On Wednesday I met Mr. Brown Thumb (who hooked me up with a press pass) and Bintie (who has the coolest hair) at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show. Garden Girl was supposed to meet us, too, but wound up home sick instead, though she still graciously provided me with overnight lodging. You guys are the best!

Here are my impressions of the show, in no particular order. Just get a littler clocher so we can chat as we go!

Why are these people looking the other way, when there are brains on sticks and a disembodied tree hanging from the ceiling to be seen?!

I really thought this was a great combo; the flowers really work with, and soften, the stark wood and stone.

Something about these two lady slippers and their surroundings makes me feel like they're Muppet characters.

A macro that actually worked.

Spring, spring, spring, spring! Soak it up, take it in.

I love the pieces of wood which add a whole new dimension to this little waterfall.

A sign next to this bonsai Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) said an alarm would sound if you touched the plant. It, in fact, did not. (Don't panic! I asked first... I just wasn't believing this was a white pine, but upon feeling its soft needles, I was convinced.)

Loved this container combo, though it was too large to fit in my purse...

I love this use for an older bike.

Yellow! When I had research colleagues who studied ergonomics, I learned that design features that help make something easier to use for a particular population (say, older people or people with limited eye sight) in general make the object easier for everyone to use. This wonderful cold frame, raised to a comfortable standing height is a case in point. Not only does it make gardening possible for those who can't easily bend down, it's easier for everyone!

My favorite display in the show.

Feeeeed me!

Look at those sweet little hypertufa pots. (Note to self: Find decent recipe and host 'tufa-making party in spring.)

This reminds me a bit of a spiral rock garden I once made under a hemlock. I also love the potager garden, with ornamentals and veggies intermixed.

Also loved this artistic combination of lettuce and wheat grass.

Was also intrigued by this ingenious lettuce planter--it's pretty but would also keep ground critters out (say, for instance, one rolly polly groundhog) because it's raised and has pokey edges.

A pretty combination of hyacinths and a climbing lily (Gloriosa rothschildiana) that Mr. Brown Thumb has named for me 113 times and I've forgotten 112 times!

Birdhouses.

The nice folks from the Chicago Botanic Garden who staffed the answer booth were able to ID this as Calceolaria herbeohybrida (say that three times fast!) for me.

As much as I like modern and minimalist design (and that's one heck of a lot, for those keeping score at home), this house struck me, overall, as a bit stark. Loved the orange front door, though.

I'm not wild about hardscaping, especially not as edges, but I really liked the use of logs in this display. It has more organic shapes and yet still provides a border.

Love this flower fireplace on the edge of the Alice's Wonderland display. The Red Queen was visible just over the fireplace, but she scared me so I cropped her out of the shot. But, look, there's Bintie to the right, taking a photo.

Loved this representation of the Cheshire Cat.

Alice, don't eat the mushrooms!

The Lincoln Park and Garfield Park Conservatories had a display highlighting their special yearly displays, from the winter holidays...

...to spring displays (locally, Hidden Lake Gardens has an awesome display of azaleas in spring).

My favorite flower of the show, this sweet, sweet Persian lily (Fritullaria persica).

This probably wasn't meant to be a volcano of parsley, but that's how I see it.

The sign had that Alice in Wonderland theme... Bananas!

One of the vendors had these cool water-retaining gel spheres that one can use in vases with cut flowers. There were lots of pretty colors in lots of bowls... and again, the Alice theme comes into play and touch them I did. Ew!!! So creepy. It felt like slimy eyeballs. Um, not that I've ever felt slimy eyeballs, but it really freaked me out.

I know you think it was the Big Bad Wolf's fault...

...But it was really me who huffed and puffed and bleeeeeeew that straw house down!

My, what big ears you have... Or, elephant ears on steroids.

By far, the absolute highlight of the show for me was the "Pet A Bug" exhibit. I did in fact briefly touch the top of a giant cockroach, but admit that was freaky. I wouldn't hold it. The millipedes looked harmless enough. I held the little millipede first, and that was fine. Its feet tickled my hand. The bigger, African millipede was a bit unnerving, due to its hard coat and rigid, pokey legs.

I was not unnerved by how the tarantula moved, in fact, very gracefully, I just didn't want to be bitten because I have no health insurance. But look how sweet Tary is. Look at her cool color variegation! Come to mama!

That's my girl! She didn't feel ticklish at all and her weight was very evenly spread among her eight legs, so I could barely feel her at all. I was very comfortable with her. (Note: Tary, however, is probably thinking "Eek! Who the hell is that huge scary-looking human?!")

I really, really, really wasn't planning to buy anything at the show. But I have a bit of a thing for agaves (waves to Pam), and this super sweet dwarf narrowleaf century plant (Agave striata minima (nana)) from Ted's Greenhouse (which sounds similar to the sadly defunct Farmer Grant's in Ann Arbor) spoke to me (and besides, the nice woman staffing the booth gave me a Peeps!). I even had a retro flowerpot at home, ready and waiting for it.

At the Landreth Seeds booth, MBT may have bought some 'Great White' tomato seeds, which could in turn have inspired me to buy some 'Wapsipinicon Peach' tomato seeds (they get fuzz, just like peaches!), which we possibly split between us.

It was a fun day all around! Check back in a few days for my outdoor photos of Chicago!

Today I thought we'd take a little tour around my garden to see what's been blooming lately. Let's start with this really cool bearded iris. Its color is a very pale yellowy-gray. It's hard to describe (it's less yellow in real life) but I really like it. And do you see Fiona in the background? She's a bit gray herself!

Here are some striking purple and white irises, which I got from the same gardening friend who gave me the peonies.

The little cat garden is in full bloom with valerian, as well as catmint. James and Fiona approve.

Here's the valerian close up. Birgit had mentioned valerian pillows, little fabric squares filled with dried valerian, that are made for cats in Germany. I'm going to save the leaves and borrow my friend Aunita's sewing machine (and, most likely, her leftover bits of fabric) to make these this fall.

I have two fairly large "wild beds," to the north and south sides of my backyard. They both have been overgrown with buckthorn, despite my best efforts. This is the eastern end of the north bed, looking a bit more under control these days. I put pine needle mulch on them in the last year and that really seems to help keep the weeds down. (But not the poison ivy, alas!) Apparently pine straw is a popular mulch in the south but here in Michigan it's rare and expensive. Fortunately my mom has several huge red pines and a lot of patience for raking up their fallen needles! Contrary to popular belief, this mulch doesn't acidify the soil (only slightly over time as the needles break down but they take forever to break down, which is what makes them good weed blockers!).

Jimi enjoys rolling on the cement pavers and fitting in between two sets of tiny leeks. This is my front vegetable bed before I weeded the center and planted it yesterday.

Voila! I know it doesn't look like much from a distance, but it will fill in, trust me. You can see horseradish to the top left and the four baby leeks along the bottom left. That's a mum at the bottom right (it had nowhere else to go!), plus three tomatoes at the stakes, a dahlia at the wooden stake, marigolds at the right, interplanted with onions. We've had an unusually cool and cloudy spring, which has somewhat stunted the growth of warm-weather veggies.

I have very few areas that get full sun, so this strip along the driveway is ideal. Here is one of the tomatoes, Gajo de Melon, close up. Also in this bed are Big German Pink and Ladino di Panocchio.

I also created a second veggie bed along the southeast corner of my house. I had to dig up a whole bunch of artemesia first, which took a really, really long time (and various choice curse words) and I'm sure I still didn't get all the roots. I planted three heirloom tomatoes I winter-sowed: Ukrainian Heart, Olga's Yellow Round Chicken (I love that name!), and Red Russian. Upfront are banana peppers and 'Mini Fingers' eggplant; in containers are zucchini and beans (hopefully out of groundhog reach, but who knows).

Here's Ukrainian Heart up close, it's the largest mater I have so far. (I mentioned it's been a cool, overcast spring, right?!)

I also lost some tomato seedlings in a frost, which I've reseeded but which are too small yet to plant out (cool overcast spring blah blah). They are: Avivvi (see Debbi's blog for what they'll look like as fruit), Azoychka, Bisignano #2, Canestrino di Lucca, Caspian Pink, Gillogly Pink, and Turk’s Mutts. (I got all the mater seeds from Royer Held, a local heirloom tomato guru.) I also reseeded green and jalapeno peppers. I'm going to need to expand the beds to plant them!

I also planted garlic (no photo) and a few things in containers. My lettuces are coming along nicely: the greener leaves are Asian Baby Leaf Mix, the redder (and harder to see) leaves are Merveille De Quatre Saisons.

This is chard 'Bright Lights' (in pot and up high to outwit wildlife) and chives (in jail).

And here, in pots in the garden, are garlic chives and rosemary (the former to contain it, the latter because it has to come in over the winter). Just out of view is flat-leaf parsley.

Moving onto flowers, my baptisia is blooming. I love its vibrant, saturated blue (and Jimi's ears!).

Speaking of vibrant blue (that the camera didn't capture, unfortunately), one of my three spiderworts is blooming.

Blue-eyed grass is also one of my favorite blue plants.

And although much paler blue, I still love the nigella as well.

Moving to yellow, I have some really cool creeping sedum that bloom yellow.

And some nice yellow alliums nearby.

My ninebark 'Diablo' shrubs are huge this year, at least 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide, despite generous pruning last spring. And look at all these blooms. Noogie!

Here's another shrub, 'Little Henry' sweetspire. It's been struggling for years, is maybe only a foot tall. I think I've found (after several tries) a good location for it, and it's sending up flower spikes!

Here's the path to my front door, looking south. If you come and visit, that's what you'd see heading for my front door.

I never think of myself as liking pink, and yet Jupiter's beard and coral bells are two of my favorite flowers. (Yeah, I do have about 100 favorite plants. So?!)

Here's Jupiter's beard close up. It will bloom again later in the season after I cut back the first spent set of blooms.

And, finally, in the good news/bad news/good news again department, you may recall that I bought two red yuccas (Hesperaloe parviflora) last year after being so taken with them on a trip to Colorado to visit my niece. They are rated for zone 6 and I'm zone 5. I planted both in what I considered protected, microclimate locations and made sure they were covered in as much snow as possible (insulation). They both looked great until about March when we stopped having snow and they looked dessicated and brown. One died; it detached from the roots when I gave the shriveled foliage the slightest pull. The other looked just as sad but seemed attached firmly to its roots. I removed the dead leaves that easily pulled off and left two that wanted to stay attached. Later I noticed they had grown a green base. I cut off the brown part and hoped for the best. Then I got distracted and forgot all about the plant. The other day I noticed the old stalks had grown and a few new ones had come up. The plant is still small, but it's alive. Yay! Please send good thoughts its way, as I'm sure we'll need to get through another winter before it decides to bloom.

And the other good news is, I'm going to Colorado again in July for my niece's renewal of wedding vows.

And I almost forgot to show you these cool garden boots! My Spring Fling swag bag had a gift certificate for gardenshoesonline.com and I ordered these boots and some hiking socks. Fun!