Rain, Glorious Rain

Was poking about in the dust yesterday, had to dig down to a double spade length to find soil that looked like it was visited by water at any point in its existence.  Fortunately this a.m. awoke to find my paper between the doors - thank you delivery man - and a gentle rain coming down.  Over the weekend I did some potting up.  Was given some little test Mighty 'Matos that I'd been cruel too - outside/inside doing the Hokey Pokey when it was most likely too cold, and then for no good reason other than they were just outside my wingspan when I was watering - managed to completely miss them on my watering run.  I saw that the graft looked fine, but had to lop off a fair bit of the top of the plant that was d.o.a.  I decided do plant them in pots as an experiment.  Apparently they are the goldfish of tomatoes and will grow in size according to the size of the pots.  Was given some not altogether appalling plastic pots that I think are supposed to look like mid-century-modern-reproductions from the brass age.  Perfect for test purposes.  And should it work well, I'll look for some pretty clay or glazed pots late in the season when they are on sale.

Also got to run around with Kevin at the RBG - the lilacs were amazing:

Syringa vulgaris 'Rochester'

And, some new signage which adds to the experience.

Though a little cool - a perfect sunny day.

You can see that they're replacing some of the old lilacs that have been lost.  The deer fencing is unattractive, yet essential.

This must have made a good thump coming down.  Interesting, lilacs rarely perform well in the shade, yet this variety, 'Winston Churchill' is doing beautifully and would make an excellent addition to a large property.

The Cercis canadensis were just finishing up.

The wonderful thing about the gardens these days, is you never know what you're going to find.  Look at the magnificent owl.

Nothing like the warm hug of a turkey vulture.  Although the handler said it had more to do with sun tanning than it did with affection.

Struck by how perfect the form was on this little Malus 'Hillier'.

Now, when the lilacs are in bloom - it's usually a good time to visit the iris garden - not that many are in bloom just yet, but there are a number of Japanese Tree Peonies that are just lovely to see and photograph.

But......  These gardens were closed last year for renovations, and it would appear, the renovations continue.  The newish iris gardens have been completely upended - and this is what we saw:

 The iris pictured above, can just be seen next to the gazebo, if you click on the photograph and squint really hard.  I'm glad they're returning to the old format of rectangular beds, from the burgundy leaf weigela Fleur de Lis shaped beds.  However, it's going to be a while until they're anywhere close to their former glory.

So a quick spin behind the iris-to-be-garden to the hosta garden with Bart leading the way.  Kevin says this is one of his favourite spots of the garden.  Not many people visit - few probably know it exists - and hidden behind the big patch of dirt, it isn't about to be overrun this year either.

It's time to put on my rain coat and umbrella - Bart is explaining loudly it's time for his walk.