April 2011 – Skelton Sketches

From Small Beginnings…

Posted on April 30, 2011April 30, 2017 by lindaskelton

OK, so I haven’t made it up Scout (yet) this week and I haven’t been out and about on any wonderful walks and there just isn’t a lot of ‘Spring’ happening yet but I have planted little wonder seeds and am watching the small beginnings emerge in the greenhouse…

Here are two of my favorites. The first, a little wild lupine from seed I gathered one very rainy day tromping down an old logging road and remembering the profusion of yellow blooms I’d seen earlier in the summer at that spot… OK so it’s a little like growing a mighty weed… but beautiful. And yes, Jim, it will be moving to other quarters before it becomes invasive!

The second little seedling is a happy little licorice-scented volunteer that blooms crazy purple bottlebrushes. I don’t ever seem to use ‘Anise-hyssop’ but I grow it for the love of the scent and the carefree blooms. (Or should I say, it grows itself from the zillions of pepper-sized seeds it scatters). My job is merely Protector from the weeding wizard! So far, so good.

Meanwhile, out and about there are these sweet little fir cones forming bright wee bouquets…

…and Miss Ash, the broccoli look-alike, a young ash grown from seed but destined for destruction as a garden plot is being developed at its feet… and that will never do. Poor ash.

And that’s the week’s findings in the horticulture department. Blessings on all your seed-sowing.

—LS

“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves [with him].” Psalm 126:6

Rhizomes Rising

Posted on April 22, 2011 by lindaskelton

[horsetail pic borrowed from random internet source]

Spring may be slow in coming this year but one sure crop is coming right along. We’ve had an education in rhizomes this week. Horsetail are prolific in heavy wet soils such as ours and a scourge that is seemingly impossible to eradicate. Jim found out why when he got do digging down, down, down for their origin–rhizomes…”A continuously growing horizontal underground stem that puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals.” Two feet below the surface these tenacious ‘stems’ with their hard shell black nodes at intervals act like subterranean factories continuously supplying replacements for all the crazy bottlebrushes one weeds out up above. But this year, at least for a little while, my potato bed will be horsetail free thanks to Jim’s tenacious rhizome ridding.

Ugly aren’t they?!

A much lovelier rhizome is one I miss seeing here. It carpeted the woods of my childhood. I had to ‘google’ this pic as I’m too many miles away to see if the Mayflowers have raised their umbrellas in ‘my’ little wood in time for Easter. Perhaps it’s too early yet. Anybody know?

What bit of nature reminds you of springtime?

Here are some of my favorites:

Robins picnicking in the yard. Their cheery chirrups are a sure sign that winter’s past.

And who can resent spring’s first dandelions with their bright faces?

T(This dandy fellow seems to be harboring a couple tiny spiders!)

My bleeding hearts have risen to fill their nook by an old stump…

Rhubarb doesn’t mind a cool spring. It always emerges with such enthusiasm!

In contrast, one of spring’s tiniest beauties… have not forgotten to bloom.

For they are ‘forget-me-not’s!

And that’s my bit of springtime blogging for now. With the garden begging to be dug into there haven’t been many hikes this week.

May your hopes keep rising unthwarted, like a hardy rhizome,

fed by ‘subterranean’ joy.

For Christ is risen and has overcome the world!

O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory?…But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. I Cor.15:55,57

–LS

First bloom!

Posted on April 15, 2011April 30, 2017 by lindaskelton

The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing of birds has come,
And the voice of the [bullfrog] is heard [in every roadside ditch] in our land.(Song of Solomon 2:12)
—LS
Spring is taking its sweet time this year—still pretty shivery out! But the birds are singing their hearts out–I love that! The salmonberry are a little behind but I spotted this bloom while out walking yesterday…Next week will be our Easter Break so maybe I’ll get out and turn some earth in hope of warmer days coming. Gardening is such a faith thing, resting on the promise of God that “while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Gen.8:22