This evening I was wandering down the back of my garden checking to see if my laundry was dry, it has been a good drying day, warm and windy, so of course it was. As I walked around I noticed a "petal" on the ground, almost all green with a perfect orange throat, as is the norm with my garden I looked upwards, figuring that the plant from whence the petal had come would be in the heavens. Sure enough there in the skies, in a tree at least 40 feet tall was a beautiful flower. I ran in to get the camera, to take an extreme zoom shot of the bloom, as it turned out, the wind, in its power, had snapped off a branch and a bloom lay on the ground. With the bloom and my shots I managed to identify it, its a Tulip Poplar tree, which upon learning its ID I almost bust a gut. Not only are the flowers glorious (despite the fact that they are 40 feet up and you can't see them) BUT, BUT, it is the host plant for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.... can we say caterpillars folks...., I am about as excited as a human being should be allowed to get right now.... Mother Nature must just love me to death.

I spent the day weeding the bed at the edge of my patio and then planting it for my impending butterfly invasion. I planted butterfly weed (host plant of the monarch and nectar plant for all others), fennel,dill and parsley (host plants for black swallowtails), Penta (nectar), Lantana (nectar) and then I oversowed the bed with seeds, zinnia, mexican sunflower, cleome more dill and more butterfly weed. I am hoping that this bed will attract an army of butterflies to my garden this year in addition to all of the other plants that I have in my garden specifically to feed them. While I was at my favourite nursery (Pender Pines by the way, just outside of Hampstead, NC, if you ever get a chance to visit then you must, it is truly spectacular and will make even the casual gardner drool with sheer desire.) Where was I? Oh yes, for the most part the staff at Pender Pines are very knowledgeable and have the answer to every question immediately. They must have some new staff however as today I asked a simple question "do you have any butterfly weed" three of the folks that I spoke to didn't know what I was talking about, the one that did said she didn't know where it was, as it turned out they didn't have any, but then when I was checking out there was this exchange.... cashier "wow thats alot of fennel" me "yes its for the caterpillars" cashier "you are buying it for the caterpillars to eat?" me "yes" cashier "weird". Contrast this to last year.... my caterpillars have eaten the fennel down to the stalks, they have nothing left to eat, I get on the phone to pender pines.... "do you have any fennel?" staff "no sorry we are out for this year" me "do you know anyone who does, my caterpillars need food" staff "Oh no problem we have lots of dill, they will eat dill if there is no fennel, we still have lots of dill also do you happen to grow carrots they will eat carrot tops" which of course means me jumping into the car and driving down to Pender Pines to buy lots and lots of dill. Another emergency phone call me "hi do you have any butterfly weed left?" staff "hmmmm I think so let me check" hold "yes how many do you need?" me "at least six, my caterpillars need food" staff "no problem we have lots right now". Now I know it is quite a strange person that will spend good money on a plant specifically for it to be eaten but I think we have all agreed by now that I am a strange person, of the first order. By the way, this is the fennel just after I had planted it and watered it in.

If you get up early enough, and take a turn around the garden, you will be delighted to find that overnight the fairies have sprinkled diamonds on your plants. Whether it be from the morning dew or from a heavy overnight rain, with the sun catching it just right it looks for all the world that you have your own diamond mine. Were they real diamonds of course I would be rich and could retire and simply take photographs full time, but even so, even though the diamonds are just water and short-lived once the sun comes up to dry them away, they are the most perfect jewels of the landscape, in which you can see the reflections of the sun and sky, and perfect prisms of light, which bounce rainbows into the air. I find that no matter how many photographs I take of them, I always feel compelled to take just one more, just one more shot of that perfect light, the early morning sunshine, creating diamonds in the garden. After all, as we all know, diamonds are a girls best friend.

Winter of course is cold, grey and miserable, with only weak, unpenetrating sun to warm our skin. Fall is a time of death, a time of sleep, a time of saying goodbye, not only to our plants but to our critters Summer is a time of oppressive heat, of shading ourselves, of sweating, of drinking gallons of water to keep hydrated. But Spring, ah the glories of Spring, when the suns are just warm enough to warm and toast our skin but not yet hot enough to send us scurrying inside, when a gentle rumble emits from the ground as the perennials that have lain silent and dark in the ground all winter are suddenly awakened by the warmth of the sun. When a turn around the garden with a glass of wine in the evenings is a nightly revelation, as a new sprout is seen pushing up through the mulch. My banana tree came back, only today I saw its first sprout pushing through the woodchips and I rejoiced. The new roses I planted recently have all sent out shoots and soon there will be rose blooms galore in the new rose bed. And the Don Juan, an ancient rose that I planted many moons ago, on a long since destroyed trellis, is yet again sending up new green shoots from its dead looking main branch that many years ago decided to take off up the trees and remain like Howard Hughes, heard of but never seen, and soon there will be blooms in the trees that only the birds can see. The hosta are busting out of the ground like small missiles, making one wonder how such a huge plant can live in such a small rhizome over the winter, and the Elephant ears only repeat that point. Only today I saw that the peony had broken ground, Ms. Sarah Bernhardt will soon be sending out buds that the ants will be digging into to get the hidden nectar and the huge pom pom like blooms will fragrance the air for weeks. Within short order my asiatic and oriental lilies will burst forth with blooms that the butterflies and bees will literally get drunk on, staggering around with mass amounts of orange pollen on their wings. Is there any better affirmation of life than Spring? If only it could last all year.

This evening, in celebration of a three-day weekend, I sat out on my patio, in my gazebo and drank a glass of wine while listening to the birds. The Mocking Bird sat, as he usually does, on the power lines which lead from the street to the unused light in my backyard. From his vantage point there he can sing to the world, and declare, to all those who are interested, that this is his domain. The wonderful thing about the Mockingbird's song is that it is unlike any other bird's song. Whereas other birds will have a standard repertoire, from the Wren's shrill call announcing its presence, to the lilting call of the White Throated Sparrow, their songs are always the same. Not so the Mocking Bird, hence his name. No, the Mocking Bird sings his song, he sings other birds songs, he sings the sounds of telephones ringing, he sings the sounds of a song he heard on the radio, he sings as a Mocking Bird, he sings as a Bluebird, he sings as a Wren, he sings as a Blackbird, he sings such a joyous combination of every other bird song that you hear that his song is truly a symphony. I could truly sit and listen to him for hours, as he sits there on the power line and just sings for all he is worth. It is such a joyous sound, it is a pure celebration of life, Spring is upon us, and he has weathered yet another winter, and in celebration of such he sits on the power lines and sings "I managed to survive the winter" "the warm weather is here again" "soon there will be ample food" "no more having to eat damn sunflower seeds off that human's feeder I can eat MEAT" "I need me a WOMAN NOW". Whatever is going on in my world, just a moment sat out there listening to the Mockingbird sing is enough to lift my soul to its highest of heights. Everything is right with the world, the Mocking Bird is welcoming Spring.