old, pathetic mint plant. I've had the same mint plant in the same pot for four or five years, and it's never given me much yield. One batch of mint salsa for lamb chops decimates it for months. Tobias asked if he could transplant it into his new herb garden. I was skeptical but let him do it. It was the right choice. The mint has never been happier and it's actually behaving like a proper mint plant, threatening to impede the growth of all the other herbs. I'm so proud of it.
As for the two bird families we hosted this spring, the nuthatches have left, but the bloody house sparrows are still around. Thank heavens their loud babies flew away several weeks ago. But Pinta and Perman, as Sahsez named the mom and dad, show no signs of leaving. In fact, Pinta keeps bringing more and more buildling material into the birdhouse. Does she have MORE eggs in there? I want to evict these guys, because they are so aggressive to any other birds that visit the yard. Chickadees, warblers, bushtits, and towhees all land in the sparrows' tree, and all are threatened loudly until they leave.
The nuthatches, despite their size (teeny), can also be very rude. When the nuthatch dad got stressed, such as when Blackberry was attempting to reach the nest, he made an amazing amount of noise. I once saw him harrass and bully a towhee (about three times his size) until the towhee finally left the yard. Perman (male house sparrow) gave him a hand in this as well.
Nice to see that cooperation between the backyard bird families, but I'd just as soon not have sparrows next year. I'd like to make the door to the birdhouse smaller to try to attract tree swallows instead. That is, if Perman and Pinta ever move on. They seem to get more and more settled with each passing day.
