Rainy Days

I love the papery texture of tree peony blooms

Another gloomy gray day-thunder is rumbling and there’s a bit of lightning too.  I hear we’re going to get buckets of rain this time.  I’m happy for the soaking-even the nearby ponds were drying up, but it’s made my yard work extra stressful because I'm running out of time.  I’ve been pretty busy trying to get the remnants of my garlic mustard and dandelions before they set seed, and hauling cut-up buckthorn and honeysuckle to the curb for next week’s brush pickup. I don't like wrecking the soil by walking on it when it's wet but we haven't had many dry days recently and these chores won't wait.

The garlic mustard is a particular challenge.  Now that I’ve got most of it out of my yard, there’s just the occasional plant that was missed, sometimes only a few inches tall.  It’s easier to spot these little monsters when they are blooming because their white flowers stand out amidst all the other green plants.  Because of our weird spring, my garlic mustard is already going to seed so I’m in a big rush to find them all before they stop blooming. 

Buglossoides with Goldmound spirea in the background

I tried to get a bit of weeding in this morning before it rained.  It was rather challenging.  The wind was blowing tiny white petals from our black cherry trees all over, making the garlic mustard flowers harder to see.  It’s pretty though, seeing the ground covered with delicate flowers. 

The rainy weather really makes white stand out but also all my chartreuse foliaged plants like ‘Gold Heart’ bleeding heart and  my spireas look awesome on a gray day.  That yellowy-green really pops in the gloom.  I planted two more spirea in front of my stand of spruce.  All that dark brooding green needed a transition to the lawn and I’m pretty pleased with the color combo.  It’ll look great once the shrubs get some size to them.  Also, it turns out the intense blue of the  buglossoides and ‘Caitlin’s Giant’ ajuga look lovely paired with the spireas.  I wish I could say I planned it all, but it was just a bit of serendipity.

Wishing you some sweet serendipity too.