Your moment of natural zen

[ru]

For those of you in more northern climates who are still fighting out of winter, I PROMISE spring is coming. It's definitely warming itself up here. Usually it's heralded around here by the smell of dead fish, thanks to the twelve BILLION Bradford pears planted by all the landscaping companies, but there are also other, quieter little heralds.

While walking to where I get picked up in the evening, a rather shocking bit of color caught my eye. I looked up, and saw a redbud tree full of closed flower buds that were the most intense shade of magenta I think I've ever seen, particularly when placed against the grey the sky had taken on this afternoon. The tree was also sporting some leftover pods from last year, small, delicate, and almost silver. If I ever got a free trip to Fairy Land, I imagine there would be trees like this everywhere. And chocolate rivers. Gotta have chocolate rivers in a fairy land.

And there are subtler signs too. I took a walk around the yard this evening to see how things were doing. The mint is fixing to make a busting comeback, putting out little tiny rosettes all through the herb bed. The tulips are still breaking through the soil, thick and smooth and a lovely sea green. The Japanese magnolia has put out dark purple flower buds that should open very soon. The sinocalycalycanthus (no, I didn't make that up) is putting out thick black buds that I had to brush my hand against to make sure they were an actual sign of life. In a few weeks they should start putting out tiny, delicate leaves that look like they're carved out of bright green crystal.

I really love this time of year. Everything has so much potential, and I love watching everything gear up for another season.

On that note, LETTUCES. I want to do some sort of leafy green this year. I don't know why. But darn it, I want lettuces. I should look into that.

Comments

[thez]

Bradford pears planted by all the landscaping companies

UGH I'm sorry. I hate those things. Why would anyone plant them? WHY?

[ru]

I KNOW, SERIOUSLY.

I'm fairly certain it's a combination of 1.) They're cheap. 2.) They grow fast so they look big and mature like a big oak tree or the like in a shorter period of time. 3.) They look pretty. 'course, that doesn't mean they SMELL pretty. Thankfully it seems to me like the Bradford pear bloom craze lasts only a couple of weeks or so.

iirc, they're pollinated by flies. THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A HINT. Also because they grow fast they are so so so susceptible to breakage during wind or ice storms. UGH, terrible. D:

[tatterpixie]

Ugh. Those Bradford pears sound like the ubiquitous eucalyptus trees in the Bay Area. They were planted back in the day because they like the mediterranean climate and they grow fast and they're showy -- but they're kinda invasive and they have very shallow roots and tend to fall over a lot during the winter Pacific storm season, when the ground gets saturated and gale-force winds blow. And because they're BIG trees, they cause a lot of damage when they fall over. Grr!

[tatterpixie]

LETTUCES. I want to plant lettuces this year too! We have no tillable bed-space in the yard, though. How well does lettuce do in containers?

[ru]

I love your icon. XD

Hrmmm. I don't do as much container gardening as I used to, and having never done lettuces before I'm not sure how fussy they are.

HOWEVER, I just looked in my book on container gardening and it says lettuces do pretty well in containers. You'd want to pick something that's loose leaf (i.e. not iceberg or other lettuces that make a head) so you can keep harvesting it as it continues to grow, since you'll have limited space. You also want to make sure it doesn't get too hot, as lettuces don't like hot weather, and they need to be kept evenly moist so they don't go bitter. It sounds like the only pest to really worry about is slugs, which means BRING ON THE BEER TRAPS. :D

Let me know how it goes!

[tatterpixie]

I will! ^______^ Thank you!