emerging Tulip foliage… absolutely intriguing and fascinating close up!

The force of life, wonderful to watch.

Over the past week, Ricki and I have been noticing the bees that have been coming to the pond to drink. They carefully land on the rock or moss where they can safely get to the water without falling in, their feet cannot hold on to vertical slippery surfaces. We didn’t think much of it and just watched as they do their dance! Yesterday morning, however, I went outside to toss old bread out to critters and walked by the pond, when I noticed a steady and low hum. Not the sound you hear from one bee, but a huge hum that came from A LOT of bees! As I turned my head to the pond, I saw bees swarming about and a small bee carpet along the moss! The photo shows only a fraction, hard to capture it all without getting right in it! This rapid growth in population had me a bit concerned, although the bees were definitely not aggressive.

I turned to my friend, experienced bee keeper Debra Roberts, who gave me excellent advice about these bees. She writes "For me, this is an utterly delightful photo! And there is nothing to worry about. These are honeybees and on these days that are over 50 and especially 60 degrees, the honeybees are emerging from their winter hives and starting to forage for pollen, nectar and water. These bees are drinking, for themselves and to take back to the hive to water down the stored honey to then feed the babies (babies in brood form, babies in newly emerged form). As the weather gets warmer, this is a population explosion time. These bees won’t bother you unless you sit on them or put your face close to them and breathe on them. Honeybees can fly over 2 miles to get water but probably live closer to you in a local bee keeper’s hive somewhere in your area. It is less likely they will live in a local tree because feral bees hardly exist anymore. This is not a swarm (which is also a very benign thing). If you are a gardener, this is a happy sight because your fruits and veggies, esp, may get a visit from these girls later (but not in these numbers at once). These bees do not live by water, they just visit."

Great advice! We will continue watching the bees with fascination (and respect…)!

The first Hyacinth! Their vigor and massive blossoms are simply wonder-full! This one came into the house with me and its fragrance fills the bathroom with lovely sweet scent for about a week!

Through the fall leaves poke the most delightful anemones. They close their blossoms in the evening, protecting themselves from the harsh spring night temperatures.

The back section of the garden has been somewhat neglected. The fence has been slowly falling apart and was torn up last year by Jessie, a sweet husky that the neighbors had unfortunately tied to a huge chain, he almost hung himself several times trying to climb over this fence! They have since moved, I hope Jessie is well. The old trunk is rotting away slowly but I can’t bring myself to toss it, it’s just a great piece of yard art! The double narcissus add a golden light to the scene.

Know anyone who builds fences? :-)

The rosemaries are just starting to bloom, tiny blue blossoms on robust woody rosemary stalks, fantastic!

Although many of the 20 species of the Helleborus genus are toxic, it remains an absolute favorite in spring! The clumps of star foliage and delicate flowers make their way through thick ivy and announce spring despite freezing nights! These two beauties were wedding presents from our garden ceremony and will continue to spread throughout the yard (with a little help from my trowel, of course…).

when it’s coming through your outlet!

Haven’t brought myself to get it outta there yet since I discovered it a couple of days ago, it’s just too hilarious!

But seriously, this wonderful and vigorous plant can do a bit of damage, I’ve seen it push stone and concrete walls apart, so watchout! This baby is crawling up under the siding on the outside and has also found its way into our crawl space under the house, some serious eradication is in order…

As I look around in the garden, my eye falls on this brass compass, a piece I had purchased years ago in a second handshop in West Asheville. Nothing spectacular, one would think, but seeing the tiny sedums come up through the leaves and the metal just makes my heart jump… Spring’s here!

One of the NYT editorials made a wonderful statement: The truth is this: Americans cannot expect immigrants to serve them — to make their beds and meals, feed their babies and ailing parents, and pick their crops — while living in fear and hopelessness.

The political approach to the immigration challenge certainly needs to change, and it needs to move towards embracing the people who come here and those who are already here. Unless you are a full blooded Native American, you or your ancestors came here as immigrants. The Earth is not that large and our human population is growing, people are naturally following their intuition to where opportunity greets them and their lives flourish.

It may be helpful, for the presidential candidates as much as anyone else, not to treat immigration as a separate issue. It’s not an issue at all, actually. It is a demand, something that’s not to be stopped but observed and embraced. No so-called foreigner is separate from a citizen anymore, really. The lines are blurred. We are all habitants of this Earth, let’s stop separating and start making stronger communities. The global village including its trade and migration, the Earth’s health, provisions for all its inhabitants…. I hope the next leader of this country will have a broader and all-inclusive vision of where we’re heading.

I am a legal alien in this country and feel extremely grateful and blessed to be here. My obstacles have been minute: I didn’t have to walk through the desert and cross the border illegally, work for people who exploit me and live in overcrowded housing, working for years before raising my standard while being discriminated every day in some circumstance. My motherland Germany prepared me with plenty of schooling, fluent English, and skills to jump right into the educated work force. It wasn’t always easy but nothing compared to the challenges non-English speaking illegal immigrants face.

Interesting times we live in…