Some Bloomers

It's overcast and 53 degrees right now, which is probably as good as it's going to get today. I started moving rocks around to the new beds but I got sidetracked by a few bloomers. So instead of working on the new beds, I took some pictures. I don't know if we'll see a frost so better shoot the flowers before they are mush, since the lows have been in the 30's.

Large tulips that we bought from Brecks 9 years ago.



A miniature thrift that is in my miniature conifer garden.



Here is one of my favorite bleeding hearts with yellow foliage.

Little Water Feature

Wed 1 Aug 2007

I saw this old postcard on ebay and had to have it. Not the postcard, but I’m lusting the waterfall because it would look amazing running down our ravine. Won’t ever happen but the dream keeps me from thinking about my foot.



My foot has been giving me problems so there isn’t much gardening going on. I’m waiting till the weeds are waist high so I don’t have to far to bend, nor will I have to scoot around on the ball of my foot while doing garden squats. I’ll have a lot of clean up to do once I’m feeling better. Until then here is a pretty hardy hibiscus blooming that I grew from seed… not all is bad.

Busy Planting

Thu 31 May 2007

I’m really horrible updating this thing. By the time I get in from outside I’m too tried to update my blog, let alone update all the software I’m suppose to be doing. I guess that’s what these rainy days are for.

Speaking of rain, wasn’t last weekends storm a riot? I don’t think its rained like that for a couple years. Of course we were traveling in it. I went to Sunnyfield Greenhouse & Gardens in Galva, IL. The plant area was very nice, plants very healthy, not sure where the gardens were. I saw a couple display beds as you enter the nursery so I guess those were it. Prices were good and unlike Hornbakers the plants weren’t a tiny plug among a gallon pot of dirt. I bought a couple perennials and a few annuals for the porch. It was fun but I’m not sure if we’ll take the trip again since Wallaces & GardenTown seem to offer a nice selection. It’s not like I really need anything anyways.

Spent the rest of the weekend with family that flew in from California.

Garden is really popping with color.

Poppy Bloom

Tue 15 May 2007

It rained this morning so I’ve been out pulling weeds from the wet earth. Amazing how the little buggers seem to grow overnight when we get rain. My poppies are starting to bloom and Gary’s poppies are blooming after three years of sitting there. The picture doesn’t do it justice. The flower blossoms are huge. Thanks Gary! :) I can’t wait to see what other colors open up but orange is my favorite.



Terese’s peony has been blooming like crazy too. It’s one of my favorites as well.



Thank goodness I didn’t plant the two near each other.

I’ve been pretty busy planting all my plant sale finds and packing up plants for friends. I had to dig up one of my new maple trees because it started stressing for no apparent reason. I didn’t find a pest at the roots so I’m not sure what went wrong. I’m keeping it in a container until it shows improvement and then I’ll probably plant the container in the fall.

I received my lilac order of 5 different lilacs that say they need something like 15 feet of spacing except the dwarf variety. What a joke. I’m not sure what I was thinking but surely they’ll stay dinky until we move? Might have to bonsai the little guys.

One of the neighborhood children has discovered that their favorite toy is their dogs squeaky toy. Imagine listening to three hours of that while gardening. There is also a new puppy in our neighborhood, cute little hound dog that sounds like a sea lion or walrus barking.

So we’ve decided the perfect location would be an acreage in between a cemetery with no available plots and a public library.

New Roses

Tue 17 Apr 2007

The last couple days have been absolutely gorgeous with the highs in the 60’s and 70’s so I’ve been out weeding and planting a few cheap roses I bought at Farm & Fleet. For $1.99 I don’t care if use them as annuals. Hopefully they will come back next year, but that’s really cheap for blooms. I picked up Queen Elizabeth, Angel Face, Sunny Delite, Camelot, Red Gold, Intrigue and John F. Kennedy.

Besides planting I’ve been doing a lot of ripping out. Naturalizing bulbs that I got with a Brecks sampler five years ago have been taking over my flower beds. I must have dug thousands of them and there are still so much more. Meanwhile I have this little black squirrel that follows me around everywhere and one of these days I’m sure he’s going to hop onto my back. I am at fault for offering it a peanut a couple days ago and I guess in return he’s decided to become my pocket pet. lol And I thought I would become one of those crazy old cat ladies. I call him my rat.

I’m going to create a new garden in the back part of our yard with some plants I need to move. Right now I’m in lawn negotiation with Cliff. I find it a bit confusing that someone who gripes & moans about taking care of the grass can so fiercely not want to give it up. I’m trying my best to help him out.

April snow showers bring..

Thu 12 Apr 2007

…chilled tulip tips.



I think this year I’m going to be blessed with the ugliest blooming tulips ever. Snow on top of the bitter temps a few days ago have made all new growth MUSH. This only confirms my belief that a rock garden is the way to go. Rocks look good despite whatever the weather is and the bunnies have a hard time chewing them down.

The only “dirt” I’ve been able to play with is contained in a jiffy pellet. Break out the champaign, seedlings have set their second set of leaves. Woohoo! If I wasn’t still wrapping myself in blankets I might really think it was spring.

The only seeds I haven’t been able to germinate is Dandy’s Lions Tail. :( Bummer, I had a tail theme going on with the bunny’s tail grass, donkeys tail.. and all the other tails that wander my garden.

Oh my gosh I’ve gotten inspired to write more poetry for the Dear Harley, Dear Harley poem. It’s John Prine Does it to me all the time.

Enjoy the snow everyone. It will probably be 90 degrees soon.

gotta go!