I usually wouldn’t get this close to something that stings, but his wings were so wet that he wasn’t going anywhere. The garden was filled with bugs, slugs and birds today.

All the pine cones are on the ground except these two guys. They seem determined to keep hanging out in the tree. The brown makes such a nice contrast against the green pine needles.

I just had to share these obnoxiously cheery blossoms with you. I overwinter them indoors and every year I wonder why until mid-July. Then I say, “Oh, that’s why.”

I love these pink tiger lilies. They’re just un-named mutts, but they get incredibly tall and add so much color.

I went on a photo hike along the Susquehanna the other day and saw this little fellow. Some sort of Swallowtail, but I’m not sure which. His stripes look very aqua in person.

I was sitting in the kitchen when I heard a kind of stressed sounding, "Mrow, Mrow." My cat is not a Siamese, so it is rare for her to make any sound except for this really, really, really loud purr at 3 am when she decides she wants a snack. "Gosh, Mom, did that wake you up? I don’t know why. I was just SITTING RIGHT ON YOUR HEAD while I purred."

Anyway, I stepped into the art studio and saw this:

That is really not something I prefer to see in my art studio, especially when I fell asleep in there on the couch last night!! I caught him in a waste basket and took him out to the garden. Hopefully he is not back in the art studio already…

While even the seedlings in the shadiest corners have leafed out and are looking fantastic, this faithful old tree struggles to put out even a few branches of green. At first glance, you don’t notice, though, because it is home to several hundred wild violets, which have been seeded by nature in an effort to clothe the bare tree.

You may be wondering how a gardener could have a tree in this shape, but the truth is it was damaged beyond repair when I moved in and I’ve been holding my breath each year in hopes that it would make it one more season. Careless lawn crews let their mowers gouge the trunk and someone butchered a pruning job.

I hope to see one more glorious pink summer and then this steadfast old tree will have to be cut down because it is hazardously rotten and the kids won’t stay off of it. (It is perfect for young climbers, with its low branches.) I can’t bear to get rid of it completely, so we’ll cut the trunk right below the "V" in the branches and put a picnic table top on it for a few more years. In the meantime, it is the scene of quite a bit of activity, as little birds nest in the birdhouse and woodpeckers damage the diseased limbs even further to dine on grubs and assorted insect life.

Welcome to the May 2008 edition of Garden Fest. My sister asked if I wanted to get a manicure yesterday. You can guess how hard I laughed, right? There’s no sense in getting a manicure when you garden until at least October.

nichole halsey presents Simply Irresistible, she?s so fine theres no telling where my money went? posted at Bad Human! Don’t take chemicals from strangers!.

Jen Carlile presents Seedlings are sprouting! posted at Modern Beet, saying, “This is a post from my food-related blog about starting my summer garden.
All of the recipes/posts emphasize locally grown (or homegrown) food.”

(more…)

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class 007

Originally uploaded by StampingMad

Seriously, where else but the garden would we pair taxicab yellow and barn red and think it was a pretty combination?

Isn’t he darling? I love these little birds. They travel in a cheery little flock and are almost tame.