Country Sampler Magazine!

Getting ready for my phone interview with a Country Sampler writer this morning! More later.....
Well, I had a great conversation with Nancy from Country Sampler! Our home will be in their September issue and should be on newsstands by mid August! She was very nice and it looks like it will be a good article. I then went down to the University of Delaware to discuss the date for my oral exams this summer and it looks like I will be answering oral and written questions posed by my committee on or around July 5th! Not much time for the intense study that is necessary when answering questions on one's expertise in your chosen subject. I will also be heading down to West Virginia in April to pick up the last of the plants necessary for my research. All in all, a very busy spring and early summer! After passing my oral exams, I will be considered a doctoral candidate and will be close to the final writing of my dissertation. This has been a long 4 1/2 years working on this dissertation and I will be glad when it is over and I can start looking for a job!
As I sit here writing this post, I can see and hear the birds checking under the leaf litter to find some fat and juicy insects to eat. We have had two very large flocks of robins who have been here since late February and they are getting their nesting areas ready for the first set of their offspring. I also saw a Pileated Woodpecker for the first time in our backyard today. What a thrill! Tomorrow we will be heading out to the gardens to begin to get them ready for the first of the wonderful spring ephemerals, like trillium and trout lilies, that will start springing up from the ground this month. More tomorrow, with pictures, on what's happening in the garden and some information on Calycanthus floridus (common name: Virginia Sweetshrub or Carolina Allspice)!