Of tomatoes and painted ladies

Ginger's Tomatoes
Walking into work this Tuesday morning I found Cyndee, Brian, and a couple of our carryouts rapidly unloading newly arrived tomatoes from Suncatcher Harvest (those delicious heirloom varieties that Ginger and her husband grow so well). I put on my gloves and jumped right into the frenzy quickly getting caught up in the feeling that spring was finally here. I learned that we had sold out almost every single tomato this last weekend and were in desperate need for more. While I was unloading and placing the tomatoes in their respective places many customers were flooding in excited about the newly arrived shipment. Somehow we all managed to simultaneously dispense gardening wisdom while organizing the tomatoes based upon size of the fruit and alphebetical order. Before we knew it the tables of the vegetable section were stocked full of pungeant young tomato plants.

Painted Ladies
I was standing there mystified by the profusion of butterflies making their way about the nursery, known as 'painted ladies'; they seemed to flutter about me enfolding themselves in the currents of air and wind. My co-worker Josh broke me out of the butterfly induced reverie and said that there was something I just had to see. We made our way to the large order holding area and I found myself standing underneathe a canopy of fluttering orange-brown butterflies. They clustered together holding onto the mesh netting that covers the holding area, taking flight, dancing about, and then taking refuge once again. The entire nursery has slowly become a haven for these migrating beauties as they make their way up towards Davis.

Jo @ Alden Lane