Happy Admin Professionals' Day

For the first time in at least a dozen years, I did not spend Administrative Professionals' Day in an office. I did not receive flowers or go out for a nice lunch (good bosses).  Nor was I entirely ignored or neglected either (bad bosses).

Today I worked outside moving tables, unloading carts and racks of annuals and perennials, tidying up the vegetable starts and herbs, and helping lots of customers find the plants they wanted. You see, I now work in a nursery & garden store. I gave up the whole office gig to try my hand at something else. This job is a wonderful opportunity to do something very different and to learn more about a subject that really interests me. Plus I get to interact with people who love plants and gardening. Every day I discover something new, memorize a few more botanical names, and learn tips and tricks from more experienced gardeners. I find my brain acting like a big sponge, just soaking up lots of info. At the end of the day, I am very tired, but it's the good kind of tired that comes from a day of working hard and actually doing something. I feel great!

Well... for the most part I feel great. I've been a little accident-prone lately and have some nasty bumps and bruises. It's amazing the size of a bruise you can get on your derriere when a rack full of gallon containers of lavender pins your feet, bowls you over, and pushes you onto the macadam. It's a good thing I'm a tough cookie. Hmmm.... maybe I should try out for roller derby after all!  But I digress...

So, to avoid a photo-less post, here's one of my absolute favorite plants. It seems apropos, no?   Enjoy!

Thank you to Rainy Side Gardens for the terrific photos of the 'Black & Blue' Salvia guarantica.

-- Wing Nut, the recovering Admin Professional

 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day -- April 2008

Welcome to the April edition of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day at WWW. April is the month of irises here.  These are right outside our living room windows. No idea what their name is. They were planted by a previous gardener.

 

But how in the world did that large clump of red tulips get in amongst the irises?

The flower that most often haunted my daydreams during dreary desolate winter days is about to crash this party. The freesia!

In the shade garden the hellebore 'mardi gras black' is still dancing and heuchera 'snow angel' is blushing pink.

 

Polemonium 'purple rain' is all decked in blue-violet.

 

And we may YET get trilliums to bloom in our garden--this is our 3rd try.

The belle of the ball of the shade garden is the bleeding heart.

 

 

On the hillside tulips extend the yellow season that began with the daffodils. 

What is this among the tulips? A mutant hyacinth? Look at that stem of deepest purple!

Very soon the hillside yellows will be joined by the blue-violet of the spanish bluebells.

Also at the bottom of the hill is the lilac. It is going to be spectacular this year--another one of our pruning experiments from last year. It is FULL of buds.

The bottom of the hill is completely naturalized with bulbs. But further up the hill heuchera 'peach flambe' holds court.

What's that? You want to peek under our cloche? Well, I don't know... we've had some unwelcome visitors trying to steal our salad greens. I think it's best if we leave the salad greens be for now.  We'll do a separate post about what's under the cloche. When? Soon. Now SHOO!  Get on over to May Dreams Gardens and visit all the other GBBD posts.

A visitor in our potager

Look what we found on our patio at 7 a.m. on Saturday  morning. White Socks was about to burst through the window and Diva Dog was none too happy either.

Hey it's trying to get under the cloche. That's OUR salad you thief!

Guess it decided it was too much work.

A none too graceful up-and-over.

We dedicate this last photo to Aunt Debbi. Hey Aunt Debbi, we think it's a boy.