Readers, Welcome to my blog (formerly Birds, Blooms, Books, etc). I'm entering a new decade taking on the challenge of moving from Maryland after living there 46 years and learning about my new home here in New England in the Live Free or Die state - New Hampshire. Join me as a write this new chapter of my life.
Wednesday morning I spent 2 1/2 hours working to plant pots with annuals. The previous day I had dumped all the soil from the pots into our very large wheelbarrow adding 2 1/2 bags of potting soil and vermiculite as I went. I wished I'd had some slow release fertilizer to add but didn't. I wasn't sure if I had enough soil but when the task was done I had enough to fill a small rectangular window box.
Here are some photos of some of the pots I planted.
A red canna in this ceramic pot. I couldn't find the grass I had last year so settled on the canna. This pot was Garden Club silent auction item two years ago. Quite a bargain.
These 4 extra large pots I usually plant with 5 plants, but with prices what they are I settled for three: blue salvia, whitish dusty miller, and red million bells/calibrachoa. Red, white and blue! The pots need to be distributed around the deck yet.
The local garden center I use has single pots of three plants for sun or shade. I got one of each and placed the sun one in this pot we got years ago, 2005, from our architect when we moved into The Lodge which she designed for us. She had planted bamboo in the pot but that never lasted so I've used it for other plantings through the years. It's very heavy so I moved it empty to this spot to fill it and plant.
Here are the tags for the three plants which will look a lot better once they settle into their expanded space.
This coal bucket I picked up at a house sale of a neighbor's. Before I planted I spray painted it blue, let it dry while I planted other things then came back to plant this shade assortment that also came in a single pot. I'm hoping I can keep the handle up. See the stick at the base of the handle to try to keep it up?
Another yard sale find a number of years ago I planted with impatiens.
4 plants of basil and 4 of cilantro went into the herb garden. Cilantro to the right was very tall but I expect it will recover.
I also planted two pots of red geraniums and to large pots with red begonias that I divided out of a hanging basket - a Mother's Day gift. I added salvia and a white bloomer which I don't recall the name. I'll have to take pictures of those pots another time.
In other news the peony Emily gave me last spring has two buds!
The Siberian iris has opened.
I leave you with a view of the rock garden which is doing very well in its second year of expansion.
Contrarians, my democracy litigation colleagues and I just had two of the biggest victories yet in our over 300 legal cases and matters — ones that your paid subscriptions make possible.
Just weeks after I was in court to help argue the case, a federal judge blocked the administration’s attempt to close the Kennedy Center and change its name. The court ordered that Donald Trump’s name be stripped from the building within two weeks, rightly declaring that only Congress has the power to change the name of this national cultural landmark. Hat tip to my colleagues at Democracy Defenders Action and the Washington Litigation Group and, of course, to our wonderful client, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH).
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress)
And that was not our only major breakthrough Friday in the fight against Trump’s illegality. As a result of a motion we and our great partners filed for 35 bipartisan former federal judges, a Florida federal court has reopened Trump’s IRS case — the one he used to create that notorious $1.8 billion fund. In a sternly worded order, the judge launched an investigation at our request. In addition to the judges, I thank Platkin LLP and Susman Godfrey for partnering with Democracy Defenders Fund on this case.
And I thank all of the Contrarians who support the work through your paid subscriptions. I don’t think I have ever had two of my cases as the top two stories on both The New York Times and The Washington Post websites, but that happened Friday because these two wins were good news for democracy.
That’s why we swung into action for those 35 bipartisan former federal judges. They filed in federal court in Florida seeking an investigation of the events of the past two weeks. Our filing, before federal Judge Kathleen Williams, complemented a series of otherlawsuits by our partners in the democracy movement addressing different aspects of the controversy.
Though Judge Williams previously accepted Trump’s voluntary dismissal of the case, she noted that no agency “submitted any settlement documents nor filed any documents ensuring that settlement was appropriate where there was an outstanding question as to whether an actual case or controversy existed.”
Those circumstances have now changed — and dramatically so — with the $1.8 billion settlement agreement that occasioned such an explosion of public controversy. As we noted in our motion (your motion), “The purported ‘settlement’ that the parties never placed before this Court raises profound questions about the parties’ candor toward the Court and manipulation of the judicial system, which threatens to undermine confidence in the administration of justice.”
With these kinds of circumstances and the many issues enumerated in the 16-page brief we and the judges filed, the court has the power to reopen the case and look into the matter. That’s just what she did.
Our matter is by no means the only legal action against Trump’s proposed $1.8B fund. In the Eastern District of Virginia, Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of individuals and organizations also requesting to block the Trump administration’s fund, arguing that it is an unconstitutional and politically discriminatory misuse of taxpayer money. They also had a big win Friday when their judge entered a temporary restraining order forbidding the $1.8 billion fund from operating while the case is briefed and argued in the coming weeks.
In the District Court for the District of Columbia, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW, which I cofounded and where I long served on the board) filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately halt this fund on the grounds that the program unlawfully favors political allies and violates constitutional protections. They are also seeking emergency relief.
Meanwhile, in a lawsuit also filed in D.C. federal court, the Public Integrity Project is representing two former police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021, asserting that the fund is unlawful because it would reward rioters and further endanger the officers’ safety.
Expect more news in all of these cases soon. And we will have another shoe to drop as well, so stand by for that, too!
Meanwhile, in the Kennedy Center case, we are bracing for an appeal of our wins, though we are confident that we can preserve them. But after the court issued its decisions, the president seemed to signal he might throw in the towel. He stated on social media Friday that if he couldn’t have his way with the center, he had instructed the commerce department to “transfer this failing Institution” to Congress — whatever that means.
We are ready for anything that may come next in both of these cases, thanks to you. Your paid subscriptions make our work possible and form the backbone of our litigation efforts in this matter and over 300 others.
Not only that, you also make possible our great coverage of these cases and of so much more. It’s the most unique bargain in American journalism. See for yourself in my usual weekly roundup of the best of the Contrarian.
First up, I have two different yellow iris that opened up on Wednesday.
This first one is in mostly full sun in the Rock garden.
Compare its color to this one in the Maple garden and mostly in shade. Now that I look closer to the photos I realize they are really different varieties since they have differing colors.
Love the bleeding heart blossoms. This one in the Rock garden is doing so much better than another in the Deck garden which when I looked more closely at its buds, showed frost damage.
Here's what a sunset looks like here. The sun sets behind the mountain long before it really sets.
Two views of my single raised bed. I have two varieties of snow peas and two varieties of lettuce. There are also some sunflower seedlings that I need to transplant soon.
A view of the Deck (left) and Herb gardens. The hummingbirds are regular visitors these days.
I mowed the lawn on Wednesday. It took longer than usual because despite having two batteries I failed to charge one while I mowed. This view is of the Maple garden towards the back and the Sculpture garden on the right.
I'm loving how the varieties of Hosta are growing this spring in this garden.
I also have Hosta and lots of other shade lovers in the Sculpture garden.
Tom told me that Hosta are water hogs so I'm trying this method to keep this one watered. I buried a can with a pinhole in the bottom next to this Hosta (T-Rex). I moved this one in 2024 because it wasn't growing well. My notes say it's supposed to grow 30 in tall and 80 inches wide. It's one of 6 varieties I purchased and planted in 2022. None have hit their maximum size yet.
Last year's Garden Club silent auction netted me these pink lily of the valley. I know they are spreaders but I don't mind. The ones I purchased this year are planted where I want them to spread.
Don't you just love the delicate little bell blooms?
Next week I plan to purchase annuals and fill some pots for the deck and front porch.
