A Productive Day

I got out to the garden early this morning - the weather forecast was for a break in the rain between 9 and 11 with rain the rest of the day. I had an area that I call "the final frontier" that I really wanted to finish up. 

We had such a mild late winter/early spring that I've been working in the gardens since early February. Both gardens look better than they ever have - it's been one of the silver linings of the pandemic....creating so much space for me to be in the garden. But back to the final frontier. I have a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar (that I inherited) in my big front perennial garden. It's really a gorgeous color and form - I do keep it very compact. But it's prickly and droopy and mostly I ignore what's under it. But I had a good look early this year and it was overrun with aggressive weedy plants like ornamental strawberries, lily-of-the-valley, ajuga, dandelions, Labrador Violets - well, they're all very aggressive here in our lush temperate climate. Early in the year I covered up as much as I could with cardboard and today I was in the mood to attack it. Fortunately a lot of the weeds were on their way out anyway, so some good weeding, followed by replacing the cardboard and covering with bark mulch - gosh it looks great now! I was very proud of myself!

Today's blip is Iris Siberia 'Butter and Sugar'. I bought it earlier this year (curbside pick up of course) for a very damp spot in my garden where this iris should thrive. It has just one blossom, and it's going by, but don't you love those colors? 

I spent the afternoon tackling the problem of how to review my syllabus for my first time teaching Plant ID Annuals and Perennials remotely. A fellow instructor at our community college recommended an application called "Screen-Cast-O-Matic" which allows you to do a video screen capture while also recording your voice. And you can edit out the parts that needed re-doing! I felt really virtuous after I got that sorted out, recorded and uploaded into the course website. Next I need to tackle actually video-ing the plants that I'm teaching. It's good to learn new things isn't it? Keeps the brain young :-)

I'm earning my adult beverage and time at the jigsaw, which I'll be doing in an hour or so. By the way, I'm about 95 percent done with the 2000 piece jigsaw that I started a month or so ago....I don't think I will try that many pieces again!

Thank you so much for your lovely comments, stars and hearts on my drippy foxglove and old oak tree yesterday! Hope you're having lovely weekends!