Quote de jour
"A calloused palm and diry fingernails precede a green thumb."

What's worth ruining a manicure for? Digging in the garden for the first time this spring. I planted some pansies today and have the dirty fingernails to prove it. Sure, I could have used gloves but that's like wearing a condom. I'd rather feel everything. The rich composted earth felt cool and fecund as I lovingly placed each pansy in it's new home. Layers of mulch and dried leaves revealed black new soil underneath, proving yet again, nothing stays dead for long. A carpet of crocuses and scillas are spreading in strange and new places. That's what happens when you have the 'Wilde' approach to gardening.

 These delicate beauties won't last long, making them all the more precious to enjoy in the moment. There are millions of twigs and debris to rake but I don't want anything as insanely manicured as the property I just visited in Florida. It's pretty but there's a creepy Stepford Wives subtext. I never saw anyone actually tending to the garden. Perhaps teams of Latino elves decend in the middle of the night. And those colors! I didn't retouch or over saturate the color. I don't want to think about where those unnaturally bright colors come from.

Another world away, is my garden...





Okay, so where's that rake?