Monday, May 26, 2008

Cilantro and other stuff


I do love singles. Alas, this is another unknown, also a "gift."

Lots of weed pulling and fertilizing and mulching. There's lots more of that to do. I planted more basil. This time I’m trying Mrs. Brown’s lemon basil (Ocimum basilicum citriodora, an heirloom variety from Renee’s Garden Seeds). I also am trying a new method of growing cilantro that I read about on the Sunset Magazine site. I still hope to plant beans and peppers and beets.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

I'm In the Garden



It doesn’t seem possible but it is raining. We haven’t had rain for months. This has been the driest spring since forever. Our rainy season is just about over and we won’t get any real rain until next autumn. Our regional water people have declared that our reservoirs are low and we are officially in a drought situation. We will be penalized for not cutting back on our water consumption. Ratting on your neighbor is encouraged. I am savoring the moisture and I am enjoying spring while I can.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

One more tall-bearded iris



Elusive blues!
This one looks much more blue in the garden.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The garden in May: Tall-bearded Iris






I really am making art but I can’t resist posting these. A new one opened up today and I will take her picture tomorrow morning.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mothers' Day

My friend Linda gave me the seeds for these sweet peas. I think they are April in Paris and that they came from Enchanting Sweet Peas of Sebastopol, CA. At first, it seemed that very few germinated so I threw in all of the old seed that was collecting in bins and baskets in the garage. There are still spaces in the rows but I've been picking a handful every morning.

Sweet peas are wonderful to contemplate but it's all about the fragrance: intoxicating. I will definitely grow these again.

One of these years, I'll get to Sebastopol for the open garden in June.
Thank you, Linda. Happy Mothers' Day!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Focus?


Air 1
12" x 12 "


Somewhere in the not too distant past I resolved to try to achieve some. If I honestly consider what I have accomplished in the last 5 months I would have to be happy. It's just that my “to do” list is always very optimistic. Of late, I have been having just too much fun. There was the trip to New York. Last weekend was Twain Harte. This week was “get something done in time for the G4 meeting on May 8.”

I was very inspired by large wall paintings by Sol LeWitt at MOMA. One in particular was a grid and what I remembered were red, blue, and yellow crayon lines that reminded me that I am a quilter of fabrics. I got out my hand-dyed fabrics. I had been thinking about greens following some posts by June Underwood about green.

Our theme for for the G4 for April was air.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Work in Progress


Maybe I was inspired by Del’s skinny strips. I like skinny strips, too. These are pieced. After doing all of that fusing for the chickens it is really fun to be piecing. These are all my hand-dyed fabrics. The G4 theme for April is Air. We met today. More later.