thankful thursday

Hummingbirds.

The tiniest breeding bird in Massachusetts.

Brightening even a rainy day.

Need I say more?

~~~~~

seven sketches

Pencil sketch made in the barn while keeping an eye on Hazel.

She had broken a horn tip and was feeling vulnerable.

She soon felt much better.

Another breakage: I dropped two of my porcelain watercolor dishes

before I even had a chance to use them.

They come in a set of five little stacking dishes and one cover.

Now I have four dishes and no cover.

This is, as they say, why we can't have nice things.

This watercolor card was painted on the Solstice.

I was thinking about how the sun comes up behind my hemlock tree.

And these standing stones at Avebury were drawn from an historical photograph.

These not-standing stones are in the South Paddock.

Moxie kept me company while I was painting

but she had a challenging time trying to stretch out comfortably on the highest one.

There have been very, very few iris flowers this year - I don't know why.

Maybe more will bloom before the summer is over?

I live in hope.

Meanwhile, I have the rudbeckia -

although a goat first tried to have a piece of this one!

~~~~~

wordy thursday

At the moment, rain or shine, my world is many shades of green.
These pictures were taken yesterday, when it wasn't raining.

I was checking a transplanted clump of Chelone lyonii

and there next to it was this razzle-dazzle:

A nice surprise - white spiderwort appearing in an unexpected place.

The first comfrey flowers of 2019:

Last year, my comfrey plant grew so tall and wide

it got flattened by it's own weight in a rainstorm.

And then continued to grow upward from it's prone position! It was huge.

I was told that comfrey doesn't need full sun, and "full sun" areas are at a premium here, so in the Autumn I divided the root mass and moved most of it to a new bed by the east boundary stone wall.

Now there are two plants, both doing nicely and beginning to bloom.

It remains to be seen if either or both will turn into another massive shrub-sized plant.

 Every year I look forward to jack-in-the-pulpit:

There are a couple of places where I expect to see it

and am careful not to cultivate until it is safely up.

But I always find it in other spots as well.

It often becomes hidden by other plants growing up around it -

as this one, now surrounded and overtopped by violets.

And concluding today's program:

one of the new rudbeckias.

Three are already blooming,and the fourth has several buds.

I don't know if any of the flowers will be as brown as my original plant,

but they are certainly bright and cheerful and very welcome.

~~~~~

markmaking monday

I am still having a difficult time uploading images.

It takes ages, and sometimes, after waiting and waiting, the upload still fails to work.

But I'm going to try!

Here are the most recent Daily Markmaking efforts, #523 - 526.

 Another goat-plucked stem of dame's rocket.

A plum, based on an illustration.

Another illustration-based sketch.

Some of my sketches are on heavy watercolor paper
in the form of postcards or folding cards.

This one is a folding card.

~~~

I hope all is well with you and yours, dear readers.
Things have been rather challenging here lately,
but the gardens are very slowly getting underway.
How about you?
~~~~~