Patty’s Plum poppy | Gladsome Lights

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This morning Mr. Glad and I sat eating our Power Pancakes together, looking out the window at a fat robin who was hopping and flying around the garden.

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I could see that there are enough sweet peas to make bouquets for eight neighbors, if I would pick them. The seed beds where I planted hyssop and fennel early in the week need sprinkling.

And the south side of the yard is a jungle! For most of our sojourn here it has been a nuisance getting water to that area, because of having only one faucet and the difficulty of dragging a heavy hose to and fro without smashing plants.

Last fall we installed automatic irrigation, and the plants that had learned to do with intermittent drought are loving the new normal and are having the time of their lives.

Today I will go out and pull up the lamb’s ears that have grown into the path, and trim back the valerian flowers from the same path. I don’t want to touch the campanula yet, as it’s in its glory.

yellow helianthemum w pincushion

The yellow helianthemum that grows now in the middle of the pincushion flowers, well, it has surprised me by blooming for a few weeks so far.

That makes four helianthema (doesn’t it make sense to call the plural that?) in our garden: yellow, red, pink, and orange. None of the others bloomed as long as this yellow one, but next time they show their flowers I’ll take pictures so that I can write one blog post about the lot of them.

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I picked one giant bouquet of the sweet peas for my next-door neighbor. She said that she has been noticing them coming over the fence, and that she and her granddaughter have been drying flowers to make greeting cards. I could see the gleam in her eye as she contemplated all the pretty flowers in that bunch.

As for me, I’m not being at all crafty these days, unless you count the neverending creating of order and space indoors and out. Lots of out-of-the-ordinary things are coming up for the two of us in the next few months, and taking some amount of time and mental effort in preparation. It all makes me treasure today, when I can be home and pull some ordinary weeds.

This evening I brought in a few stems of Cécile Brunner roses to decorate my windowsill. I notice that a couple of the roses have buds sprouting from the center of the flower, and I don’t think I’ve seen that phenomenon before.

Actually, this one seems to have two buds coming out.

My godmother is collecting rose petals for throwing at some point in her daughter’s upcoming wedding. As I have to be out of town and will miss the event, it made me happy to be able to contribute some petals, which I acquired by picking spent blooms from another friend’s prodigiously blooming bushes. It took me about a half hour to collect a couple of grocery bags full, and another hour to sift through and take out insects and stems. I set them to drying in an ice chest and a big tub, and while they sat in the sun the remainder of bugs seem to have departed. A few times a day I am stirring them.

The Patty’s Plum poppy that Pearl gave me years ago has three blooms this year! I may have already put up a photo of one. But this third flower is the prettiest yet. The plants stand about a yard tall.

Kate sent me a pot of Lily of the Valley bulbs for Mother’s Day. Less than a week later they are already a couple of inches high. I have Miss Grenadine keeping me company on the windowsill above the sink these days; she can help keep an eye on the shoots.

All over the garden I’ve been digging holes and putting in various other flowers: zinnias, mimulus, mixed colors of California poppies, African daisies, lobelia, morning glory. In a few weeks I should have more flowery pictures to show. I’ve been putting my tools away every night and have swept the patio. Everything is ready for you to come and visit my garden!