Let the season begin!

Stargazer

It was cold, it was dark, my husband was home from work, he opened up the kitchen window to hand me the phone. My sister is on the line. I have eight holes dug and I must get these lilies in the ground tonight :)  I am a bit of an insane woman you see when it comes to the garden.  Yes I did clip on a few roses where I was planting on my north side yard.  You see earlier in the day my plan was to paint in the morning with a friend, run into Home Depot and look at some paint chips for my sis, then get home in the afternoon for some gardening.  I get stuck in the entrance of Home Depot with two greeters standing there trying to greet me.  I give them a shallow wave with out eye contact. I feel my body turning left as my eyes are drawn like a homing device to the early spring bulb display.  Hmmm dahlias, yes!  Do they have that dark fuschia pink I am wanting to complement the light pink/orange dahlias I bought yesterday at Lowe's?

This week it has officially begun.  Any excuse on the planet to drop by any nursury department for my spring fling, garden orgy, what ever you want to call it. The call to mecca for me.  I also...confession is good for the soul, bought two bags of lilies ,Stargazer and Acapulco. I can remember when these bulbs (years ago) cost me 3-5 dollars a piece.  Today I purchased bags of eight for nine dollars. For that price I can chuck them in garden anywhere just to use for cutting flowers.  I am a happy girl tonight :)

Acapulco

Of coarse it didn't help that I had just finished reading  this charming book called Elizabeth and her German Garden.  A story about another lady a little captivated by her garden. All serious gardeners will love the tales of her mad planting and wild dreaming about her glorious garden.

Here is an on line version if you can stand to read it that way.

Come to find out this author has written quite a few books...and this one is a bit on the autobiographical vein.

Writing was the refuge for Arnim in her, what turned out to be, incompatible marriage. They were now living on the vast and somewhat neglected von Arnim estate, Nassenheide, in Pomerania. Their children's tutors included Hugh Walpole and friend of Arnim's nephew, E.M. Forster. Arnim’s husband had increasing debts and was eventually sent to prison for fraud. This was when she created her pen name `Elizabeth' and launched her career as a writer by anonymously publishing her semi-autobiographical, brooding yet satirical Elizabeth and her German Garden.

You may actually know this author by the movie made from one of her books, Enchanted April.

The Enchanted April (1922) again contains themes of feminine protest and male tyranny. Four women leave gloomy London to embark on a rejuvenating trip to sunny southern Italy. There was also a movie based on it. 

Hmmm trying to figure out how I can stuff more dahlias into my garden.  They are such a worthy flower in the late summer garden.  Let's see, I haven't checked out Fred Meyer's offerings yet :)

Update:  Here is what I found at Fred's :)

Muscadet
To all my friends in the middle of all these horrific winter storms...I am so sorry...I hope the sun will come out soon, and spring be on its way!!!

This is truly the first time our weather has been spring like.  Today it is back to rain and wind, but I am ordering new roses to keep my thoughts on spring and to give my aching muscles a break ;)