WOO HOO!! Spring is close...........today I was outside, doing little spits
and spats of stuff. Nothing serious. I was just in a more automatic pilot
kinda attitude. The fairies either leave me alone when I'm like this or they
meddle with my brain cells with little fleeting images that distract me more
and inspire me much.

But I had burnt a dogfood bag in the driveway and took the moment to just
burn the broken stems of mums, asters and Blue Egnima stalks I'd piled up
that I don't have adequate place to pile them to break down naturally. Sure
I have a compost pile and the remnants of another closer to the woods, but
that one is in dire need of cleaning around of the honeysuckle vines and the
seedling trees that invaded while I was distracted and working.

Burning the roughage seemed wrong, but it cleaned up the immediate area and
as I broke off the Frakartii aster stalks and piled them on the flames, I
noticed some stands of narcissus that had been coaxed to lengthen some more
and was almost four inches high.

I went and checked the mail. Yet another spring catalog. Two of them, one a
shred candidate but I haven't gotten the shredder yet so it goes into the
trashcan. A Burgess. Interesting prices but I know who I like so far and
willing to try later that I haven't yet. I have started to practice the art
of throwing away catalogs despite the implorings of my subconcious mind
trying to convince me I should keep them ALL. There comes a
time.................you HAFTA get rid of them. Do you know how hard it was
to throw away those 11 years of saved White Flower Farm's? Those are always
awesome. And informative, despite some of their prices and I had convinced
myself that by having those older ones, I'd know which plants they had if
they weren't in recent catalogs. Insane, ah?

The other catalog worth keeping is the new, 10th year anniversary catalog of
Iris City Gardens in Primm Springs, Tennessee I discovered last year. I want
irises from them and would rather drive and check them out there. They have
acclimated Louisiana irises and I adore those and Zhan has been patient with
me and sent me about six or seven and I've killed every one. Not because I'm
hard on irises. I'm not. I just have a hard time convincing the REAL
Louisiana irises they will like Tennessee's bitter ass cold nights in the
winter. Even if they do have enough moisture. So my only hope is Louisiana
irises raised in Tennessee that are used to the cold g

While I was at the mailbox, I got a hair up my ass to dig up a Pink Honey
Locust tree seedling from the many hairy little daughters Miz Mary's has
produced along the edge of the driveway. Also known as an Acacia tree I
believe, it has HUGE pink pea-like blossoms and hairy red stems, thorns, but
nice leaves like a compact mimosa, and is more a shrub tree. The babies have
sprouted from runner roots and I really should have severed a baby and
allowed it to root, but impatience is something that rears it's head
occaisonally with me. Which is another reason why my gardens look the way
they do. And went immediately and got my trusty Crafty shovel and a cat
litter bucket that Mary Emma had saved for me to carry the rootball and baby
tree back down the long driveway.

I decided on my way back up the drive with bucket and shovel in hand that I
was also claiming more left behind large eared prickley pad cactus that
grows under the second voluntary daughter shrub/tree where my mailbox used
to be. I'd planted this large eared variety if cactus with the attitude it
was appropriate for the carrier who drove me nuts who delivered my mail. The
cactus loved the harsh, totally exposed south and westerly ridge top and
thrived. I also had hens and chicks and the cactus shoved them out. A pink
locust daughter moved in about four years ago and last year Miz Mary moved
my mailbox and hers down the driveway and to the edge of the paved road
where our true dead end stops. She even put in one for the bendejo who
shares my driveway so there are now three mailboxes. I moved a few pieces
of the pads and laid them down next to the new post, but moved only 2/3rds
of the whole clump. The last year has encouraged the older pads to thrive
and I wanted to lift them while the ground was tender and soft.

I got one baby plant up, I thought unscathed. Then tried to sever a couple
more and discovered they literally were babies off the runner roots of the
main plants. Success may not come unless the daughter is tiny.

Lifted the huge pads from the rooted part and made sure not to touch a spot,
even if they looked bare. Prickley pads are evil with those dots being
hundreds of tiny spines that itch like the dickens.

The neighbor's BIL's cows were all watching me as I hooked the shovel thru
the handle of the plastic bucket and carried it on the end of the shovel
over my shoulder as I carried the two huge clumps of cactus in my right
hand. Planted the seedling Acacia with hopes it lives in the rocky soil
near the Zebra grasses. If it lives it lives. But I laid the prickley pears
at the feet of the seedling and piled the neighboring dirt and gravel from
the bucket on top to weigh the pads back down to nestle the roots back
against the soil and I knew those at least would survive. Tough things and
they would have south and western exposure there too, just be under Zebra
grass and crape myrtles is all.

The cows had followed me to the corner of the pasture as I was working. I
realized Benton must use plastic buckets to feed them, and am amused. Step
around the two huge clumps of tanned grasses with the silly bare umbrella
looking Trumpet vine that goes up the telephone pole where a dead mercury
light is out of sight of them and place the bucket near another bucket I
need to store somewhere and take a quick look at the pots in the alcove I've
created with plants. The lilac has great fat buds on the ends of the stems
with promises of flowers late spring. The catmint I plugged into the
bottomless galvanized tub and then filled up with soil and a volunteer
hollyhock sprang up next to is draped over the edges like tired, gray
things. Now would be the time to sheer it and share with the felines and get
them plastered.

The bark of Pam's Diablo ninebark seems safe and juuuust starting to peel a
little bit. I just have to keep an eye on it in case it wants to slip thru
the chain link fence. The cows will nibble it for sure. I'm amazed by the
cleaning they've done so far! Then the fairies completely and totally
distract me by their titterings and giggles. As I start to see if there is
signs of life in the Loripedilum, my mind's eye catches something out of the
corner. A quick fairy darts out of sight but leaves the image of where I
thought she was and a suggestion for me to look to the spot next to the
lilac and pot with the daylily and narcissus shoots poking up, and the other
pot with the old spend mums branches and flowers pouring over the edge with
the green leafy new growth assuring me it's survived for a grand return next
fall, careen off that image and lookie lookie.

How did I catch that one? But my real eye darts from one side of the yard
to literally the opposite direction to long glance into the corner of the
Colorado bed where I've tucked in hens and chickens and another yarrow, when
I see white drops.--------Wait................white drops??? I move to
where I am looking. I can't get close. I have three pots in close proximity
to each other nestled at the feet of the lilac and even the space formed
behind these three pots appears to have someone living in it, but I get down
and sure enough. The fairies have blessed me with the first flower of the
new season. Two perfect snowdrops. One has bloomed already and is slightly
tattered, but the one behind it is perfect. And there are three more just a
few inches away that are true drops of white. No sign of opening yet but
white and ready.

that inspires me to go get the digital camera and take a closer and up in
the face of the flower pic. I broke off the dried stems of the mums and
gave them to the cows who snarfed them up like they were some kinda candy
and knelt down and positioned the camera to within four inches of the flower
and pushed the button. Overhead the finches and assorted hordes of winged
dinosaurs were cursing me for being too close and they wanted to eat some
more, please go away! I took two pictures and gathered up the mail and came
inside to load the picture. She's georgeous. And when I went to move the
shovel under the side porch, I looked at the Hellebore and found more hairy
emerging buds! WOO HOO!!! Spring is closer than I thought. Already the
Cornelian Cherry tree is teasing me with glimmers of sulphur yellow fuzz
from between the split reddish round pods that are divided four ways. The
balls house teeny little stems with ittsy bittsy fairy flowers of deep
sulphur yellow. One year the honey babies were able to pollinate them and no
frost nipped their efforts and I had three cherries. Frost always ruins my
chances of fruit for winter.

But I don't care for that now. I'm just happy that I was able to spot the
very first flower up in Fairy Holler. I can't wait for the others. On my
way back from the side yard towards the house I stopped and cleaned off
huge, dried pawlonia leaves that had settled under the stems of my fig tree
and noticed there was green fingers of stems lifting the dried leaf up six
inches and cleaned off the leaf to discover there was not only yellowed
leaves of a narcissus, but six inches of leaves of narcissus and these are
the ones I dug from the vertical slope near the downtown post office that
are greenish yellow and triple. The flowers always look like greenish yellow
balloons when they form and I've since discovered they were planted over 200
years ago by one of the founding families. Mine have tiny little young
baloons forming on some of the stems. They didn't like lifting when I got
mine.

But this year I will have at least one of those awesome blossoms!

thanks for letting me share this neat moment with you. Spring is close.

madgardener. up on the ridge, back in Fairy Holler, overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36

First - I am jealous - more snow on the way here in NH. Spring is weeks away
yet!

And, I have Louisiana iris and they are doing pretty well. They need
dividing though and a fresh bed of manure.
Cheryl

that does it, I'm getting some Louisiana's for my own this
spring.............................. yer time will come soon enough. You
have snow crocus planted? So far we haven't had more than one good snow.
Mom's Nature ain't thru with us yet down here..............
maddie
"Cheryl Isaak" wrote in message
...
First - I am jealous - more snow on the way here in NH. Spring is weeks
away
yet!

And, I have Louisiana iris and they are doing pretty well. They need
dividing though and a fresh bed of manure.
Cheryl

Snow crocus - before April - only in my wildest dreams!
Cheryl
On 2/5/04 6:32 PM, in article , "madgardener"
wrote:

that does it, I'm getting some Louisiana's for my own this
spring.............................. yer time will come soon enough. You
have snow crocus planted? So far we haven't had more than one good snow.
Mom's Nature ain't thru with us yet down here..............
maddie
"Cheryl Isaak" wrote in message
...
First - I am jealous - more snow on the way here in NH. Spring is weeks
away
yet!

And, I have Louisiana iris and they are doing pretty well. They need
dividing though and a fresh bed of manure.
Cheryl