Hope in April

There is Hope In April, already. This weekend has been absolutely glorious–sunny, still, and in the sixties. It’s so gorgeous I could cry. I think it would be lovely to have weather like this all year ’round. Of course, it is gardening weather. Unfortunately, it still isn’t quite safe here to plant very many things. It is still going down into the forties at night and we could easily have frosts or even snow, still. Our frost-free date is May 15.

Pansies are all right, though. I know this because this morning, when I made the mistake of going to the garden center unescorted and was about to buy pails of English daisies and pulmonaria and forget-me-nots, I had the presence of mind to call my mother and have her talk me down from it. She gave me the firm NO! I was looking for about all of that, but agreed that pansies were okay. And if my mother says something is okay, it’s really okay.

Violas are the same thing as pansies, really, aren’t they?

I own half of a small garden tiller (though generally, the owner of the other half and I get on well enough that we keep the two halves together, and trade them back and forth). Isn’t it cute?

Today, I used it to work four bags of compost manure and a bale of peat moss into my disgraceful flower bed. Here is a picture that shows the line between the empty half that I worked, and the half with a few scraggly bulbs and perennials that I planted last Autumn and haven’t the heart to dig up.

I really ought to get it all covered in mulch. And I will. Someday. Just, probably, not today. I’m exhausted.

Oh well, even though there aren’t many flowers blooming outside yet, there are paper flowers blooming inside,

And I’ll always have my Clementine.