Spring is trying to really develop at Biltmore. Each of the three ponds in the Italian Garden has a pair of geese. The appropriately named Spring Garden is bursting with Forsythia and Baby's Breath. There are even some Rhododendrons, a couple early Azaleas, the early Tulips, and some Camelias blooming. Abner still pees on everything so that hasn't changed. Finally after close to 4 months of looking like hell due to a big dredging project and the repair of some drainage pipes, the Bass Pond, one of my favorite spots at the estate, has been refilled and is starting to look normal again. There is a lot of perimeter foliage that has to be replanted or has to grow back from roots, but all in all the place is starting to look pretty good.

The first of my anticipated Springtime guests are due in less than three weeks. I wouldn't want my second home to be looking shoddy.


The new landscape crew I hired has started working on my yard and, while they probably will never provide the pure entertainment value of Bryan Fore and his gang, they seem to be a whole lot more likely to make the place look decent and keep it that way. They have been here twice this week and have not only done a substantial cleanup of what Bryan's guys had left last October, but the back yard has been aerated, fertilized, seeded and has straw spread over it in hopes of actually generating a lawn. As many of you know, I have an unerring ability to kill any plant that is within 500 feet of me so it should be interesting to see if this lawn works. Abner resents his oak chip nests being disturbed and I have to really regulate the time he spends in the back yard until there is actually some grass there. I guess I need to have some optimism about all this since these guys seem to be so earnest and dependable.

More optimistic than I can be though, is my friend Holly Black who came by yesterday. She saw the newly cleaned out planting beds in my sunny side yard and said they would be a perfect place to grow tomatoes. I almost burst out laughing. I am the only person who couldn't grow them in Sacramento. I seriously doubt that I can grow them here. Nonetheless, she is threatening to plant some herself when she returns from a ski trip to Telluride. We shall see.