It's the beginning of spring here in Pennsylvania. The earth is waking up and tiny bits of green are poking through the ground, reassuring me of things to come. If you've never spent time in Pennsylvania in winter, it can be very gray. But I love it here. It is my home. We have the blessing of four fabulous seasons, but none for too long. (Except those pesky gray skies hang around too long.)
I've been a gardener in one form or another for a long time. As a child, I helped my father in the garden (I'm sure begrudgingly much of the time :-) I've always been fascinated with things that grow. 
Much of my life I've been a gardener-in-waiting. Mostly due to lack of space or the fact that we were moving around a lot. Still, I always managed a few flower beds. Now, we're well established with plenty of ground and I'm in heaven. I'm at that delicious place for a gardener of having established beds and old friends in plantings, yet space and plans for new beds. I am blessed.
So, I'm planning a new flower bed around my vegetable garden. It's working title is the Heirloom Bed. I plan to plant heirloom flowers and herbs there, mostly ones that are too large for my herb bed near the house.
Elecampane is a big beautiful thing and others like it need more room to grow than the tidy little herb bed can provide. I'm in the laying out and grass killing stage. Photos to follow, it's been raining for a few days - thank goodness.
So today, I'm feeling a bit like the caterpillar and the butterfly...
-Donna
