I pulled about 10 lbs of them out of the pond filter, and spent an hour power-washing them out of the fiber filter mat. Glug! They’re all over the drive and patio, not to mention everything else. Hawthorne is one of the prettiest blooming trees, the Maxfield Parrish sort of blooms, red or white, but the dirtiest flower: sheds petals, then hulls, then fruits and sheds the berries (which are a laxative for dogs that eat them) and then the leaves. It has a gift for every season. But it’s so pretty.

Also planted a tomato outdoors in a pot, and because I happened across a nursery while buying cat food, I picked up a bell pepper, another tomato and an Anaheim pepper plant for the same pot. Combined with the lettuce garden indoors, we should have salad if these succeed.