April showers

We had soaking rain on Sunday, and it was welcome after that strange April hot spell. The plants have never looked so good this early in the year. The rose bushes are covered with buds. I can't wait until they bloom. The first peonies are blooming already.

After all the fuss and trouble, I think the yard actually looks better without the messy bamboo thicket.  And it's considerably less work.  This time last year, I was hacking off culms as thick as my wrist, popping up like mushrooms overnight.  It was scary enough to call out the Seattle Bamboo removal company.

Bamboo is full of surprises, most of them bad, so we didn't know what to expect this spring.  But just a few wispy stalks are still sprouting from the buried roots, and those are quickly dispatched by my clippers. The Leyland Cypress trees I planted in February haven't taken off yet but look good, and in a few years I'll probably have to pay Colin to cut them back. 

We have a good-sized home lot, at least by West Seattle standards. Our living room might be cramped, but can I go outside and sit in my plastic chair on a generous private patch of scruffy grass. (Calling it "lawn" is a bit of a stretch.)  I reflect that I'm perched on more luxurious space than the new mini-apartments have. These rabbit-warren buildings are springing up in the neighborhood, and $750+ a month rent gives you just 176 square feet of living space.

(If you don't believe me click HERE.)

Beneath the rampant growth, it's one of those transition times in the garden. Lilies and dahlias are trying to poke up through the mess of flopping spring bulbs. All that yellowing foliage needs to be carefully cut away.  On Saturday, I filled the yard bin with tulip and hyacinth leaves.   The bin will be full just about every week from now until November, as the garden cycles through its stages and I keep after the weeds.

It has been a sad two weeks, so going to the Symphony was a nice diversion. The highlight was one of my favorite pieces, the happy Overture to Mendelssohn's Midsummer Nights Dream.  There was also a Benjamin Britten work called Nocturne OP. 60, with English poems set to songs. It was the first time we've heard it performed, and it was sung very beautifully by Mark Padmore, a famous British tenor.

I missed seeing my world-traveler friend Betsy, but she and Paul are off taking another Middle East cruise. She said this one included a jeep excursion in the desert and "stopping for tea" at a friendly Bedouin camp.  So, we'll have a lot of news to catch up on next time.