Spring(ish)!

Now it feels like spring. I'm probably jinxing it, but honestly, I couldn't take the cold any more. And also I discovered that my non-winter suede boots are not what you would call "waterproof." Or even "water resistant," really. They see water and they run and hide, leaving nothing between the water and my socks. Which are lovely, woolly and warm, but are also not waterproof. (This is more forgiveable, as waterproof socks would be sort of strange.)

This is something that is less than exciting to discover when the forecast is calling for 10mm of rain and the weather is feeling like an overachiever.

In another sign of spring, the sage in my strawberry pot is flowering. I didn't even know that potted herbs flower, but there you go. They're rather pretty:


They're about to die, though. There is way more sage in that pot than I could ever use — I don't use much herbs to begin with, but the sage has killed the renewed tarragon and is holding its own with the invasive oregano for dominance. It is now so large that it has turned into a vine. Pd and I even had the following conversation last night:

Pd: You really have to do something about that sage.
Me: I know. I'm thinking clippers.
Pd: I don't know if clippers will be enough. I think we'll have to be napalm it from the air. It's the only way to be sure.

So, you see. Also, I feel that the primary function of my strawberry pot is to be decorative (see "don't cook with many herbs" comment, above), and it's really moved from that to territorial. Besides, I am going to have to make more room soon so I can put in new basil, which never did grow back and which I actually do use. Maybe the red kind.

In related news, I picked these up from our local big box store over the weekend:


I didn't mean to; it just sort of ... happened. I hadn't done any research whatsoever into bulbs (I hadn't actually planned on putting anything in this year, aside from the tulips that were planted last October — and I understand tulips, at least somewhat), but I love these as cut flowers, so I thought — why not? Of course, "why not" turns out to be because they're not really terribly hardy for zone 6, even a warmish zone 6, and if I want them to even pretend to be perennial I'm going to have to dig them up in the fall and overwinter the bulbs inside ... and honestly, I can't even remember where I planted the majority of those 18 tulips any more, so how am I going to remember this?

I'm going to plant them anyway, though, just to see. Because the worst thing that could happen, at this point, is for them not to come up at all, and I can deal with that.

I am trying, very hard, to hold myself back from utter gardening fever this year, and to remind myself of what happened last year. (Answer: a big lot of nothing. And dead grass.) The thing is, though, my family — my entire, extended family — is going to be visiting this summer — my big, successful, persnickety family with the perfectionist streak (hey, I got it from somewhere), who are going to be seeing my house, and my garden, for the first time. They're kind of judge-y (likewise), and I already feel a bit like a black sheep in this family — I'm the only only child, the only introvert, the only artsy. Possibly the only tree-hugger. (Also the only one with a graduate degree, but it's in arts, so it doesn't count.) They love me, and I love them, but I as sure as hell better be impressive come this July.