It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

I know, I read way too many Victorian novels, but come on, Dickens is a classic. You can never read too much Dickens. I'll fess up. Right now, I'm reading Jane Austen. Just resting up from my garden labors. I spent the long weekend transplanting. Pansies here, cleome there, balsam everywhere. I spread out the Mexican marigolds and Aztec sunflowers. I should have waited on the sunflowers. Like most sunflowers, they don't like being moved. I should have waited until they were a bit bigger and had more leaves. The ones I moved didn't make it. That's okay. My motto is "The best thing about gardening is that there is always next year."

The roses have begun to bloom. Harrison's Yellow bloomed first. It is now past its prime as the others are just beginning. The first mound of Ipswich pinks are also blooming. The others are budded as well as the mystery pinks from the purple garden. I love walking out my door and inhaling the lovely fragrance. The mystery plant in the New World garden is budded. I still can't figure out what it is. Apparently it wants to keep me guessing for a little while longer. Lastly, the lilies are budded.

That was the good news. The bad news was that the dog-loving neighbors installed a new fence between our yards destroying everything I had planted along the old fence. I had no warning that they were going to do this or I would have moved the plants away from the fence. This is not the first time they have destroyed my garden. Three or four years ago, they decided they didn't want me to grow morning glories on what I later learned was a fence they had installed before I moved into this house. Instead of telling me I shouldn't grow morning glories on "their" fence (as I had been doing for years), they ripped all the vines off the fence. Since the morning glories were also twined amongst some balsam, that was also destroyed. The coup de grace was that the day they chose to do this happened to be my birthday.

So I wasn't surprised when they casually wrought utter havoc on the New World Garden with no warning. I was calmer this time. There is always next year. I can plant again. And this fence is higher and more opaque blocking my view of their dog pen. Hopefully, it will also cut down some on the noise and disgusting smell.