Saturday Endeavours, Springtime Delight

It's just GORGEOUS these days. I love spring. March & April in Austin are breathtakingly, word-takingly lovely. Lovely. Yesterday I got out early (9) to do battle with the bamboo insurgents. I found one big mo-fo and hacked at it for a long time before giving up. The soil was just too mucky to do much good. Then I planted the herbs we bought at Natural Gardener (Rosemary "Mrs Howard" - !- to replace the pitiful one out front, which I moved to the back just in case it wants to live), lemongrass, catnip. The Salvia Clevelandii in the herb bed hasn't grown much, but the scent is astonishing. I want a zillion more. There's something else coming up behind where we planted the basil last year. Can't tell if it's an herb or a weed! Then, I moved all the pots out of winter storage, recklessly yanked some pups off the agave desmettiana and potted them up, and dumped out the stinky water in the rain barrel (sediment at the bottom had gone anaerobic). In front, I planted the replacement echinacea the Bluestone Perennials folks sent, only to realize I'd jumped the gun and more were coming up... so I sent an email asking how I can pay for my mistake. D'oh! But I like the company and will order more, so no harm done. I'm glad I'm honest. A volunteer tomato seedling is coming up amidst the onions. Mike spotted it. Amazing how the seeds survived in the compost bin. I spotted another out front, but am going to wait to mention it until I see if it thrives. Oh, and the columbine seeds I threw out seem to be sprouting. One of the big plants is about to bloom. Ravishing... Oh, and we saw an absolutely amazing butterfly, sipping delicately from the damp compost in the Future Tomato Bed. Mike ID'd it as an Eastern Swallowtail. And while laying in the hammock at the end of the day, two cardinals landed on the bird feeder in quick succession, then saw me and thought better of it, swooping low across my hammocky belly. I squealed with delight.