This weekend is the first weekend of May, but in North Texas, we got into the upper 80’s to low 90’s both days for temp and Spring is in the rear view mirror with Summer looming around the corner.

I have officially hit the time of year where I have to mow every weekend, and all the associated yard work that goes along with stuff being in full swing. That includes my butterfly garden in front of the house. As gardens go, out in the country, it is a very modest garden, but for me it’s the biggest thing I’ve ever tried to keep going.

The original plants came in a curated box from Texas A&M University, all of which are perennials, that don’t mind the heat of a Texas summer, and have blooms that are attractive to the Monarch butterfly. I put the box in last September and I’m happy to say over 60% of the plants survived the winter, and my weeding attempts when stuff was still so small it was hard to tell what was weed and what was plant. There are still somethings out there that I haven’t pulled up because I can’t decide if they should be there or not.

This weekend I went to the effort to add 5 more plants to fill in the spots where stuff from last year didn’t make it. A lot of time was also spent pulling up the Bermuda grass that seems determined to invade the bed. I want it to grow in the yard but it wants to grow right up by the house first instead. I don’t get that. Maybe I should *want* it to grow in the bed so that i won’t do that. Kinda reverse garden psychology.

I noticed today as I was working that the yard is a wonderful palette of summer colors. The blooms in the garden are red, white, blue and yellow, with wonderful green foliage. So full of summer life. The quilt I’m currently working on is mostly red, white and blue too, so it echoes those colors nicely. Some of the plants are tall enough now that I can see them through the window when I’m sitting in the living room. While I was working I even saw a couple of butterflies so I guess the garden is appealing enough for them.

I have been using the time during this stay at home stuff to make sure the yard keeps looking nice, and I will have to figure out how to keep it going once a little bit more of the usual pace comes back, but I have noticed that I find riding the lawn mower is its own kind of relaxation with the freshly mowed lawn a very tangible reward, and the colors in the garden are just as rewarding as the colors in a quilt I have pieced. I keep saying I need to figure out how to keep this pace of life when everything returns to ‘normal’ and. I know that to keep the garden up I will have to do that. I’ll figure it out but in the mean time, I am sipping a glass of iced tea as I survey my progress from inside and I like what I see. All of it.