Peonies

I really wish peonies lasted longer! It seems like you wait for ever for the giant buds to open up, then just days later the petals are all over the ground. At least the foliage looks nice all summer.

Veggies!

So far, the vegetable gardens are doing well this year. Cherry tomatoes in a pot with an asparagus fern. There are a couple of basil plants under there, too.






Banana peppers and cherry tomatoes in hanging baskets.













Herbs in hanging baskets--dill and basil.











Last but not least, the garden in the cold frame. Lettuce in front, swiss chard and bell peppers in the middle, tomatoes in the back. I had a big salad with the lettuce for dinner tonight (minus the caterpillars and slugs that tried to hitch their way in with it!)

Hosta Update

My beautiful hostas all leafed out. Somebody ate the buds before they could flower, though. Sigh.





But, whatever ate the front hosta buds has not found these. Yet.

I Love Hostas

I don't know why. Maybe I just love everything that deer love--ha ha! So far, my deer does not munch on my hostas. Go figure. She will eat mint, that supposedly deer don't like, so perhaps she is a new breed. And it is her, I've seen it. Anyway, here are my front hostas that went in with the new foundation plantings last spring. See them from emergence in mid-April to now. What's not to love?

Bees

We all know bees are important, right? I just wish they'd sit still for their close up!

Did you know that bees like blue flowers best? And flowers that appear blue to the bees. Of course. They like shrubs including Buddleia davidii (butterfly bush), lilacs, and pyracantha and flowering plants including calendas, larkspur, poppies, wallflowers, daisies, anemones, daylilies, lavender, lilies, lupine, roses, rosemary, thyme, yarrow, black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, coreopsis, cosmos, heliopsis, salvias, and verbenas, asters, centranthus, nepeta (catmint), Salvia officinalis (sage), Erigeron (fleabane), helenium, scabiosa, and sedums. My yard is full of sedums, and I can attest to the attraction--the bees cover them in late summer. My reluctant model is in my apple tree among the spring blossoms. I am waiting for my Mason bee house to arrive, too!

Flowers and Sun

Amazing how the spring flowers lift the heart. Not to mention a day of sun after several days of rain. My tulips are doing really well this year. Whether it is the string of lights on that terrific invention, the photocell timer, or the new neighbors' new dog, the deer haven't eaten them. I try to get out and appreciate them every day...just in case. Something has nibbled off all of my forsythia, though. Probably rabbits, the cuts are awfully clean. My other neighbor needs to get a bigger cat. Clearly the two little ones are not scaring the garden-destroyers off.

Other bulbs are still popping, too. And here is a shot of one of my hazelnuts among the hyacinths. Really, it is hiding there behind the whirling butterflies plant (yet to leaf out).

April Showers

I snapped this pic of my beautiful daffodils out front before last weekend's chill. They still looked this good today. Tonight, it is thunderstorming, so we'll see what they look like tomorrow! Took these of the tulips just starting to open, hyacinths looking full, and bleeding hearts just opening this evening, before the rain started, but with the lightning flashing all around me. The two dots of light in the background of the bleeding hearts are the eyes of my new neighbors' new dog. She likes me :)

Spring on the Way

Okay, so I am way behind. Here is a series of pix over the last couple of weeks leading into Spring! First, the March 5 set including my first crocus, rhubarb just pushing through the ground (rhubarb pie, on the way, yea!), and hyacinths peeking out.
















Just two weeks later, color is bursting all over. Daffodils and crocuses everywhere. I know this crocus picture does not look real, but I promise it is. Just the perfect light, I guess. Hyacinths are on their way. The rhubarb is growing fast. The bleeding hearts are back (now that I know what the sprouts look like and when they appear--they always look like they are gone forever by late summer). And the peonies are coming into view, too.








I actually got out and worked in the yard today. Great sunny and cool day for it. I planted five forsythia that had been hanging out in pots last year and spent the winter up against the house. They are starting to bloom and the ground isn't frozen, so in they went. Still hoping to block out the neighbors' big, ugly propane tank sometime soon. (Now they have two for some reason--I'm hoping the old one will be taken away before long. They also got a new dog. She is actually nice, and likes to keep me company while I am outside, unlike psycho mutt out back, who just races around barking that horrible, high-pitched yap so common in small, highstrung dogs.)

What's New

Happy Presidents Day! Work is closed today, and I'm still sick with the worst cold I've had in a few years. Ugh. It's just not fair. It's a little too cold to be enjoying the outdoors anyway. So, I've been goofing off indoors (in-between naps and sneezes). Oh, and I did my taxes. What a pain. But, I want to get them sent in for my refunds before the government runs totally out of usable cash. But for fun, I've added a few items to the blog: A calendar (from localendar.com) where I can post updates on the Buddy Walk and other things as they come up, Google for Gardeners search box, and National Geographic photo-of-the-day. Enjoy :)

Winter Wonderland

Trite, I know, but I've been a wee bit out of practice lately, so please cut me some slack :) Blame it on the weather, Christmas, an injured rotator cuff, or just a simple lack of inspiration.

Today, I am snowed in. Actually, they just lifted the snow emergency prohibition on driving, so I could leave, if I could get out of my driveway. Hopefully the guys will be here to plow soon, so I can get to work tomorrow.

Did I mention the whole winter wonderland thing? I do love snow, and we don't see that much of it here, so today is fun. It was the early layer of ice followed by five inches of snow that closed the roads. While the ice is certainly beautiful, I don't want anything to do with driving in it. But, it does give a good excuse for some picture-taking.

Unfortunately, I neglected to take the bird feeders in last night, so they are now frozen with a half-inch of ice to the pole, not to mention that the openings are frozen over so the poor birdies can't get to the seeds. They have adapted pretty quickly to trays of seed on or near the ground and an extra feeder leaning on a frozen one, though.




I would add to the winter cliches with a comment about the quiet, except that psycho mutt, my rear neighbor's obnoxious little dog, was out and about to bark at me the ENTIRE TIME I was outside. As usual. I guess the owners don't want to listen to her either.

The rain chain has turned into a cool rock-candy looking thing. I hope these pictures do it justice. Like I said, beautiful, so long as you don't have to hit the road. Like the poor police officer who got his patrol car stuck in my neighbor's driveway. (That was just as the Level 3 emergency was being declared.) It only took four shovel-wielding men and a city snow plow to get the car out. I would have gotten a picture of that, but I didn't think they would appreciate it!

Crumbling Creek

Something, maybe this smaller outlet on the far side, is causing my creek walls to cave in. Argh. The neighbor put his section of creek in this pipe a few years ago. No permit or review required.

Not only is the pipe smaller, it bends off to the south.

November Fall Color

Finally a bit more fall color. Of course, today all of these leaves are on the ground!

Happy Halloween

Chance of snow tonight. Of course, it probably won't stick to anything, including the petunias and cosmos that are still blooming. But at least it will give everyone a chance to find the winter coats before the real season change sets in! What I could really use is enough rain to soften the ground and allow me to dig some holes for all my baby trees...


Meanwhile, here are my outdoor Halloween decorations--just for fun.

By the way, I highly recommend Extreme Pumpkins and Extreme Pumpkins II by Tom Nardone for your jack-o-lantern inspiration. A cut above your average Halloween porch light. (Pun intended!) What a hoot!

Happy Halloween and happy haunting!

October Fall Color

Fall color continues to be a bit strange this year. The windstorm and drought seem to have confused the normal tree color change. Brown leaves are all over the spotty grass. Some of the flowers are behind. Here are some more sunflowers opening up. And, the hydrangea is not ready to quit yet.





But, the shrubbery is putting on a better fall color show--like this crape myrtle. And, the holly is loaded with beautiful red berries.

Fall Sunflower

My straggling sunflowers are now starting to bloom (among the halloween decorations)!

Oddly, below the sunflowers is the best basil this year, too. I guess it appreciated the mottled shade provided by the taller plants.

Fall Flowers and Stuff

Okay, I've been a bit out of touch lately. First there was the Buddy Walk, then the big wind storm and 5 days without any power (or air conditioning or cold beer or google) while on jury duty. Then, of course, it was time to put up the Halloween decorations. (More on that later.) Whee.

So, I'm back at it to share my wacky, unpredictable garden. Check it out. This picture was taken September 30 in Zone 6. Yup, Easter lily. Go figure. And a sunflower. Really.


















Back to the wind storm. In conjunction with the drought we are experiencing, the storm seems to have thrown us into a rapid, albeit relatively colorless, fall season. Just when we've gotten the downed limbs and twigs cleared, the leaves are falling by the treeful. Here's my brush pile lining the front of my yard. The city came by and ground them up Saturday--just 20 days after the storm. Not too bad considering some people didn't have power for 9 or more days. I was happy to hear the grinder at 8 a.m. Saturday, even though I am so not a morning person! If I'd been dressed, I might even have gone out to hug the workers...