Every night I think, “Tonight I’ll blog”, but it’s been a four week whirlwind of activities.  Tonight’s the night.  There is so much to share!

My 15 yr old purple tulip bunch that I have truly enjoyed each and every year faded this year to one small purple tulip.  (Plus one the bunnies might have enjoyed)

I have wonderful pictures over the years and will always remember spring mornings relaxing on the patio, looking at their gorgeous blooms swaying in the breeze.

Besides these giant new tulip “bouquets” I planted last fall,

Last fall’s planting also brought a new, delicate bouquet of pink tulips out back.  At our family gathering last week someone thought they were artificial!  I reportedly gave a funny look and said, “Go touch them!” – lol.  They were, admittedly, pretty “perfect”.

Right next to them, the bunnies had a munch-fest, so having them spared was awesome!

The amur maple out front flowered last week.  It smelled glorious for two days, and then I got a cold.  But I trust it still continued to smell wonderful for a few more days at least!  Hopefully our family enjoyed it a bit!

Now the pink tulips are starting to fade, the asian lilies are starting to show buds, and the daylilies and hostas seem to have doubled in size this past week.

The days have been full.  The sunsets have been incredible.

We have also spent time up north, where the sunrises were awe inspiring.

And we saw the sunset reflect off one of our very old old pines.  We think this one is over 100 yrs.  Notice it’s size compared to the other 20ish yr growth!

Quite a difference from “Charlie” who we moved to get the camper situated.

Grow, Charlie!  Grow, Charlie!  He has a companion “Lucy” who we will also need to move.  They will both be in decent proximity to “Linus”.  You get the theme?

The seeds are half planted up north.  Lifting 440 pounds of dirt into a raised bed garden was enough for me for one weekend.

And that was 2/3 full of branches (see hugelkultur post).

Unfortunately, there is a center support that it turns out bends pretty easily when you push down on branches.  Oh well!  Live and learn!

I still have one more (identical) raised bed garden to do.  And I have milkweed plants to get in the ground, and stakes and chickenwire to put up once the seeds sprout, plus daylily seeds to try.  It’s all so much easier to have “scope creep” in the winter when planning!  But slow and steady wins the race.  I keep reminding myself my gardens at the townhome are years of putzing – changing this, moving that, adding “one more thing”.  This is the Year One Test Garden up north.