Charlie and the Flower Factory

First, he steals my heart.

Then, he destroys my garden.

The next door neighbor's garage sale began at the unthinkable hour of 6 a.m. (I'm always impressed with people who will rise and shine that early looking for a bargain.)

The moment the first customers arrived, Charlie went bonkers barking and barking.

Not because he was alerting me to stranger danger. Oh, no.

He thought it was pretty darn silly for those folks to be shopping when they could come on over to his yard and play fetch!

So, I, too, got up super early and marched out there, to retrieve my over-zealous pup, taking stock of the disaster that is my yard, now that he's my roommate.

Deep holes, unearthed perennials and all sorts of horrific gardening crimes...

Gypsy Queen, Heirloom Hyacinth [1927]

Charlie witnessed me doing the unthinkable ~ digging a hole ~ planting spent Hyacinth bulbs I forced in the house.

If I dig, he thinks he can dig, and since I don't speak dog we are locking horns, big time, on this issue.

Amidst a pile of doggie toys ~ my brand new bedroom slippers (Charlie! Bad Dog!)...  I spotted tiny blue stars speckling the side yard. Scilla has jumped the boundaries of the well-defined garden beds, flowering in the lawn.

I love these little gals but they are as out of control as that diggin' dog.

Not a whole lotta news to report from this neck of the woods.

It was a grey, cold, do-nothing week. I find it so hard to get motivated when it's dreary outdoors. 
I cooked, I cleaned. Played with the horses.

Killing time, waiting for spring to arrive.

Which, it has - to a certain extent. Though I guess it won't feel that way until we see some serious sunshine.

~ kate

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Growing Scilla:
I've been in love with pretty blue Scilla since I was a youngster in Minnesota. They are incredibly cold hardy. Zone 2! We're talking the North Pole, here! Plant the bulbs on top of Daffodils for a pretty show. The bulbs, and flowers, are quite tiny, but they will give you great joy in early springtime.

* Similar to Grape Hyacinth, you should plant 50-100 bulbs to make an impact.