Morning Glories

Spring Fever

It's getting warmer, the birds were singing this morning, the sun is brighter, the days are getting longer, and the air is developing a fresh scent. Can spring be far away?

We've had quite a warm season in southeast PA, with a miniscule amount of snow, so it just hasn't felt like winter. I simply couldn't see spring ahead -- to think, plan or dream about the gardens and gardening season to come -- because I felt like winter was still on its way.

But within the last couple of weeks we've had a cold snap and a few inches of snow. So, while I wouldn't mind one big snowstorm that would define this winter, I've finally started looking forward to spring.

I'm itching to get out and do some yard work -- cutting dead things back, investigating the status of everything in all the nooks and crannies of the yard, tidying up. And I'm eager for another season of garden blogging to begin! 

I just need to savor a few more cozy evenings with a fire in the fireplace while I have the chance. Soon it will be all outdoors, all the (free) time.

Guest Post on Mouse & Trowel

I wrote a guest post called Let's Talk Shop that's featured on Mouse & Trowel today. If you stop over to read it, I hope you find it interesting. I'll warn you first, though -- it's not about gardening, it's about blogging!

Seven Random Things About Me

I was tagged by Ziggywigs at Life in the Highlands to participate in the Seven Random Things About Me meme. To keep this post on topic, I won't go completely random but make it seven things about myself as a gardener.

1. Compared to my arms and face, my hands are a whiter shade of pale. I almost always wear gloves when I garden because I'm a pianist/piano teacher so I can't have dirty nails or calloused hands. I actually use artificial tanning lotion on my hands to try and counteract the imbalance, but it doesn't completely solve the problem.

2. I'm a renegade when it comes to petunia deadheading. I was recently told in a friendly but firm fashion that you can't just pull off the spent blossoms when you deadhead petunias, but that's what I've been doing. And I simply can't imagine that my petunias could possibly produce more blooms than they already are. So I think I'll stick with what I'm doing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

3. My first hint that I'd love gardening might have come from my modern dance class in college. Whenever we did improvisations my tendency was to slither along the floor and, as I recall, the phrase "primal connection to the earth" was used to describe my improv style. (Funny -- somewhat embarrassing -- but true!)

4. During the spring and summer seasons, I nearly always have a bit of poison ivy somewhere on my body. Despite my ongoing attempts to eradicate the weed from my property, some spots remain. Even though I'm careful, I bump into it periodically and set off another round. There's another offender I call "The Beast" that inflicted similar, but more heinous, damage on me this spring. But that's a story for another post.

5. I'd be happy if I never had to clean house again, but I can't get enough of gardening. This is puzzling to me because many of the repetitive gardening tasks -- weeding, deadheading, watering -- are very similar to cleaning tasks. Just outdoors. (Oh, maybe that's a clue....)

6. The thing I am usually most enamored of when I observe other gardens is.... the grass around them. To me, healthy green grass makes a stunning backdrop (or foreground) for a garden scene. But it's something I just don't have -- yet. My front yard isn't too bad, but the back yard is basically weeds and clover. This, too, is a topic I'll save for a full post.

7. If I had to leave my home and could only take one of my plants with me, it would be the hydrangea.  I've already revealed quite ruefully that I tried to give this plant away when I first moved here, but now I wouldn't be without it. Vibrant, lush foliage and bold yet delicately detailed flowers in ever-changing colors that include cream, blue, lavender, deep purple and dusty rose. This plant has it all! 

And now to hand this off to some other garden bloggers.

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 random facts as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.

Here are the folks I'm tagging:

Bev's Colorado Garden

Water When Dry

Muum's Musings

Notes from a Cottage Garden

Calendula & Concrete

Wicked Gardener

Kate Smudges in Earth, Paint and Life

Enjoy!

Now a Member of....

I've just joined Green Thumb Sunday, which is a group of bloggers who each publish a "beauty shot" photograph on Sundays. This is going to be fun! Click on the link for a list of all the participants: Green Thumb Sunday Blogroll

A Little Something About Me

I am a pianist, piano teacher and freelance writer. I live (and garden) in Southeast Pennsylvania.

I have owned my home since 1998, and over the years I've done the basic outdoor upkeep plus a few improvement projects. But this year something has clicked for me and I have begun to really enjoy gardening. 

I always have a backlog of interests, activities and involvements I'd like to pursue, and gardening has been one of them. So I've decided to take it on as a hobby. I frequently tell my adult students how wonderful lifelong learning is and how much I admire their commitment to develop new skills -- now gardening is doing the same thing for me!

As you can tell from the blog title and some of the quotes on the main page, my favorite time to work in the yard and garden is the morning. I'm out for an hour or two each day, and in the process I'm getting to know every square inch of my small (1/4 acre) property extremely well.

I am very much a newbie and a novice, so I welcome comments, suggestions, advice, corrections and ideas any time.

Thanks for stopping by!