Garden Friends

On Saturday morning, I finally decided to embrace the inevitable. Back when I was young and foolish (sixteen or seventeen), I decided to plant ivy in my garden. It was pretty, and looked very nice twining around some posts. But now, due to neglect and ivy's natural inclination, it had taken over about 15 square feet of garden space. It really had to go. So I got out the shovel, the pitchfork, clippers and gloves and went to work. An hour and two garbage bags full later, I had removed all that I could find. Some of the roots were three feet long and three quarters of an inch thick! If you're thinking about planting ivy, please, please reconsider! But it's gone, and I've got a lot of empty area. I'm not sure what I'm going to put there. I'd like to find some perennials that will not require too much care, but will still let me see the tulips and crocus that are still there. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Also, I found two welcome additions to my garden-a salamander and a toad! I hadn't seen a salamander in years, and if it's in my garden, it makes me happy to think that such a fragile creature could live there. I was happy to see the toad too, because he'll eat slugs for me! (Not that I normally eat them myself.)