Serendib Garden

Collected from the garden today — snowdrops and hellebore blooms.

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort…”

And now for me, sleep. Did I mention I woke up at 1 a.m., after only sleeping three hours, for no good reason? I am barely coherent right now. (I used to sleep so well, before kids and cancer and early menopause. I could drop off anywhere and just sleep eight solid hours, like a

With the help of Kevin, the kids, and visiting Uncle Jed, I’ve finally finished clean-up on the front garden. It takes me a few weeks, because I can only spare about 15-30 minutes / day most days. I could pay someone to clean it up, but my garden is full of unusual early spring bulbs

I don’t remember the names of most of my hellebores, but I happened to still have the tag in the ground on this one — it’s from the Wedding Party line, named Wedding Bells. With scilla behind…

Striped squill, I think — and then I’m not sure what that tiny bulb is on the right. Could be another variety of squill? Or chionodoxa? I don’t remember it from previous years…

Close-ups on some of the hellebores. The last one (bottom right, dark purple) is big enough that I think I can safely divide it — you don’t have to divide hellebores, but if you don’t mind them being smaller for a bit, it’s an inexpensive way to get more plants, for filling out the garden

This gives you a little sense of what you can have in early spring in Chicagoland. Clockwise from the little house — hellebores, tommies (crocus tommasinus) by the base of the tree, dark purple crocuses and snowdrops near the top right, blue scilla top right corner and scattered about (they’re very small), heuchera leaves emerging,