[Alice and Annabelle hydrangeas relax in the shade, with a less-than-usually-troublesome squirrel standing guard]
Or is that “heaven”? It’s been awhile coming, but now, in their third summer here, the hydrangeas are really beginning to come into their own. I have five varieties, four Oakleaf and one arborescens, and all are showing improvement over last year’s output.
On Monday 5 June 2023, I went into a local hospital for a heart ablation. I’ve had rhythm issues for almost twenty years, originating in a heart defect when I was born, with a hole in a ventricle. I had open-heart surgery to repair this at age 3, in 1963, when such things were still a novelty. The surgery was a complete success, I’ve never had an issue with my heart since, but as I aged into my forties, arrhythmias developed, as I understand is common among pediatric heart patients.
No longer spring, but not quite summer – it’s Sprummer in the garden! Emerging as the last of the spring bulbs are fading, and the first of the summer perennials are starting to bud, Sprummer is that liminal time between seasons, populated florally by a few choice plants with roots in spring and tips in summer.
“Queen of Rock” Tina Turner passed into the celestial firmament on 24 May 2023, to the sorrow of her many fans globally. A literal rags to riches, to rags to riches, American success story, Turner’s music galvanized the 1980s, becoming the soundtrack to our lives, and her personal saga of rejection of a life with an abusive spouse gave hope to millions of women. Already on her way to becoming a music icon by the early ‘60s, Turner’s career slumped after her separation from Ike, but an amazing comeback in the mid-‘80s inspired all performers of a certain age.
A number of moments, before and during the coronation of Charles III, deserve special mention and analysis. Here, then, is my personal journal of the events surrounding the occasion, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Climate change continues apace, and this has been one of the oddest springs in my experience. After a ridiculously warm early winter and the earliest recorded blossoms in my garden, Mother Nature seems to have taken a step back, realized how overextended she was, and called a halt to the whole thing. Weeks of below normal cold punctuated with hot stretches that flirted with the mid-80s created a “two steps forward, one step back” mentality in the garden, with nothing blooming in season, and unique bouquets of cut flowers that would normally never blossom together. Drought vied with torrential downpours, and a late freeze crushed the star magnolia blooms at their peak.
