Sean's parents and grandparents showed up early this afternoon to take some of my extra irises off of my hands. I gave them three bags full of irises that are ready to transplant. Most will bloom blue-on-purple or purple-on-purple, but there are a few that will bloom white-on-white.

Speaking of—one of those is blooming at the side of the house. It's absolutely beautiful; highly ruffled, almost-glowing white petals over white falls. Very nice. It's wasted over on the side of the house where no one sees it. Next year, though, it will be much more prominent.

Did a little bit of outside work today. Got the sundry potted plants watered and got the two fernleaf dill plants moved out of their containers and into the main bed. I've got some dill sprouting from seed that I'll have to move to the main bed in 2-3 weeks, depending on how fast they grow.The mints need to get out of their containers soon, but we have to wait on our resident handler-of-the-rototiller to have a free weekend. I don't flatter myself to be capable of tilling up the tightly-rooted sod in the back yard. But…soon…someday…there shall be flowers in the back yard. Get the back beds tilled and then I can move all the extra irises back there, and get the daylilies parked out front as befits the show-stoppers they are.

The sage is having a field day in its new place—lots of new leaves. It seems happy in its new home. Everything else is still growing a bit more tentatively. Even the nandina—which never seemed happy before—are starting to leaf out. All this from better soil; I have to wonder what they're going to do when we actually start fertilizing them.

But, possibly, most exciting of all—I checked the thyme plant I nursed (haphazardly) through the winter. I don't remember it having much fragrance last year, but this year it's incredible—all you have to do is trail your fingers along some of the stems and you come away reeking of thyme. It's wonderful.

Last thing I'm pondering: I have a small bed, maybe 1.5 feet by 2.5 feet—right by the door. I'm thinking of putting a climbing vine there. Perhaps more jasmine. The sun is right, but I just don't think there's enough space for a climbing rosebush there. Although something like that would be absolutely wonderful.

Either way, I'll want to plant something at the base there, to cover up the ground. I was thinking of some small splash of long-blooming flowers. Why did I think of marigolds? I don't know. The more I play, the more memories I have of playing around with flowers in my childhood. I can't even remember the last time I saw a delphinium, so how do I know that they're perfect for the backyard?

Strange, strange.