Grounded

Three things ground and centre me faster than all the meditation in the world: making bread, knitting, and digging large holes for plants. I'm not sure if I'll get to the first of those activities this weekend (though I have some soured milk which would be ideal for that purpose) but I've gotten some of the other two activities in and feel much the better for it.

The knitting is for my newest baby cousin, whom I haven't seen yet and may not see for a while as he lives in Maine. Still, I'll probably get a chance to see him before I get to see the newest-but-one baby cousin, who lives in Switzerland.

The holes were for two roses. The 'Angel Face' for Artemis' garden arrived on Friday, and I found (quite unexpectedly) a 'Comte de Chambord' at the local warehouse of home improvement. The Comte is a portland damask, one of an early group of garden roses now not much seen, since they have been 'superceded' by roses with more exciting colours, longer bloom times, bigger blossoms and so on. Nevertheless, the portland damasks, which are thought to be the link between the autumn damasks and the hybrid perpetuals, are fine garden plants, steady bloomers and intensely fragrant. Both 'Angel Face' and the Comte were bareroot, so they needed prompt attention and nice big holes.

There's plenty else going on in the garden. My hardy water lily was found to have punched a hole through the side of its basket and needed re-potting. The chionodoxas are blooming as are the Tenby daffodils. Daffodils 'Salome' and 'Jenny' are showing buds but aren't open yet. Clematis 'Comtesse de Bouchaud' was killed to the roots but is coming back from them. And the Persian fritillary has made its above-ground debut. It does not look like an onion. Instead, it has pushed up what will probably unfold into a rosette of leaves, but at the moment resembles a smallish artichoke.

verso - recto