A feast of St. Bush

All through the long winter,
I dream of my garden.
On the first day of spring,
I dig my fingers deep
into the soft earth.
I can feel its energy,
and my spirits soar.
(H. Hayes)

I haven't done any work here for a while. Shame on me. Instead I spent the last few days having to do nothing but gardening. And all thanks to George Bush, spoiling us with a prolonged weekend. One of the greatest living dumbbells decided to visit the capital of Lilliput, Zagreb, for two days. And despite of all the annoyances, traffic jams, and the security measures that preceded and followed his parade, I spent a few lovely spring days digging the dirt and fighting the weeds. To my utmost delight, the Botanical garden opened its door the other day but it was within the parade zone so instead of green thumbs visiting, it was full of Double You's secret agents. I can't wait to visit next week. The buzzing of the military aircrafts is gone, that must mean that Air Force One has taken him to another country ''to spread more good will and peace&prosperity sermons''...

(source: Jutarnji list)

Nera & Maleni can't even imagine the dangerous work

some of their canine friends have to do; their biggest worry is
to remember where the bone had been buried

It finally seems that spring has taken the helm

Common lilac

Kristy has a brand new hideout ...

... and she's wearing that ''do not disturb'' face again

Equisetum fluviatile

I have started to do some work on the slope which is covered
in layers of very poor soil (gravel & sand) and weeds; my plan is
to eliminate all of the weeds and create a rockery type of cascades
with different sorts of groundcovers and creeping perennials;
not much to see yet, this will take years and years of work,
but that's exactly what I'm looking forward to

and this is what parts of my lawn look like after
I've been fighting weeds - what a mess!

This particular area has been invaded with Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). It's spreading like mad and taking over my turf; I don't mind it elsewhere but here I have done my best so far to create one fine carpet of turf (digging up entire of my front garden, carefully removing any visible and invisible traces of weeds, laying out few levels of quality compost, manure, more compost and sowing the finest ornamental grass seeds I could get hold of, mowing twice a week etc.) and now this little bugger is messing with my patience; I've become so irritated by this weed I freaked out when I spotted it being sold along with other perennials in my favourite nursery (I hope it didn't come from there, hidden in one of the pots); I had to dig deep down to eradicate the subterranean roots and that included destroying my beloved turf area and sowing grass all over again, I don't mind as long as I get rid of this nuisance because as far as my eyes can see, it has a detrimental effect to my lawn; weed-killers are never an option and there are parts with less infestation so all I do is make the soil moist and then try to pull it out gently following the runners; I just hope that one day I won't have to dig up entire front lawn to eliminate this lurking menace. What's worse, I've even found a few interesting details about its healing effects: ''...the rootstock was cooked as a vegetable by the Celts and Native Americans. Applied to sore areas, the fresh plant relieves pain. A root decoction is used in anti-wrinkle creams. A wash reduces skin redness, freckles, and sunburn. The powdered root and leaf are used to stop internal hemorrhaging. The powder also makes an astringent for mouth sores and treats diarrhea. Taken with honey, it relieves sore throats, coughs, and fever...'' I got a whole lot of uninvited guests in my garden, which I genuinely love, but this particular is not welcome, not even with a wild card ! Not even as a homeopathic remedy !!!