What Came Before

Some of what grows here has been left by those who came before us.

This is bugle weed, and when it's blooming like this, there isn't much prettier. Let's just always remember it this way and forget how dark and pushy it is the rest of the year, shall we?


A constant buzzing accompanies the bugle weed, and if you kneel down and focus just over the tops of the flowers, the whole field appears to be moving as the bumblebees put on their pollen bloomers. Bungle bees, as I call them, are my favorite bee because they're fuzzy and they've never once tried to sting me.

Here is Kerria. I adore it. It is part of the rose family, and its stems and leaves look like rose foliage, but it has no thorns. It grows in stands of slender bright green stalks and makes these puffy yellow flowers. Pure sunshine on a stick.

Forget-me-nots are sprinkled around the property like blue fairy dust.

Sweet little violas, also known as Johnny-jump-ups.
Or as The Big Guy calls them, Jump Off Joes.