Fun With Pink and Purple

and a swell friend, too!

Hey there, Peg!

We had three cold days of much needed rain here last week and while it hasn’t exactly been out-and-out sunshiny since then, the days have been pleasant enough that I finally snuggled those last catalog buys into the ground. So cheer on the future astilbe, prairie dianthus and hollyhock dreamers. Free from their mailing cardboard prisons at last, at last!

The purple candle blooms of salvia seemed to pop up while my back was turned. These plants do tend to grow and spread out rapidly — I sometimes hiss ‘thug’ on the days I hoped to discover a more fragile and delicate bloom — but the purple is oh-so-regal and the bees are oh-so-intoxicated with it that the salvia will probably always have a spot in the plot.

And , of course, it’s PEONY TIME! Last year, we also had a lot of rain during the month and by the time it subsided, my peonies struggled to hold up their soaked and bespattered dresses for even one more day. But this year, my friend…

Ta-Daaah!!! How about that beauty?! I love her little ruffles and delicate pink shading. She’s all ready for the Ball, sweet thing. I hope she brings us back a prince.

Oh, and she has a little sister waiting in the wings. A couple, really, but this is the plumpest of them all. The wee buggies are wheedling her to come out and play, so I expect that she will give us a big stretch and yawn by tomorrow. I both love and hate the anticipation. It’s rather like fidgeting in a theater seat waiting for the show to begin and then later feeling a pang of regret that it was over so soon. Such is the gardening life!

And here we are: two Witches, two Gardeners and two Very Good Friends!

Love you, Peg!