Green space

For the twelve years prior to my moving to Fredericksburg I lived in a variety of dorms, apartments, and condos around the D.C. area. While they were "quaint" in some instances, they lacked green space other than my handful of houseplants and an outside courtyard or nearby park. In moving to the small town of Fredericksburg, I made it a priority to find something in the historic district but green space wasn't really on my 'must have' list; I think I kind of forgot it was an option!

So lo and behold finding a cute little rental house with a yard to call my own. Now don't get me wrong, having a yard comes with headaches related to weeds, and mowing grass, and shoveling snow. But the benefits definitely outweigh the negatives. Today, for instance, I made a bouquet from the bounty of my backyard. Purple salvia from my cutting garden, rosemary from my herb garden, and honeysuckle vine from that eyesore of a chainlink fence bordering my neighbor's yard. The smell. Oh, the smell!

The Chinese lantern plant that I purchased from a nice lady at the farmer's market last spring has decided to create some offspring and my one plant is now five! I see the buds and flowers forming and can't wait for the funky orange lanterns to appear.

And those two gorgeous poppies that popped just a week or so ago are now in their ugly seed pod forms - you can cut and dry these, but I'm going to let them stay so they can self-seed and make some little poppy offspring of their own.