This just had to have itself be painted. I’ve used iris in my work since I tried to transplant one of my grandmother’s plum-and-mauve-colored ones from the farm to our garden in Tenafly, back in high school. I did a sketch of it I still have so I’ll slip it in when I come across it. They go by so quickly- and the scent is wonderful- my deep purple ones have a warm grapey quality entirely in sympathy with their color.

What a time of year this is. From the most delicate tracery of blossomed branches to vibrant green bulk, the transformation that is May puts us completely into another world. Burgeoning describes it. But- we are so full up with activity- garden, travel, house projects, anticipation of summer events and so on that trying to appreciate each moment of each appearance of every species of plant and animal that presents itself becomes anxiety-ridden- the very NOT of what spring is supposed to be!- and, ironically, very much is. It means too drawing and recording for me, along with the most time needed for planting. I’m trying to garden differently than I used to- not so automatic, much more curated, so to speak. (Personally I hate the present-day use of that term but it does apply in this case.) For instance if I want to keep a spiny sow-thistle because it’ll attract the birds I want now I’ll clear around it. I’ve long kept chicory in the garden for the goldfinches- and they take up a lot of real estate. It’s one of the guidelines I was looking for from the trip to the Cloisters last year (blog entry 13). It’s worth noting that I can only do this because I can identify seedlings pretty immediately now. But it has to be delicately done- and I must say the plant ID apps you can get now really are a boon.

We had a yellow warbler in the yard a couple of weeks ago and I’ve only just gotten to draw it. But here it is as I saw it (second image below.) It really is as though a canary escaped from somewhere. Still feeding – I generally stop around now but am considering continuing into at least the early summer as there are so many little bird families here. At 4:45 one wakes to a ton of birdsong- here is an interesting one-

la la v mi v te ^mi ^la*

With the second quarter of the moon we have LOTS of things to get in- quickly followed by third quarter, below-ground crops. Gardening, the long days aren’t long enough. A red admiral has shown up- you can see it kind of hidden in the little flower painting above. I found out that red admiral butterfly needs stinging nettle- and there it is in the nettle patch.

Summer’s first rose- this is from our amazing bush we’ve had for years- it also has an almost grape-y fragrance.