ethaisa

Well, I managed to wrestle the mugwort to a draw. I harvested enough to purify half the neighbourhood (should I be desirous of such a task, which I'm not) and hauled out a whole bunch more (transplanting some into a pot, so I can shade the patio-side of the air conditioning unit with it). The wormwood is growing in loverly silver splendor, almost civilized. The mandrake got planted under the buttternut tree, where it can live in shady splendor (I hope!) with the periwinkle and hostas.

Clover is trying to take over what is left of our postage-stamp of a back lawn, but that's ok by me. Ditto with the escaping lemon thyme. I hacked away at the worst of the overgrown grass, trying not to cut off the star-of-bethlehems which have crept in. I'll wait til they die back before really mowing. I also cut off the who-knows-where it came from asparagus plant; this is the second year - next year, I should be able to harvest!! Yum!

Also time to prune the forsythia, so that I can have pretty yellow flowers next year. There's something about pruning that's a guilty pleasure -- on one hand I hate to cut it back, on the other, there's a manacial pleasure in it. I'm going to transplant some more stars from the back underneath, in a few weeks, once the great die-down is done.

And speaking of die-backs, I'm definitely going to have to lift the irises in the front bed this fall. I've got *one* bud. No crown rot, but they're definitely gotten too deep.

I also potted up some older beefsteak seedlings I bought yesterday, because I was itching to pot up *something* and they looked good. My marigold seedlings are feathering, and the Japanese egglant seedlings are looking prodigious. Never grown those before, but I'm hopeful I'll get some fruits. Still way too early to transplant either. Grrr. Impatient gardeners are frustrated gardeners. Grrr.