Lilac time, iris and the dating (pit) game

 A few yards away on a neighboring patio

The scent drifts over on the wind.

And the first iris opened yesterday. I think the pachysandra has covered the others too much to bloom. Plenty of foliage, no buds yet.

And, in the hope springs eternal category, here are some Medjool date pits soaking for a few days to see if I can get germination. I'm thinking of a houseplant rather than a date crop. Has anyone reading succeeded in sprouting a plant from date pits? 

The ginger hasn't done anything yet, but the yellow potatoes are sprouting.

I'm impatient for the fencing project to be done so I can get the ficus tree out of the living room and to camp on the patio. 

That's the naturalist's notebook for the day.

In the Spring, a Young Dove's Fancy..

Every Spring, the highest part of my patio fence becomes a prime dating scene in the mourning dove world.  This pair has been meeting here daily for a little while, and doing all the courtship dance and preening and chatting and mating.  

Their nest is elsewhere, I think, since they take off over the roof eventually. They're good neighbors as nesting goes, usually very quiet and calm, and having two eggs, from which two quiet babies hatch, and they don't panic if you look in gently.

And the lilac is blooming madly next door, filling my whole house with scent.

The Spice Girl arrived!

My spice bush aka Viburnum carlesii arrived from White Flower Farm, yay, great excitement and on a nice cool day but no rain, good for me to plant. I know plants love to be planted on a rainy day, but some humans aren't quite so on board with digging in the rain.

So she's now in place in the corner of the fence where the neighborhood will get the benefit of lovely scents next year, and she'll give me a bit of shade in the area where I'll be putting out houseplants next year, too.

I thought you'd like to see what a nice job WFF does with their shipping.  She arrived in a plastic container, totally secure with paper and tape, never shifted, not a crumb of earth got loose, not a twig broken.

 So she's all set to get organized over the winter for me.  What with the purple sage on one corner sending out sage scent all summer into fall, and the spice bush with pink and white blossoms, sweet lovely scent late spring and into summer, and the common lilac spreading all over next door in spring, that area will be quite well supplied with aromatherapy.  We have other spicebush specimens in the neighborhood but this saves a walk to sniff them.