Third day of Spring

Springtime in the Pacific Northwest: ice on the windshield this morning, shirtsleeve weather in the afternoon, and goodness know what we'll get tomorrow. It's always an adventure! (It doesn't take much to amuse me.)

I wandered outside a little bit ago to see if anything interesting was going on in the garden, and found a ladybug sunbathing on one of my favorite plants: Ilex crenata 'Dwarf Pagoda' (a small, slow-growing cultivar of Japanese holly). We had a mountain beaver rampaging through the garden a couple of months ago (which is a story in itself) and I'm grateful the critter didn't take a liking to my Dwarf Pagoda. That would have caused a great deal of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth!

I love this little evergreen shrub because of its tight, elegant shape and texture, its adorable little round foliage, and its small size—perfect for small gardens, or for tucking into a small spot in a larger garden. Ours is planted alongside a path, at the foot of an Amur maple (Acer tataricum ssp ginnala) with an underplanting of black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens'). It's just about as low-maintenance as a plant can be: we give it a bit of drip irrigation in the summer, mulch well to keep the soil moist, and admire it whenever we can. (And hope the mountain beaver doesn't discover it!)

This is my very first-ever post on my very first-ever blog, and I have to say it took more than "mere minutes" to get the whole darn thing figured out. Still to learn: how to Archive, how to add Gadgets and Links, and how to get into a rhythm and post regularly. That, of course, is the real challenge: What to write about? What's interesting? What do I have to say that's worth asking people to give up some of their precious time to listen to my ramblings? And on that note...thank you for your time, whoever is reading this, and please tell me if you have a blog so I can come and visit you!

Namaste,

Irene