Grading or gardening?

Well, it's the last day of classes today. I took my French final last night, so I am now officially, non-negotiably, completely done with coursework. (I need to get a 12% on the final to get a B in the class, which is the minimum grade to fulfill the requirement. I probably didn't ace the final, but I'm going to go ahead and assume I got my 12%.)

So I meant to spend the morning finishing up some grading and get set up so all I have to do is plug in their final paper and woosh be done. Instead? I weeded. And took some long promised pictures of the plants.

Christopher gave us a bunch of red tulip bulbs last year, which we actually planted, in what I feel was a major turning point for us, since we had a poor track record on following through with planting (more on that later). The tulips are lovely.

They're the only early blooming plant that's survived, so while some might say it draws attention to our sparse bed, I prefer to think of them as regal, commanding all they survey.


I'm planting a pair of red twig dogwoods at the street-side corner of our patio fence. I'm not going for a screening effect; I just wantto break up the line of sight from the road to the backyard, giving us a little privacy. I've only planted one so far, and the still-potted yellow twig is going on the other side of the house near Maple Tree.


Speaking of Maple Tree:



We obviously don't want privacy from Colin and Christopher, both because we love them and because there's a lot of distance between our houses. However, the rental house on the other side is, like, 10 feet from our bedroom window. Said rental house is currently occupied by a young man whom we call the "Little Drummer Boy." Oh yes, he's a drummer. And not very good. It's not unusual for him to drum as late as midnight, and, on the weekend of the Little 500 (a week long Bacchanalia in Bloomington), he drummed for a solid 20 minutes at about 4 in the morning. This all bugs the shit out of Chris, understandably.

I, however, think LDB is a blessing.

We exist in a state of mutually assured destruction: he can never bitch about our dogs barking, which occurs not infrequently. When we have fosters, it can be a non-stop bark fest for days at a time. But LDB can never complain about it. And I find that reassuring. In return, I'm willing to ignore his pa-rum-pum-pum-pum.

At any rate, we do want privacy on that side, so I planted several Rose of Sharons outside our bedroom window (white flowers on either end, and a pink in the middle). If they do well there, I'm going to plant more.




And, uh, don't call it a comeback, but Operation Overseed is going well. I'm going to try to convince Chris to do some landscaping in the backyard this summer, but there's no telling if it'll happen or not. Note the dogs' path around the table.



And, finally, the Charlie Brown Magnolia. We sing the song often.


This little trooper has been in the garden for two years. It spent rather a lot of time on the porch, waiting to be planted, so the first year was recovery. Year two, it added maybe one leaf the whole season. I was assured by certain naysayers that it was either of inferior quality or had been irreparably offended by its early treatment. But this year, it's finally growing! Granted, it's still the Charlie Brown Magnolia, but I love it all the same.



So, that's the news from B-town.