A minuet of a different sort

The purchase of a syringa minuet, i.e., a minuet lilac, a miniature late-blooming, butterfly-attracting, sweet, sweet-smelling lilac, didn't take very long yesterday but planting it will take the rest of the day. There's figuring out where to put it; then there's chopping down two maple saplings, then digging up the roots (making sure not to stretch my poor thumb ligament the way I did Memorial Day when I landed hard on a root with the shovel and my thumb gave whereas the root didn't), getting rid of the blackberries nearby and finally trying to dig its hole which undoubtedly will entail some rock excavating. This is known as planting shrubs in the hardscrabble soil of Vermont.

However, once planted, if happy, this lilac will be a way to remember Naomi because it will bloom around the time of year that she died. Normally, I plant bulbs to remember people but I wanted something more substantial in this case.

The yellow/black butterflies are already flying to it and settling in its trumpet-like flowers, getting the nectar they need. These butterflies were prevalent on the flowers outside of Naomi's house the afternoon she died and so the butterflies will remind me of her, too.

On another day I will photograph the shrub in its place; for today, the image is one dragged off a web page somewhere.

Apropos of earlier digging endeavours, all thirteen of the asparagus planted Memorial Day are sending up tiny asparagus shoots. They survived! In a couple of years we'll be able to enjoy them (as long as the blackberries don't take over as they are wont to do).

There's so much to do outside and I still also have to buckle down to prepare my talks for El Salvador next week, ay. However, it's a gorgeous day so I am throwing caution to the wind and going digging.

[update] It is now raining gently on the newly planted lilac. As predicted, it took far longer to prepare its site than to purchase it. I dug up one nice flat rock that now is part of the retaining wall by the asparagus and then I started digging up another big rock. But it kept going on and on and on... and when I tried to dig deeper for the lilac, there was more rock. I gave up because we think I had hit ledge. Meanwhile, there were more roots to get rid of (from two maples that Compa chopped down). All told, planting the lilac was a three-hour procedure. It will live near another lilac, Miss Kim, also a fragrant, late bloomer. Then, if you line up Minuet with Miss Kim and look back up at the house, you will see the garden-variety plain lilac that came from someone's back yard years ago.

Err, now it is not raining so gently. So I stay downstream until it eases up. I know cats have been fed by the world's best cat sitter and I can work on tomorrow's sermon here just as well as up there. If I tarry long enough here, I will simply stop at the hamburger stand en route home ;)