A day in the garden

One of my favourite books, period, is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I remember hearing the story read by my Grade Two teacher, and being enthralled along with Mary Lennox as she discovered the growing things in the garden:

She did not skip, but walked. She went slowly and kept her eyes on the ground. She looked in old border beds and among the grass, and after she had gone around, trying to miss nothing, she had found ever so many more sharp, pale green points, and she had become quite excited again.

The book is a classic that I've read to all of my elementary school students and each of my children, hoping to stir in them the joy and excitement that can be found as things come out of the soil as if by magic and begin to grow. Today I am Mary Lennox in my own garden, though it's not a secret one hidden behind the ivy, with a newly rediscovered key. It's out in front of my house on a gorgeous sunny Monday and I don't have to go to work, so I will be looking for those pale green points and making some space for them to breathe and grow. Maybe I'll post pictures a little later on for other happy gardeners to enjoy.

Most of my moodling over the next while will probably be out in my yard, but I'll try not to forget to share a bit here, too...

8 p.m. Well, my plans to clean up the front yard didn't get very far, as I ended up digging up the strawberry patch instead. I transplanted 40 little plants to a new place and gave 16 to my neighbour across the back lane. I also moved 20 bags of leaves (to be used for composting) off the garden to a space behind our garage, and I think I'll get out and work on the front yard tomorrow. I did manage to take a few pictures of tiny growing things that make me happy this evening.

The scilla are starting to bloom...

Stella d'ora daylilies are poking through...

Those seventy tulips I planted in October are in various stages of emergence...

And narcissi are on their way!

I can't wait to see the yard in a month or so. Tomorrow's another happy yard day. Maybe I'll take a before and after picture and post them. I'm good tired this evening; after all that fresh air (and a mild sunburn) I'll sleep well for sure. Sweet garden dreams to you!