Happy Memorial Day

To all who have served, gave their lives, are in or have loved ones in the military I say a very big thank you. You are loved and appreciated!

Book, Chives and Trees

A couple of weeks ago I borrowed this book from a friend and have hardly been able to put it down. Its a collection of essays by Sharon Lovejoy who is my all time favorite garden writer. She writes about living with nature in the garden and after reading her essay on moles I actually like them now. And wasps! I won't be as afraid of them now as I was. As Sharon says, I will still have a cautionary respect for them from afar but but I won't dislike them as much. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. She also has a wonderful blog that you can find on my sidebar.




This is some chive vinegar I made after reading Lemon Verbena Lady's Herb Garden blog entry from a couple of days ago. Isn't that a beautiful color? That's after only a few days. Her blog it also on the sidebar.




Here are the promised pictures of the new dogwoods that we planted yesterday. I am so excited to have them here. The whole front looks so different. And now I have more room for perinnials. Can there ever be enough? (Room or perennials?)




Here are what the early blooms on the dogwoods look like. They are going to be really nice against the gray house. Since they are just starting to bloom we will get to enjoy them this year.




So, have a great afternoon and ta ta for now!

New Space

They are gone!!! The two junipers that I've wanted out of the front yard since we moved in here almost six years ago are finally gone. I told Mark for Mother's Day one of the things he could do for me was get those out of there. So last Saturday he and Sarah and Jacob spent almost the whole day digging them out. It took three trips to the dump to get them out and I have a lot more space in the front for my bird, butterfly and bee garden. We bought two Kousa "Ruby Slipper" Dogwoods to put in their place and they are just coming into bloom so we'll get to enjoy them.


I spent a long time this morning looking for a picture of the front before they were out but so you could see what it looked like but I couldn't find one that would work. But believe me, it looks so different. So much more open now. We can actually see our whole sidewalk now. Such a difference! Here is one picture of what it looks like now. I'll post more pictures later when the dogwoods are in and the flowers are more in bloom. I have a lot of different perennials in this bed and am not sure what all of






When I look back on pictures of the garden a couple of months ago when I first put the little fence up I can hardly believe how much everything has grown. It's coming along just like I imagined it would.




I just love the way the big heuchura's (?) look. They are so big and healthy.




I love the way heliotrope smells. It's just like vanilla or baby powder. Heavenly!




This a poppy that my friend Carla gave me some seeds of last fall and it is the only one that came up from seed. I can't remember what color it was but it was beautiful. She also dug up some seedlings from her garden and I was able to successfully transplant them to my garden. Can't wait for them to bloom. (I see another little evergreen that may have to go. Do you think Mark would notice?)




I hope all of you are getting lots of garden time and enjoying your gardens and flowers and I'll say ta ta for now!

Generosity, High Drama and a Goodbye

Baby possum



I think gardeners are some of the most generous people know. I was out walking Bing and Lola in my favorite neighborhood and passed a house that had a whole bed of beautiful purple iris. The gal who lived there was out in her yard and I told her how much I liked her irises. She told me they smelled like root beer and invited me to come and smell them. I did and they did smell like root beer. Then she offered me some. She said when they were done blooming to just come by and pull some up to take home. We chatted for a little bit and she told me her name was Sally and that she had taken the irises to some nurseries to find out what kind they were and no one could ever tell her their name. So I told her I was going to call them "Sally's Irises". I think she liked that. Then she ended up just pulling some out of the bed right then and giving them to me. Wasn't that nice?

Next, are the exploits of Bing and Lola. On Monday Lolo somehow found a baby sparrow in the yard from the nest that is on the back fence about twelve feet in the air on a pole. By the time Sarah got it away from her it was dead and the mother or father were dive-bombing her head. They were not happy about it. Then yesterday they found a baby possum out by the back fence. It was all curled up in the "playing possum" position. So we quickly got it into a gardening bucket and it was OK. (This is now a week since I started this post and a lot has happened.) We gave it some dog food and water which it ate and drank and when Bing and Lola went to bed to bed I took it out to where we found it and let it out and it scampered off into the dark. I know many people don't like possums but I couldn't just let the dogs kill it. So I am just going to imagine that it's mother found it sometime during the night and they both went off together.

I would like to tell Leanne how much she is in my thoughts and prayers right now. She is a recent new gardening friend and she had to say an unexpected goodbye to her husband last week. Just know if there is anything I can do I will. Words are so inadequite a time like this. You are loved.

I leave you with "I love you all". And may there be no more goodbyes for a long time.

Post Mother's Day

Bachelor Button with Bumblebee




Before planting...




After planting...




First poppy of the season. Isn't is a beautiful color?




New Mother's Day bird bath.

I had such a great Mother' Day. We all had a great time. Thank you Mark, Sarah, Chris, Jen and Jennifer. I love you all very much and without you I wouldn't be having a Mothers Day.

Today I worked in the bed by the greenhouse and planted between 60 and 70 bedding plants in that space. I'm hoping to have a great cutting garden later this summer.

My first poppy opened today and it's just beautiful as you can see. I love poppys and hope to have more this summer.

The top picture is a bachelor butter with a bumblebee on it. There were several out there along with some honey bees.

The last picture is my new bird bath which was abMother's Day present from Mark. I love it. I have geraniums and lobeiia planted around it.

I'm having so much fun!! Ta ta for now.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

To all of the mothers out there I pray you have the best Mother's Day today. May your children rise up to call you blessed and may you get to spend all the time you want in the garden or doing all the things you love to do. Have a blessed day!

Ta ta for now.

Experiencing the Garden

I'm going to give a talk tonight to the ladies at my church on gardening. It will be on experiencing the garden and my favorite topic, fragrance. I love fragrant plants and I have a few to take with me. Corsican mint, some sages, oregano, stock, heliotrope, to name a few. It should be fun. There will also be someone there to demonstrate flower arranging. I'm looking forward to it and am a little nervous. But I'll be talking about something I love, so it will be fine.

I must go and get everything ready. Ta ta for now.

Very Sad

When I went to take a picture of the robin's nest today, one of the eggs was broken open and the only thing coming out was yolk. That made me so sad. Nature can be so cruel sometimes. The other egg was fine but I don't know if the parents will come back to the nest now or not. I'll just have to wait and see.

I'm not posting any pictures today and I'm going to be really busy the next couple of days and don't know if I will get on here or not. So if I do, great, but if I don't I haven't forgotten about all of you. As always thanks so much for your comments. I love them all! Ta ta for now!

Robin's Eggs

Aren't these beautiful eggs? This is a robin's nest in our grape arbor out behind the greenhouse, where I hope to have chickens some day soon. I hope to have pictures of babies soon. I'll keep you posted. Ta ta for now

Plant Exchange

Here is the chalkboard sign for the plant exchange.




Here are my plants lined up for the exchange.




From left to right were: Tennell S, Me, Carla E, Leanne F,Paula W(in red), and Janet B. Doing the garden tour.




Paige D, Paula W,Linda M, Carla E, Leanne F, Me, Janet B, Tennell S and Avery.




More garden touring.




I love to go around the yard and pick flowers for bouquets. This is one from last week. I don't ever think there's much blooming until I go around the yard and start picking flowers.




This is a plant called Solomon's Seal. A really cool plant.




This is a bird's nest that I found in one of the pots that's hanging on a post out by the greenhouse. I've never seen any birds in it but it is really a sweet little nest. One top of this same post is a bird house that a chickadee pair have made a home in.




I love the way the bleeding heart bloom looks against the leaf of the hosta.

The plant exchange was a great success on Saturday. We all had a great time. It started at 10 and lasted till about 11:30. There was scones and cookies and hot tea and coffee. After introductions all around we had a garden tour and walked all around we did the plant exchange. We all had so much fun. We talked plants, toured the garden and just had fun being together. That is definitely something I will do again on an annual basis. All the ladies were so much fun and each added so much to the day. I am so glad for each one who came. I hope all of you get to read this and that you know that you are all very much appreciated. I would encourage anyone who likes to garden to host a plant exchange. What a great way to get new plants. And if you are the one who hosts it you get all the plants that are left over! So needless to say I have a few plants to get in the ground. Very exciting.

Well, I think I have made the decision to apply for the Master Gardener Program. The applications have to be in by August and I will know by October whether I have been accepted or not. I don't know that much about it yet except that it's very intense for 3 months. The campus where the classes are held is only about 5 minutes away from the house. That would be so convenient. I'll keep you posted.

Well, need to get some work done so, ta ta for now.