I used to have a beautiful perennial garden in our back yard. It was a lovely little brick bordered bed and over the years I filled it with a varied assortment of colorful flowers.
There was purple lupine.
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The harder to grow white lupine.
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And some fabulous red bee balm.
A few years in, a little apple tree seeded itself and since I didn’t have the heart to pull it up… it grew happily alongside the phlox, black eyed Susans and Shasta daisies.
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My garden made a wonderful foreground in photos of the big barn construction progress.
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And I had many happy years of bright blooms and vases full of freshly cut flowers.
Until my husband bought the beast.
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The monster zero turn lawn mower that flings grass clippings and weeds what seems like 100 miles. No matter how many times I begged him to reverse direction and steer clear, over the years my bed was overtaken by weeds. No matter how many of the damn things I pulled, dug up or chopped… I couldn’t contain the growth and they slowly started choking out my flowers.
By 2019 I gave up.
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I bought numerous bags of mulch.
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Weed whacked everything down to ground level…
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And covered the whole thing, leaving only the tree. And while I missed my riotous blooms, the aesthetic was pleasing enough to satisfy.
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Of course the husband and his big orange beast kept throwing grass in the bed so I kept getting down on my hands and knees to weed. Until I blew out my knee in the fall of 2020 and could no longer crouch or kneel without considerable pain.
So I gave up again, and now? It looks like this.
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A large brick bordered bed of weeds. It disgusts me on a daily basis but I vowed not to touch it again until a new, taller stone border could be built. And now that the husband is retired with nothing but time on his hands….?
The forest of trees my husband recently planted need to be watered and I’ll give you one guess who has to do that….
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Twice a week I man handle 300 foot of hose down to the back forty to give them a drink.
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And once that sucker fills up with water? It is HEAVY.
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But I’ll do it, despite my bad knee and pinched neck nerve because I refuse to let $700 worth of trees die. The husband loves to plant them, but never offers any follow up care.
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After that I was down on my hands and achy knee to plant. It hurts, but is so rewarding.
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Sadly, the mice are at it again. They live under the floor of the baby barn/shed and damned if they don’t chew the blooms off my marigolds and drag them through a hole.
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I plugged it with some stones, hopefully that will stop the raiding.
There are two places I could easily spend an entire paycheck… book stores and nurseries. Which is probably why my husband tends to accelerate when ever we drive by them.
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But this trip I made with a girlfriend and okay, I had to go back for a second cart after I filled the first.
This is the quintessential Maine coastline for scenic photography….
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And selfies.
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It is also one seriously beautiful stroll.
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With lots of access points to the beach below.
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If you’re willing to take the risk.
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Did I mention there were rocks? Over a mile of glorious rock filled shore.
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And a few weirdos up on the trail.
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This is a wild beach rose, they’re everywhere along the Maine coast and the cliff walk is lined with them. It must be wonderful when they’re in full bloom, but we were a tad early and only saw a few here and there.
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I could have easily plopped myself down on one these benches and spent the entire day.
I love this time of year in Maine. It’s warm but not hot, we have ample rain and things are blooming everywhere you look.
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Pansies are always the first things I plant in pots. They’re frost tolerant and because that can still happen at the end of May here … they’re a safe bet.
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Lilacs!
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We have two massive bushes that reach for the sky… taller than our roof. It’s fabulous!
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One white, one dark purple. I wish WordPress had Smell o Vision…. because trust me peeps, it is seriously fragrant up in here.
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I planted my annual marigold rotation in front of the mini barn last week.
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And some color coordinated geraniums next to the bulkhead doors.
When our local pub posted this on their Facebook page?
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I knew I would have to try it.
Samantha is a bartender at our pub and she just returned from an impromptu vacation/wedding trip to Vegas. While there she tried a cocktail with a buzz button and decided she to create one of her own for her regulars patrons.
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I’d never heard of this plant but apparently it’s trending in bars and high end kitchens right now.
“Acmella alba is a species of plant belonging to the family Asteraceae. Common names include brede mafane, Spilanthes, Tingflower,toothache plant, Electric Daisy, and buzz buttons. The flowers and leaves contain spilanthol, a local anesthetic”
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First you take a sip of the drink, then you chew the button fully… making sure to coat your tongue and the insides of your mouth. I did this and almost gagged. Holy hell it was a bitter little thing. Once masticated and swallowed your mouth starts to “buzz”. The tingle lasts about 5 minutes and your drink tastes totally different.
It was a fun experience, but the taste was so awful I doubt I’d do it again.
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