Yesterday Scott and I travelled to Chan’s Nursery in Richmond for a final round of annuals. For me, these trips are almost always concerned with the dark and hollow patches on the north side of the house. Begonia, impatiens, lobelia, fuchsia -- these are what I fill my flats with.

Now that everything is in and watered, I wait. And watch. Next week I might move something, like the azalea Lindsay gave me, worried it might not be getting enough light. Then again, she had it on the north side too.

The south end of the house has changed since last year. The new bed by the sidewalk is a year old and filling in; the bed by the house, just east of the vignette, is now a tiered rock garden, with an evergreen magnolia at the corner. But this could change too.