Planting Baby Larches

When we were digging up lavenders at our friend’s house last week, I found several larch seedlings and brought them home, too. After the plant sale, I’ll put these out in the woods and make sure they are protected for the first year or two.

Larches are beloved trees here in Montana. They are a deciduous conifer; in the fall, great swaths of the mountains turn yellow as the larches get ready to drop their needles. The sight may not be as dramatic as the leaves turning in hardwood forests back east, but it is still very pretty.

All of the plants for the sale have been labeled. I’ve reached the point where I just want the sale to be over so I can move on with my life. Babysitting plants for two months is a bit stressful. And Charlotte will get moved out to the greenhouse once all the plants are out of there. I’ve seen a few other spiders in residence so she will have company. If she wants to have babies, that would be a better place to hatch them than in my kitchen.

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I finished the raspberry batik rayon top yesterday afternoon. A couple of thunderstorms came through—one with small hail—so it was a good afternoon to stay inside and sew:

I used my self-drafted top pattern. My pattern is a bit looser and longer than the Scout Tee but the effect is the same. This one has a V-neck with a facing. I can’t remember where I bought this fabric. It is a tad heavier than most rayon batiks I’ve sewn with, which is a good thing and a bad thing. It doesn’t wrinkle as easily, but it’s not what I would call light and airy, either.

I looked over my pile of fabrics for tops and pulled five to work on. The rest went back into the stash. I also set aside some navy blue linen/rayon fabric for a pair of Rose Pants. That fabric was acquired during Joann Fabrics’ going out of business sale. I am going to make up what’s in that pile of fabric and then move on to something else. I’m thinking either a bag or a coat. I want something challenging to work on for the summer.

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I don’t see rain in today’s forecast but that doesn’t mean anything. I’ll probably cut the grass on Sunday because it’s looking like a jungle out there. Next week is for planting my own garden. I think one of the apple trees I bought at Costco in April—the Fuji—is dead. It hasn’t leafed out at all. The others look great. I am waiting for the peas to come up; it shouldn’t be long with all the rain we’ve had. The potato rows are filling in. We should have strawberries in another couple of weeks. Lots to do.