Cut Flowers

Most of my flowers have just begun blooming since my last bloom day post. Many of my flowers don't bloom terribly long here since it races from cool to hot so quickly.

In most places peonies are long past bloom time, but not here! Aren't they supposed to bloom in late spring? My peony just began blooming today and I was so excited. They smell like heaven. Last year I wasn't able to enjoy my peonies in bloom since I went on vacation the day they began blooming. I decided I wasn't going to miss out this year!


Of course the poor peony would be lonely in the cup all by itself so I went to find a few more companions. The first one that entered my mind was the white delphinium my MIL was drooling over when she was here this weekend. I'd guess it's about 6 feet tall.

These blue ones aren't as monsterously huge as the white, but still extremely pretty. Now if I only had some red ones for the upcoming holiday!

My miniature rose was also blooming now, but the stems are not nearly long enough to be a companion to these long stemmed counterparts that I have chosen.

I also considered adding a few sprigs of spiderwort but thought it may not match the best with the blue delphinium. I wanted the pink peony to be the standout in my floral arrangement, so to fill the rest of the space I chose to use some of the abundant ferns we have growing here.

I ran inside and grabbed a sharp pair of scissors and a "lovely" vase. It was the only properly sized to fit the arrangement I imagined.

Well, what do you think of my first floral arrangement?

The poor thing is banished to the bathroom for it's own protection. We can't allow the plant eating cats to tear the flowers to shreds, can we? I want to enjoy them more than one day!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day June 2009

Before I share my bountiful blooms with you, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting this wonderful event on the 15th of every month.

This last month has just flown right by. I think we once again managed to skip right over spring and bounded headlong into summer. Up until last week my plants continued on their almost nightly plant parade into the garage or under their covers.

I didn't have much of anything blooming last month, do you remember my pathetic turnout of exactly three flowers (not including annuals)? Since then the temps have soared, the heavens have poured out their mighty blessings, and all of my spring flowers have peaked and passed their prime.

I'll show you a brief review before moving on to what's still blooming today.

I brought these sensation lilac suckers with me from my old garden in Big Lake. I am now regretting the decision to only bring two of them with us. These flowers are so beautiful and they smell so sweet. I wonder if the new owners would let me grab a few more if I ever head back over there...

They were tightly closed still when mom was over visiting us, these lilacs just sped right on through their blooming period.


These lovely plants produced more seeds than I knew what to do with for me last year. Somehow the name is slipping my mind right now. Such a busy day with the painting the living room, redecorating and bloom day posting. I guess my mind is pretty slippery sometimes anyway.

One of the four apple trees that we planted last year was in full bloom. I sure hope we get lots of apples out of the deal. We got three more apples trees this year so we'll have a total of 7. Did I ever mention to you that we like apples? When we got them home and planted, they were still in bloom so I grabbed a paint brush and hand pollinated the flowers. I don't think they would have been close enough to leave it up to nature to cross pollinate them, especially since it was so cold.

Our choke cherry tree also has an abundance of blooms on it but apparently I didn't snap a very good picture. I really should get a new camera before we go on vacation. Who knows what I'll miss out on if I keep taking crazy shots. You should see the green fruits beginning to swell up now. Maybe this year I'll get to try to make that choke cherry jelly I wanted to make last year.

As I showed mom around town we got to admiring some lovely trilliums that some friends had. Mom recalled how they always had a bunch of them at her house when she was growing up. I remember admiring them in Grandma's woods when I went to visit her in the spring. We got two small clumps of them and transplanted them to our yard. I'm not sure how they'll do here with so many pine trees hanging around but I sure hope they'll thrive here anyway.

The wild blueberries and strawberries have also managed to slip by without getting their pictures taken too. I can imagine how wonderful they will taste though picked freshly off the bushes. We took a walk in the woods while my mom was here and found all sorts of patches of them all over the place. Just thinking about it is making my stomach rumble!

Now, on to what's still blooming. I didn't get many good pictures because I can't see a blessed thing in my camera's viewfinder. I sure wish digital cameras still had small viewfinders too just in case their cheap LCD screens cracked!

I ordered 25 Ozark Beauty Strawberry plants from a catalog this year. I know I was supposed to pinch off the blooms this year so the roots could grow stronger but I just can't help myself. Am I naughty or what?

The wild blackberries have just begun their show for the season. Many blooms left to unfurl themselves on these plants. Looks like we're going to have a bumper crop if I can keep everything from drying up on us. Who wants some blackberry jam?

These lily of the valley will look wonderful in my new deck garden I'm hoping to start creating tomorrow, won't they? I almost forgot they were here. I need to move my shade garden closer where I can remember to enjoy it a bit more often! The regular bleeding hearts were also blooming now but I only managed to get a picture of it's leaves. SIGH. Stupid camera.

Cheesehead and some friends from work picked out these lovely plants to add to our deck garden landscape too. They are awaiting my final design inspiration and bed preparation before getting settled into their new homes though.

Last, but certainly not least are my pansies. These self seeded themselves last year and and freely growing all over the place. I just adore these plants. They're cute, colorful, hardy, and cheerful. I don't have to worry about 30 degree weather killing them either. I love to look at the variety of faces that pansies have. I have loads of pansies around here, but not having a decent camera makes it difficult for me to capture their charisma and charm so I'll just leave that to someone else for now. In warmer climates these plants are perennials, but here they are treated as annuals because of our extremely cold winters.

I hope everyone has a fantastic bloom day wherever they are in this great big world. Glad you could drop by. Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Protecting Our Hard Work (and Other Updates)

Wow, the last month has been a whirl of craziness. Between plant parades to protect the tender plants from cold temps (should I REALLY need to be doing this in June?), ancestry research, my new Farm Town on Facebook addiction, working on a deck, weeding, prepping a new garden area, watering new plants to get them established, looking for free sources of mulch, building a birthday gift for Cheesehead, sports taxiing, class trips, plays, concerts, and school picnics, not to mention having company three out of four weekends I've barely had time to breathe.

I think I need a vacation and summer hasn't even started yet. Here are a few of the highlights.

I have been meaning to tell you about a lovely guest we've got living in the back yard for a while now.

Mother robin picked a very smart place to build her nest. She has chosen a variety of materials for her nest and chose a well sheltered, protected place to raise her family. It is high up and far out of reach of predators and protected from wind and rain too. The only thing she really has to put up with is us. She seems to be fairly tolerate of Cheesehead and I as long as we all just sit quietly and watch each other. I was sitting 20-30 feet from her. I've never gotten so near a wild bird while she's sitting in her nest. She's not so fond of movement or noise so does not stay in her nest when we do either of those things. She is very good at scolding us too. Her favorite perches to scold us from include the kids' swing set or a tall nearby pine tree. She has some new babies in the nest I know now as I saw her feeding them earlier. We decided to let her have the back yard to herself for a while so we don't endanger the health of her babies.

Well, as much to herself as I can anyway. I have to keep an eye on my garden!

The endless plant parade of covering and uncovering plants has continued into June. Some of the plants are not happy with this occurence.

Those plants include the tomato plants in the front yard. They seem to like warmer weather than we've had lately. I guess I need to drink more milk!


The tomatoes in the back yard seem to be much happier. It has stayed cool enough that I have kept the milk containers on them still. Gallon milk jugs with the bottom cut off work great. The semi-transparency allows sunlight and warmth in and the small hole in the top allows water in and extra hot air out. I think they've been in place for about 3 weeks? Look how much bigger this one is than the one in my front yard! I cover them all with blankets, tarps, or towels when it's supposed to get down around freezing. Don't want the poor things to get frostbite now, do we?

It's trying to escape out of the top of the jug. You should have seen the look of surprise on Cheesehead's face when I took him on the garden tour. He was a bit miffed about all of the garbage I had sitting in the garden until he saw the results.

We had a few other people to bring on the garden tour too.

"Grandpa" used to love to garden. He's going to be 91 soon and has trouble bending down and isn't as agile as he used to be. He just moved in with MIL and BIL and he's really enjoying it there. I just HAD to show him my garden.

He was feeling upset living at the nursing home for the last several years, but stayed because he and his wife were both there. She passed away several weeks ago and they had him on 24 hour watch. They were afraid he'd run away after his second wife died.

Remember how I was talking about MIL's helping someone as well as herself? He's been happily living with them now for a couple of weeks and they're getting along well. MIL seems happier now that she's got some one to fuss over again too. She's been out of sorts since FIL died almost 2 years ago. I don't remember seeing "grandpa" happier in a long time either. He told us many good stories and enjoyed our house in the woods while they visited for Cheesehead's birthday.

I showed "grandpa" the ancestry work I've been doing too. He was fascinated and wondered how in the world I got all of his relatives' names. I printed him a copy of his grandson's five year chart to take home with him. (His looked woefully pitiful) Hopefully someday I'll be able to get a bit farther back for them too, but it will take more time and a bit more information gathering.

Looks like I've got another busy summer ahead of me. Sorry if it seems I'm slighting anyone by not visiting much, it's not that I don't want to catch up and chat with you. Sometimes it feels like I'm meeting myself coming and going. I miss our chats and silliness. I'm sure I'll manage to fit some of that into the rest of my schedule sometime....

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Planning Our Deck Garden

If you know me at all you'd have to know that Cheesehead's building of a deck is inspiring me to plan yet another garden. When I told him of my plans I got the typical eye roll. It will be a while before my plans come to fruition since the deck is still not finished, but I'm having fun making plans. Let me know what you think!

Our deck is rather oddly shaped. It was originally going to be 12x20 and all materials were purchased for it. Since Cheesehead mentioned a change in plans to a smaller 12x10 size, I grabbed two of his 12 foot boards for my veggie garden. He took my two extra 8 foot boards and made an 8x10 extension "for the grill". Yeah....

I have decided to surround the deck with curved lines with wood mulched beds. (Hopefully I'll be able to make some free mulch out of all of the dead brush I've accumulated.)

I think it would be wonderful to be able to sit at my table and smell the wonderful fragrances of my plants. I have already added 3 fruit trees (apple, peach, and pear). I would also like to add peonies (which I will divide from existing plantings after they've bloomed), roses (I bought last year and they died so I will put the replacements here), and maybe a compact lilac bush as well as some soon to be divided creeping phlox. Herbs are also on my list, but I have yet to plan the exact areas and layout. This is assuming I can get some of those darned seeds I bought to grow of course....

Since money is extremely limited (what else is new?) I am thinking of migrating my woodland garden plants to this garden area. I think I'd be able to keep a better eye on them if they're closer to the house anyway. The deer really did a number on the hostas Lisa sent me last summer. When I went to check on them earlier this spring there were no dead leaves to show me where the plants had once been. (Luckily they all seem to be coming back now.) I also have lily of the valley, astilbe, periwinkle, traditional bleeding heart, and lavendar in there. I may be missing something.... Right behind the house has an area that always shaded too, perfect for some of those shade plants.

Cheesehead also wants me to move my arbor garden with the three clematis I brought from Big Lake up near the house into this garden area. I'm not sure if it would be sunny enough there though. How much sun do you think they'll need? It would be a shame if I killed them after they've been through so much!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Veggie Garden Report

I'm not quite sure what in the world I am doing wrong, but my early seedlings haven't begun to sprout yet. It's been two weeks since I planted them. They should be up by now. The ones I started in the basement had all begun to sprout in just a few days. I wish I hadn't fried them with that silly light. I thought they needed a little light, apparently the one I owned was too strong though....

So, here I am trying to start them outside. I suppose it takes longer when there are no heat mats to aid with the germination process though. (I had got a wonderful deal on two starter sets hubby's store was selling earlier this spring.) I sure hope they sprout soon or they'll be struggling to grow when it gets too hot for them.

I knew I couldn't do my own peppers or tomatoes since my seedlings all got fried to a crisp, so I bought a few 6 packs from hubby's store when they were on sale. They're nestled into the garden too, though I've been told I should have waited to put them into the ground. I've been adding milk jugs as they become available since they like it a bit warmer than we have it just yet. It's an easy project. Cheesehead was happy that most of our recyclables were used for it too, double bonus.

I didn't take any pictures, but it's pretty simple to do. Just cut the bottom off of a gallon milk container and throw the lid away to allow air circulation for the plants. If you're careful to cut the jugs off above the curved part you'll be able to shove them into the soil a bit too. This keeps them from blowing away AND helps keep some nasty bugs away from them. The ones inside their own personal greenhouses seem to be a bit happier than the ones out in the elements. I guess I'll need to drink some more milk.

So far, so good! I just hope the peas, beans, carrots, lettuce, spinach, and arugula start to sprout soon. Maybe they need some milk jugs too.

The potatoes are beginning to form a few leaves too though many have yet to break the soil's surface.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Who's Been Hanging Out in Our Yard Now?

While I was taking a stroll through the garden a few days ago, I noticed a few things that were out of place. A few other things just brought a smile to my face.

Take, for example, the bird feeders. They had no bird seed in them since I've been too lazy, er busy to fill them. I wonder what they wanted with those empty feeders? This will just give Cheesehead another excuse to ban my bird feeders from our yard. We're pretty sure that only bears would do this to a poor hapless pole. No smile here!

I also like to check on my recent plantings while I'm out in the garden.

I planted some sprouted garlic cloves in several areas of my garden. Cheesehead wanted me to throw them out because apparently he thinks once they've sprouted they can't be eaten. HUH?

Anyway, I planted them wherever I had some open space. They were coming up very nicely until I noticed some large, gaping holes in my mulch. *Scowl* They even left evidence behind, do you see the scraps that were left behind on our stone ledge? I assume it was the chipmunks this time instead of the squirrels that pestered us earlier this season. Can anyone help me to verify that suspicion?

Speaking of sprouts, we also had a bunch of sprouted potatoes in the basement that Cheesehead also wanted to throw away. I planted those too. They were so big that I had to cut them first.

I realized as I was preparing the potatoes for planting that I wasn't voted class klutz for nothing. I managed to slice my finger which bled profusely. I think next time I should ask someone else to use the sharp implements so I don't injure myself again. The potatoes are still under the sand so the critters must be too busy digging up the garlic cloves to notice them.

A week ago I planted the seeds in my garden. I noticed that I have a couple of spinach sprouts out there. Nothing I can really get a decent picture of though as they are still pretty tiny.



A huge smile spread over my face as I saw all of the perennials coming up. There are only a couple that have yet to poke their sleepy heads out of the ground. I hope they come up soon, I'm worried about my beautiful peonies that we transplanted last fall didn't have enough time to establish themselves in their new home.

The rabbits must have enjoyed nibbling on my tulip leaves too. I didn't think animals liked the leaves, wasn't it bulbs they eat? Hmm, I wonder where that picture went. Must be one of the 12 that didn't turn out and ended up deleted.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Spring Tidings

Even more signs of spring are heading our way. The ice is melting like crazy around here. Today was almost 60 and tomorrow is supposed to be the same. Horray!

The kids were out in full force playing in the river that used to be our driveway. Do you think they even bothered to put on their boots before playing in inches of ice cold streams of water? NO!

It appears that all of the snow from the road melts and drains into our driveway. This path leads the water right into our yard. I think that we should put a permanent pond here. The soil doesn't hold the water once the snow melt stops, but I think it would get a plentiful supply of fresh water. Maybe not the best location though, it will probably be full of pine needles and leaves in no time flat. Cheesehead doesn't think a pond is a good idea. I suppose he's right, but I just adore the idea of a pond.

Peanut was kind enough to make us a nice dinner of mud pie. Gaspacho style. Maybe a bit more extreme complete with slushy ice.

Even Cheesehead got outside to play. Plus we get some yummy burgers out of the deal. Grilling season is back. We even got the bench out to enjoy the wonderful warmth and sunshine.

My play area is almost all melted off too. I hope to get out and get my vegetable garden started next week. Cheesehead thinks I'm being too optomistic with that thought. Maybe I am, but wouldn't it be wonderful? He wants to make me a raised bed. Probably a good idea with all of the tree roots around I'll have to deal with.

Plants have emerged from the snow today and two of them are already green.

The Candy Striped Creeping Phlox is full and green.

I think this one was a type of sedum. Angelina? I seem to remember it being more yellowish. Maybe the color next to the snow makes it appear more green to me.

Keep the melt coming, I'm ready for spring. Bring it on!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

March 2009 GBB Day

Okay, so there are STILL no blooms in the garden. Not even any promising new growth coming forth out of the frozen ground. I had tried to take my camcorder to use for taking pictures, but I have yet to figure out how to import the whole disc en mass when I load the pictures onto my computer. We'll use cheapo with no images displayed instead, cross your fingers!

I decided to take you on a walk through my garden instead.
On the bright side, it is already 20 degrees outside so it won't take much to break the freezing point. If you look past the craft sticks on the table, you can see the thermometer outside. What are the craft sticks for? You'll have to wait and see what Peanut and I do with them. It's going to be a project for the garden. Now, off to the outside for our tour!


I am happy to see some of the snow is once again receding. It had looked promising a few weeks ago, but we had gotten some more snow since then. We're just now getting back to the point of a few patchy open areas of ground peeking through the snow. It was almost 50 yesterday and it's supposed to remain fairly nice most of the week. If it rains I'm convinced that our snow cover will recede much quicker.

The sunniest spot near the house is almost out of it's snow cover now. It probably wouldn't get much snow cover because of the overhang above it, but I usually pile the snow from the sidewalk onto these plants to protect them from the ravages of the deepest winter cold. This is where I found my first signs of life last year. Hopefully it will happen soon. I'm so tired of winter.


I am happy to report that I hear mourning doves and crows cawing and cooing from the forest trees. The birds are returning! They don't seem to like one of the two food types I have provided though. I think the other side was thistle seed. It was emptied out in less that one day. I wonder how they can afford to be so picky since it is still so very cold.

As you can see, the plants are still nestled safely under ground. I will cut back last year's growth when I see some green peeking out from the ground. That way I can't miss the fact that a plant either returned or it died.

The trees have not started to swell their buds either. I see a deer has decided to nibble on my apple trees now. Note to self: Irish Spring smell does not last the whole winter in a cold climate garden.

I also see the squirrels have been snacking on some cone flower seeds.

I never knew rabbits liked to eat weidgelia. Hmm. Here's hoping for a quick recovery for the poor plant, it's been awfully traumatized this winter.

The driveway is turning treacherous once again. I think I should put on my ice skates to get the kids to the bus! I sure hope I don't get stuck in it again this year. I don't know if you can see in this picture, but there is a large portion of the driveway that has yellow ice on it. Peanut asked me if it was from dog pee. A dog would have to have a very large bladder to cover such a large area of the driveway. I assume it is tannins from the trees although I could be mistaken, I often am!

A gratuitous shot of pine needles and leaves frozen into the ice of my driveway. You'd think I hadn't cleaned up the yard last fall with so much litter laying around.

Brr, my ears are getting cold. It was so nice out I forgot to wear my hat and mittens! Would you like to join me inside for a mug of hot chocolate?

I'd show you my wonderful indoor houseplant, but I'm sure since I bragged about it's indestructibility it died to prove me wrong. Yet another reason for me not to try to keep plants alive indoors for more than a month. If the plant eating cat Speedy doesn't eat it, I'll just kill it instead! How can someone with a green thumb for outdoor plants do so poorly with indoor plants?

Next to it are garlic cloves that are starting to put out sprouts. I'm thinking I'd like to plant them, but do they transplant well if I would plant them inside now?

I am getting ready to send in for some more plants. I know I'm ordering the blueberry bushes, strawberry plants, and raspberries. I am yet undecided about the other plants. I really want them, but I am wondering if I am up to all of that work or if I should save some work for next spring.

Thanks to Carol of May Dream Gardens for hosting garden bloggers bloom day on the 15th of each month. Here's hoping I can catch some eye candy on other people's sites since there's nothing to see here.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Random Chatter and Is it Spring Already?

I just want to take a minute to apologize for not visiting much lately at your blogs. I'm usually much more sociable, but I've been extremely busy lately. I thought I might share a (not so) brief update with you.



This winter has been a busy time of preparing for the coming gardening year. I have been a regular book worm lately. The library has many wonderful resources for us to use. I have been researching everything I can pertaining to vegetable gardening so I can prove to Cheesehead that not every vegetable garden I grow is doomed to failure (among other things, obviously).

What's past is past and this year my garden will be magnificent (I hope). Besides, I was suffering from depression when I had those other gardens. Too lazy to do the work even though I still harbored an inner desire to grow food for my family. This time the kids even sound like they're enthusiastic about helping me, they've been excitedly telling me all kinds of wonderful vegetables that we should grow. Sure, that will probably only last a few days into the season, but one can hope they remain gardening enthusiasts, right?

I have also been internet surfing and scouring the pages of seed and plant catalogs that have pouring into my mailbox. I want to find edible plants that suit our growing conditions and I can't choose plants that require too much extra attention. My garden size is optimistically large for a rather new vegetable gardener and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

I got my garden area in my craft room mostly together as well. I am so excited. Soon I will be starting my seeds. I'm a bit nervous about this as well since I only tried starting seeds one other time and I failed miserably. I won't let that fact deter me from trying again. As the saying goes, if at first you don't succeed try try again!



If I knew it would stay as nice as it is today I'd run into town to get seeds now, but it's not usually so pleasantly warm here in February so I'd probably be jumping the gun. I'd better hold off for just a bit although I'm tempted to be live that spring really is here. I mean the trees are practically bending over in the warm winds that are whooshing through the trees. Isn't that a true sign that spring is coming?

Last year it wasn't like this until late April or early May. That was rather late though. Have we skipped February and jumped right into March? If so I'd be able to get a nice early start on my garden! Today we might have a record high of 47 degrees. We aren't far from it now and it's early yet.



The roads were slick like solid sheets of ice as I walked Peanut to the bus this morning. We got our first rain of the year and my tennis shoes could really tell. It felt as if I were gliding over ice at a skating rink instead of walking in fairly new tennis shoes. Now I know why mom used to drive bolts into the bottoms of her shoes when she went running in the winter. As I got half way down the driveway I found myself wishing I had put on my boots instead, then I could walk in the nice thick blanket of snow.

You sure can tell when you've been walking extra carefully on ice going uphill, there are muscles you tighten that you aren't used to using when you walk naturally. I guess I've gotten my workout for the day in!



Just yesterday I couldn't see anything but the roof of the wishing well in the shade garden I created last year. Now, I can see most of the wishing well and most of the bench nearby too. That rain has taken quite a bit of our snow cover off.



My garden ornaments are peeking out from their blankets of snow too. I was going to put some salt down on my sidewalk to clear the rest of the snow off of it, but apparently the rain did that job for me.



Look! There are even a couple of areas in my yard that I can see the ground already. I guess I'll have to get on the ball if I want some seeds to be ready soon. Hooray!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Home Sweet Home

Vacation was fun, but it's good to be home! I must say I don't miss that traffic at all. My friends? YES!

I guess you can't have everything though. Over there even the peaceful country like settings are rushed and traffic filled. I wouldn't trade my home for anything!

I had several blooms waiting to greet me when we got home. The peonies were luxiriantly sweet smelling. I breifly contemplated making a lovely floral arrangement with them, some delphiniums, and wild daisies. Then I remembered the cats. They'd maul those flowers almost immediately so I decided I'd leave them outside for the birds and butterflies to enjoy as well. The ants did work very hard on these lovely blooms anyway.



I did take a close up of the peony, but I liked this shot too. I had 4 lovley blooms that are in all of their glory when we returned. The ants worked on these when they were done with the others. They did bloom before I left as did the knockout. I even took pictures. But since I was so busy and MIL doesn't have internet I didn't get around to posting those pics. Sorry.



My garden was overflowing with blooms upon my return. I have two of these plants. One is more purplish and the other has a bluish hew to it. I had the reign in the larger one with some wire fencing that I had put up front earlier this spring. They were sprawled out all over the sidewalk and I knew the kids would trample all over them without a second thought. This one is smaller than the other.



The spirea was blooming too. Not like my bridal white was in MN, but pretty enough. It's still pretty small yet, but in a couple of years I'm sure it will be just as lovely.



I have blue and white delphiniums. They are absolutely HUGE. No creeping here, they leaped right away even though I just planted all of these last summer. They're monsterous, but in a beautiful way. I'll take pics of the enire plant soon. I think the white one is taller than me! (okay, not that that feat takes much, but still....)



My mini rose that I planted last summer also had a bloom for me, with several more buds that will be opening any day now. Why was I so worried? Isn't it beautiful all dainty pink and small?

There are also 4 kinds of wildflowers blooming as well as a deep purple clematis, salvia, lavendar, spiderwort, astibile, and several other perrineals. I love my serenely beautiful blossom filled garden!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy