April 2, 2012 -- sweet Willliam, etc.

I wanted this to look just the way it did when I rounded the corner with the lawn mower this afternoon and encountered this sweet William, wild mustard, and Chinese temple bells blooming together. So sweet! I'm particularly thrilled to have the Sweet William, because I grew these plants from seed last year and have been nursing them into bloom for what seems like a very long time. These plants seem particularly precious, because I planted half my seedlings in Buckingham, half in Ashland, and in Buckingham, 3/4 of the planting has been destroyed by voles. There, the voles started destroying the plants' roots in early spring and have continued until now, when I'm finding budded, rootless stalks on the ground. So sad (for the gardener, not the voles!). In Ashland, however, the wait for these plants to bloom has been worth it. I know this is supposed to be an old-fashioned, easy-to-grow plant, but I find it sort of challenging.