Happy Birthday to Me

I had a handful of Lowe's gift cards which I traded in for peat moss, pearlite and three berry-colored Echinacea. There were nine Fritillary butterflies on the plants while they sat in my driveway. Now that the plants are "installed," there is an absolute flock of butterflies. Plus one end of my garden is changing from white to yellow while the Bunny Barn end is turning pink. I find it difficult to capture the butterflies in a photo but they are there:

Then I went treasure hunting to my favorite antiques shop -  West Bay Antiques -  in Gouldsboro. The crab basket I spied last spring was still waiting for me. Now it is ensconced near my old compost pile, ready to serve as a base for the cucumber volunteers. Or are they squash? I'll know by September. The citronella geranium which I can't seem to kill sits on top of the crab basket. I love how this plant smells but I have not yet been able to train it into a pleasing shape. Its current form is what shot back up when I hacked off all the winter sprawl. "Hacked" is probably not the best garden verb. I believe "coppice" means the same thing and conjures up an image of me with a lavender floppy hat and flower trug vs. the reality of my blaze orange sweatshirt.