My Mother Made Me Do It...

Last night, I was on the phone with Mom when I heard her mutter, "Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day..." under her breath. She took advantage of the next break in conversation to ask, "So, when are you going to put up a new post, anyway?"

I sighed. "My digital camera is dead, remember? What fun is it to post on my blog if I can't put up garden photos, too?" (Let's be honest: I NEED lots of photos to break up all of the wordy mind-wanderings that end up getting posted on this blog!)

"Oh, that's right," Mom said. "I forgot about your camera. Well, you should at least put up a post to let people know what's going on. Some people read your blog, you know... they probably miss you and wonder what's going on!" (I guess Moms never stop being your cheerleader... even when you're 33 and haven't lived at home for over a decade. :)

Since I always do what my Mom says (*ahem*) here's a post to let everyone know why this blog has been relatively quiet lately. And here are the last few photos that I was able to retrieve from my camera before its demise:

The texture of the front yard garden as seen from the porch steps, during the usual lull between tulip time and the start of the spring perennial show.

More texture: The dry corner between the driveway and the walkway leading to the porch. Plants featured here include lavender, sea kale, carex buchanii, and sempervivums. (And now, coral-flowering portulaca as well.)

Can you tell I'm a texture fan yet? Clockwise from bottom left: salvia lyrata, sea kale, sedum album and nassella (aka stipa) tenuissima, with some ripening tulip foliage and driftwood scattered throughout.

Two years ago, I made some planting spaces in a retaining wall in my backyard so that I could plant a few sedums there for interest. Now the pocket-planted sedum cauticola pokes through a veil of woolly thyme, and some of the cute little sedum album planted at its base tries to climb the wall beside it. I love this little tapestry of color and texture!

Anyway, posts from me will be few and far between for a while--until I break down and buy a new digital camera at some point. I will try to borrow my digital camera from work on occasion, so that I can chronicle my garden and keep things up to date here on the blog... and hope that this is a short (and not permanent) hiatus. :(

Of course, I'll continue to post comments on many other garden blogs as well. To focus on the silver lining of this cloud: It will definitely be nice to have a little extra time to see what's going on in everyone else's yards this summer!