Ivy and Blooming Things

I spent all of yesterday morning in the garden. The English ivy that serves as a ground cover in some of our flower beds had become a little too effective, all but smothering some of our plants. So I spent the whole morning pulling ivy. I filled three yard waste bags, and there's plenty more to be done!

English ivy will take over. It's relentless. My grandmother had some in her yard in Maryland, and it used to cause disagreements with her neighbors. It would grow up the brick wall that separated the two houses, and the neighbors would complain. (And now they're all dead, which makes me think we should just relax.)

But anyway, back to yesterday. I also repotted my purple heart, which had become incredibly root bound and kind of sad-looking, and I put two burdock plants -- which I grew from seed and planted in a pot last year -- into the ground.

It was a busy morning! By lunchtime my hands were scratched and sore and my lower back was killing me. I tried to take pictures of what I'd done, but they didn't look like anything. You can't really photograph what's no longer there.

Fortunately, there's a lot more happening around here, plant-wise. On the patio (above), you can see our blooming forsythia in the back corner, as well as our foxgloves in pots on the table and more foxgloves and teasels in pots on the right -- ready to go out into the garden soon.

Indoors, our amaryllis bulbs are coming to life, sending up little green leaf sprouts.

Our first orchid of the season has appeared. Several of the others have flower stalks and we'll have more blooms soon.

Our cactus, which bloomed for the first time last year, is giving us not one but two flowers this year.

And the mystery plant has finally bloomed -- and it is, indeed, borage (Borago officinalis). I think it will continue to bloom all summer. It's already attracting insects -- see that little critter on the upper right flower?