Springtime has the sparrows in a nesting frenzy. There are babies in this fellow’s nest already—I’ve heard them cheeping—but maybe he’s doing a little home remodeling.

The back garden is suffused with the almost-too-sweet scent of star jasmine. The other fragrant flower, Marie Pavie rose, grows nearby. Red Texas betony is visible behind the golden-yellow pot, and purple spiderwort towers at the rear.

White gaura is beginning to bloom in the front and back gardens. When in full bloom, the tips of the plant’s long stalks are massed with dainty white blossoms, which flutter in the breeze like so many white butterflies.