Color and Gardens

I feel like a proper knitting-blogger with pictures to post of the wool that is going into a sweater to be knit for Theo in order to ensure an Obama victory. It's all in Jean's blog; I can't explain it. The wool is a wonderful cashmere; the hand-dyed color seems a bit, well, baby blue to me but I wouldn't pass it up if someone offered me the sweater. The family expert in wool greatly approves and was annoyed when I put the skeins back in their plastic bag.

Garden

We are about to embark on a serious bit of garden design, including completely redoing the plantings at the front of the house and replacing with grass. At the back, we'll take out a lot of scruffy bushes and replace with native plants that will close the yard in more and also look a lot better. In the process, though, a lot of things will have to be discarded which I find quite painful. This includes plants like the little crabapple out front that I have been nursing along for several years with water and feeding. It's filled out and looks well but the fact is that it's placed oddly and adds nothing and it will have to go--as will the azaleas. The roses currently tumbling about on the split rail fence (remember the deer pictures) will stay with us but must be moved. It's all very disruptive--and very expensive--but we think it's the right thing to do. I suspect there will be a lot more said about this over the coming year.

In the meantime we are having fun with various things including the herb garden and the beans. Here is a birdbath that I bought for the herb garden; the birds like it fine. It's concrete but made with marble dust which gives it a soft look. Unfortunately birds use their bathtubs as toilets so it needs to be flushed out every day or two if it is going to keep looking nice.

And so here is Catembe studying the first set of plans. She seemed very happy with them but we went away for a bit and when we came back the copy of the plans had been torn up--we'll have to see if she likes the new ones any better.

Peony correction

The older peony picture I posted has to have been Prairie Afire since it's the only one that is even remotely single. Sarah Bernhardt and Mons. Elie are preplexing--they are pretty much exactly the same color but one is larger with a second set of guard petals in the middle of the flower. Here are the two of them in a vase together. I suppose it doesn't really matter--plants don't mind much being called by the wrong names--but my carelessness bothers me. At least my old friend Festiva Maxima is clearly who she is, which is white with an occasional flash of red. I went by my old house yesterday and many of my older peonies and roses are looking splendid if a bit weed-choked. The only one that breaks my heart is a yellow Saunders tree peony that has been taken over by the rose new Dawn. I was invited back and think I will just do that pruning myself, if they will let me.

Life in General

Roger is off to Malawi, a change that I find sad and disruptive. I will be off myself on Thursday to a meeting in Kigali--not looking forward to that trip because of the length but I will no doubt have lots of interesting things to say when I return.