My journey into the land of poison ivy and brambles is temporarily over. I do have some more brambles to deal with on the other side of the house, but that will have to wait. We have a lot of poison ivy around here, coupled with old trees that have had vines snaking up the bark for years. I bought inexpensive pruners and some gloves and I did my best to snip all of those vines, which resulted in a lot of contorted body positions in order to get to the vines. It won’t eradicate the poison ivy, but it will temporarily stop the growth all the way up the trees. And then I threw the pruners out.
Brambles are a never-ending battle. But I did my best to cut them back where they needed to be cut back. I don’t want to eliminate them entirely as they bloom in the spring and the flowers and scent are heavenly. I wanted to cut them back where they interfere with walking the property and where they send up their shoots and envelop other plants and trees. My hands and legs have several little wounds from my attempts to wrestle with the brambles. To be expected.
All of which made Claudia tuckered out at the end of the day.
Today: rain. Tomorrow: rain.
And I have to recycle today!
A few photos taken in the evening yesterday. These are meant to give you an idea of what is coming up out of the ground. Hostas, day lilies, sedum and coneflowers. Don’t mind the leaves. Since I keep the leaves there all winter, I need more than one pass to get them out of the beds. I haven’t got a chance to do a second pass.
More day lilies and hostas.
This grass is so consistent. Always one of the first plants to come up in the garden, it has spread over the years. That’s a narcissus in the middle of the grass. And the hyacinths are in the distance.
Last night, at the end of a sunny day, I stood at the front door and looked out at the green grass and the gardens, watched the birds flying here and there, caught a glimpse of a groundhog (Henry?) and watched the reflection of the sunset in the waters of the river that is just across the street. Pretty darned lovely.
And Don is coming home on Sunday night. He really misses his home and who can blame him? Especially as winter has departed and spring is here.
Happy Friday.
