Fuchsias and more

Come spring, I generally visit the local plant nurseries accompanied by some family member. The reason I need company is not to help me carry that huge mulch bag to my car - it is to stop me from carrying more to the car. I start with the harmless intention of buying some mulch for my tomatoes. But somewhere between the mulch and tomato cage aisles, dangling and pirouetting fuschias beckon me irresistbly. My knees turn to mush. I do not have THAT color cominbation of petals and sepals in my fuschia corner, I reason and pick one up and put it in the cart. Until my ward reminds me that I do have that color just a shade less pink. And they always turn less pink once they are off the nursery shelves, anyways.

This spring I indulged myself and stocked my backyard with my beloved fuchsias - four colors in all. I've been pinching them regularly to promote bushiness and so far all of them are doing extremely well. Hopefully they'll soon be filled with beautiful blossoms that I can proudly post here.

This year I also had a good set of camellia blossoms. This plant had been sickly for nearly 3 years - prior to my composting adventures. The plant is about 2 feet now and growing very vigorously. Once again, thanks to the pine needles compost that I added to the base of the soil last two years.

Taking advantage of the warm weather here, I planted a lot of vegetables over the last two weekends - several varieties of summer squash, watermelon, green chillies, raspberry to the backyard and more flowering perennials to the front. It was back-breaking work, tilling, digging, moving the wine barrel around, dumping 1 cubic yard of compost on soil but at the end of the day I must say I'd rather that my limbs ache from tending to my garden than from crouching over the computer desk.

My faithful companion, the 'Earth Machine':

I also did my weekly nature hike in Almaden Valley in the warm early morning sun. The homes in these hilly areas are so beautifully landscaped that I never tire of looking at them. Infact the motivation for the hike is primarily to savor the ebullience of the season.

Cherry Plum blossoms in my backyard:

This morning, some new birds visited my garden - they looked distinct and special and before I could run for my camera, flew away. I had identified one of them last year as Scavenger Jay, with my friend's help. I hope today's visitors will return so I can get to know them better.

Birds are chirping in my yard.

Plants are a shining emerald green.

Sky is a sparkling blue diamond.

What more can a girl ask for?