As a bit of relief from our sad blogs of murder and immigration struggles, we insert now, the first of a short series concerning much happier subjects, such as gardening.

Pictured here, is an earlier photo of the Courtyard Garden of the Starbuck House Visitors Center. Recently we have neglected the garden and so Ruth Stuckey has retained a Master Gardener and Landscape Designer, Rod Boudreaux of McNeal Arizona, to rebuild it, to greater glory.

Rod started to dig and to plant, just before we left for Ohio, on April 11. To justify his professional fee, we obtained his permission for us to publish his progress. His first two reports are shown below:

May 3, 2010- Dear Ruth and Roy Joe:

I was out at your place today for the regular two-week visit. All is well. The new plants are filling in nicely, and the wildflowers are enjoying the extra moisture from the irrigation. See the photo of them, which I have attached.

The yellow snapdragon, from last year, is blooming nicely, and the rose had bloomed but the blossoms were spent. I pruned the spent roses and added a small irrigation line to therose itself today, so now it will get regular waterings, like the flower bed will.

I extended the irrigation to the area where the second snapdragon wintered over, so I think it will perk up well now. I watered the trees for the hour, and continued to trim the iceplants back to the rock border around the beds. I will keep working on that. And, I will update you again in two weeks.

- Rod

May 20, 2010- Dear Ruth and Roy Joe:

I was out at your place yesterday for the regular two-week visit. All looked well. There was good growth on everything except the little blue lobelias that I put in; I will change those out for another blue flower next time. The rose has not perked up as much as I would like, but I fertilized it this time, so we will see how it looks next time.

I weeded some in the Courtyard itself, watered the trees and worked some on the trim of the ice plants. In addition, I did take some more pictures, but the only one that came out ok is this one of the snapdragons. It is attached. I will take more next time.

- Rod