Returning to Germany on Wednesday after 4 1/2 sun-filled weeks in Andalusia, Bärbl and I were confronted with rain, nearly freezing temperatures, and general German gloom. Apparently, it’s been like this for weeks. But finally the sun came out! So the first thing I did this morning after breakfast was to go out and take some pictures of the garden. The first shows our so-called lawn, which we actually refer to as the “biotope”– accurately enough, because this lumpy green expanse is characterized by a high degree of biodiversity. Weeds, moss, and anything else that will come up.

These white flowers are called “foam weed” in Germany and are a kind of cardamine and, as I just learned, a favorite food of the caterpillars of the Orangetip butterfly. Last summer I started to get into butterflies and realized how rare they are becoming here in Germany, and how few species one sees. It’s because of intensive farming and monoculture. After the cardamine finishes blooming, the daisies take over the biotope, and then eventually I get out the mower before it’s completely impossible to mow.

Here are a few more pictures of the spring flowers:

I pulled my hamstring while in Spain, and the last two weeks have been pretty painful, but I am hoping it will be healed enough in the next few days so that I can start getting the spring vegetables planted.