Midwest Gardening

Snow

2010-02-21T15:27:00.003-06:00

What can a person do when it won't stop snowing? They get their seeds out, fire up the grow lights and do some indoor planting. Well at least that is what this gardener did. That is between shoveling the drive letting the dogs out filling the bird feeders.......At least I have a distraction from the snow and it gives me the illision spring might be right around the corner. I am sure in a couple of months I won't even remember sitting here complaining about the snow.
I know I am not the only one wishing for spring. The poor little birdies at the bird feeds in the backyard I am sure are wishing for spring. Here you can see a couple of them.

Time for New Year Resolutions!

2009-12-31T21:16:00.007-06:00

I guess it is that time of the year again. Time to make the resolutions for the next year. I made some last year and even wrote them down. Now if I could only find where I put that list.
Well I found it. Guess I better add review resolutions weekly and add notes on my progress. Here is my list.

Visit Mom once a month.
Reduce my weight to 165 to 170.
Focus on the positive.
Post on Photo Blog and Garden Blog once a week.
Make to do lists for work around the house.
Clean up trash along the creek.
Read 1 book a month.

I didn't so well with last years resolutions. Here is how I measured up.

I might have visited Mom once every two months. Bad son!!!
I did reduce my weight to 174 from 184. Close but no cigar!
Focus on the positive. This one is hard to measure.
That didn't happen as you can tell by looking at the number of post here.
No lists made but I did build a pond.
I picked up one bag of trash.
Don't think I read one book all year.

Somewhere I have read that you should develop a plan of attack for your resolutions and monitor your progress weekly or monthly. Also you need to make your resolutions measurable and not so broad like I did with "Focus on the positive". In theory it sounds good but how do you measure that?

Well I think I will give this some additional thoughts and come up with a better list. I will probable include a couple of the resolutions from last year and add some new ones. Also need to figure out a way to keep track of my resolutions and measure my progress.

Fall Harvest

2009-10-24T04:52:00.004-06:00

The fall brings the harvest. On the farm growing up the fall was the time to harvest the corn and milo. Now that I am away from the farm I find myself collecting seeds and cuttings from the garden. Most of the seeds I keep are the easier ones to grow indoors next Feburary or March. The cuttins are of some of the easier plants to over winter. Unfortantitly some of the cuttings never make it out of the water after rooting and into dirt for the winter. I just plant them straight out in the pots next spring.
The dark red seed are from some pepper plants I grew this summer. The one on the bottom left is the black pearl pepper. The pepper starts out black and turns red when mature. The one in the middle is one I have grown in the garden for years and keep collecting the seed every fall for the following year. I am not sure what it is called but love it! The light pink seed pods are from the hardy begonia. This is the first year I have collected the seeds. It reseeds itself rather easily in the flower bed so I thought I would start seeds to take to the garden club and give away. What I mean when I say reseeds itself easily I don't mean invasive. They are easy to control by pulling the seedlings out of the ground. The vines in the back are cuttings of a couple of vines that I like. Not sure what they are called but like to use them in haning baskets and pots.

Well I will stop rambling on. I hope to have a post of my seed starting next spring.

Honey Perfume Rose

2009-09-21T17:42:00.004-06:00

This is the first year that this rose has bloomed. I have been pleasantly surprised by this rose. It has been blooming all summer without any problems. I would highly recommend it for your garden.

More Sticks

2009-08-31T18:44:00.004-06:00

Well I have gotten a little more motivated since my last post. It could be all the cool weather we are having or just boredom but here is a picture of my natural trellis. I am not completly satisfied but it will do for now.

Just have one done right now, still pondering what the other one should look like. Basically like this one or different design but still with sticks? Here is a picture of a stick I found with a 90 degree bend in it. I was thinking I could mount it on top of a couple of other sticks it would look like a roof. It is kind of heavy so I think I would need another one like that to make it sturdy and give it that trellis feel.

Then there are the sides of the patio. I would hate to be having a party and one of the guests would have a little too much to drink and stumble and fall off the side. The way it is right now there are no sides to bump into. Plus having a railing of some kind would act as walls to the patio. Also would make the patio feel like an outdoor room. I have an ideal in my head but I am not sure if I can find the right sticks with the bends in them that I want.

There will be more posts to come on the patio.

The summer blues

2009-08-19T14:11:00.004-06:00

This time of year always makes me feel a little blue. It has been this way for the last few years. I have lost the motivation to get out in the garden and do anything. Scott has been a head heading like a mad man the last month and I just come out and sit by the pond. It isn’t the lack of projects. I have a list, it’s not too long but nothing on it seems to motivating me. I guess I just need to make myself start something and see if I can get excited about it.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the garden. Once I get a project started I will post my progress.

Random flower pictures from the last couple of weeks

2009-07-29T16:06:00.006-06:00

The yellow angel trumpet is always wonderful in the summer. Myself and another gardener had a discussion about its name. Datura or Brugmansia arborea,which is correct?
Gaylord looking out over his kingdom!
I believe this is Chocolate Ajuga. I am really pleased with it growth over the last couple of years. Especially like the shinny large leaves.
You know it is late July or August when the magic lilies come up.
A different angle of Gaylord. That is sum and substance hosta in the back with the caladiums.

What is blooming this week.

2009-07-04T19:14:00.006-06:00

Not sure what most of these are called. I need to do some research and see if I can find the names.

This is the native midwest cone flower
This is the flower from my Lady in Red Hydrangea. It should be a pink flower but Scott changed the ph in the soil and now we have blue.

I bought this Coconut Cone flower last year. I was very surprised that it came back and bloomed like it did last year. Two years ago I bought a double decker cone flower and it has not bloomed the same as when I bought it.

Northland Garden Club Garden Tour

2009-07-01T04:56:00.007-06:00

Last weekend was the garden tour fundraiser for the garden club I am in. We had some very nice gardens on the tour and three of them had ponds. It was interesting seeing how others had built their ponds or had someone build the ponds for them. The first pond shown here had some Koi that looked like a foot or longer but the pond was a lot bigger than mine. I guess I will need to add on!?!?

Pond Project

2009-06-13T08:03:00.008-06:00

Well the pond is almost done. I need to add more mulch and the sitting area need something to cover the mud. We haven't found something we like that doesn't break the bank.

The rocks to the left of the chairs are for Bonnie to walk to the stream and get a drink. She hasn't jumped in the pond yet for a swim but she loves walking in the stream.

There are two streams the main one and the side stream. This is the side stream and the next picture is the waterfall for the side stream.

This is the main stream and the main waterfall.

What's blooming this week.

2009-06-10T20:15:00.004-06:00

Most of these are flowers that have been in the garden for years. I guess they are the tried and true. Most of them I have forgotten or lost the names. For example this Clematis. I call them pretty!
This one is easier. The daylilly on the right is Stella Odella and the shrub on the left is St John's Wort. The funny thing is the St John's Wort was on clearance and had one little branch that was alive. It has made some progress and I saved a plant!
These lilies were in a grab bag at a nursery several years ago. I don't remember what they were called but I don't have to worry about them coming back each year!
This is the butterfly weed. It is a native of the midwest. I still remember seeing it along the road on a trip to southern Missouri and thinking I paid for a plant just like that!
Here is what they called the common sundrop. What do they mean about common. How about reliable stunning yellow sundrop!
And last the balloon flower. Another one of the old reliable flowers. You can't say enough about them!

Pond building progress

2009-05-23T17:54:00.013-06:00

Here are some before and after pictures of the progress of the pond so far. It has taken longer to complete than I first thought. As a whole I am pleased with what I have done so far.

Now I just have the landscaping to do. First I have to decide if I want to go for the natural planting or more of the mixed border that I have now. Will post more pictures after some of the landscaping is done.

What is blooming now

2009-05-11T20:09:00.020-06:00

It seems like every post I have done this year I am apologizing for taking so long between posts. What makes it bad is that 1 of my New Year's resolutions was to post once a week. That one went down in flames!!
Here are pictures of what is blooming now in the garden.

The first two are different Columbine plants.

This is Cat Mint. It doesn't spread like other mint. I say that only having this plant for 1 year how. I like the color and if I remember correctly it blooms all summer. Bonus!!
This is Allium that a dear blogger friend Bob sent me. Thanks Bob!! I have and will continue to enjoy them.
The next two are Peony bushes. These I bought right after we moved into the house. At that time I wasn't very good at keeping track of my plants, not that I do any better now.

a This is the only Aster I have. It does so well for me. The deer had eaten part of it off earlier this spring, which caused it to have more shoots and I hope more flowers. I believe it is called Midnight Blue.
This is my yellow Baptisia, aka False Indigo. I also have the blue one and some of it is blooming now also. I have found the blue variety that I have reseeds itself everywhere. My only complaint is that the blooms don't last very long and then you have this green plant for the rest of the summer.

This was just 2 weeks ago!

2009-04-12T05:27:00.003-06:00

I hope this is the last snow for us. It lasted about 1 day before most of it melted. It was some welcome moisture that we needed.

Spring is just around the corner!!

2009-03-13T12:17:00.005-06:00

Spring is just around the corner. That saying reminds me of a cartoon my sister send me the other year. Here it is. I got a big laugh out of it.

I am starting to stress a little. I seem to have a lot on my plate right now and in the next few weeks. I have the pond to finish. If the weather had been nicer and we hadn’t gotten the snow and 3 inches of rain in the last month. I would be a lot further along. Right now the pond is a mud hole. Here it is covered in snow. I really want to get the pond done ASAP so it has time to get established. We volunteered our garden for a social function for the Heartland Men’s Chorus in May. When you get a bunch of gay men together, especially the chorus they can be very picky. Not that I am that way at all!!! Then in the fall I volunteered our garden for a member’s only party for the garden club we belong to. I don’t worry so much about the garden members being picky!

Then the house needs to be painted. We are going to get a couple of bids but I know the price will be more than I want to pay. Plus the way I have some of the plants and trellis attached to the house I am sure this will discourage a reasonable price. I figure I will have to do it myself. The deck also needs to be power washed and stained. No rest for me this spring.

Update on my seedlings!

2009-03-13T12:00:00.008-06:00

My seedlings are coming along pretty good. I think I started them too soon but I hope to have nice big plants by the time I am ready to set them out. My impatiens didn’t come up at all. I guess that is what I get from buying them from a big box store.

My marigolds aren’t coming up very good either. I saved seed from last years and I know they won’t come back true to the ones from last year. I just wanted to save money from buying the six packs. I am going to give it one more tries and if that doesn’t produce results out the seeds go and I will be buying marigolds.

I am also having problems with my baisl. It looks like the bulbs are burning the leaves. I have never seen anything like that before. I need to move the light up some to see if that helps. This next week is our garden club meeting and if I have some basil that looks good I am going to take some of the plants there to give them away. I don't need basil plants. I could make lots of pesto that way?!?

I went out last weekend and bought somemore light fixtures and bulbs. One per shelf just didn't seem like enough light. The poor little plants on the ends were stretching to get some light. I'd really like to get another shelving unit with more lights but that will have to wait until next year.

Building waterfall

2009-02-23T13:46:00.005-06:00

I have been toying with the ideal of a water feature in the backyard for some time now. When we had the sprinklers put in I had the contractor set up a separate zone for a water feature and had him run the electrical and water lines. I did all this just in case I was ever motivated to put the water feature in. I think in the back of my mind it was something that sounded nice but at the same time sounded like a lot of work.

Not sure what motivated me to start on this water feature. It is not as if I didn’t have other projects to work on. The north side of the house still needs to have some walls built and flower beds put in. Oh now I remember, a good friend of ours gave us an outdoor fireplace last fall for our birthdays. It is one of the square metal ones you can get from one of the big box stores. The fireplace is a great gift, don’t get me wrong. But right now my back and muscles don’t think so.
My ideal was to create a flat place it the backyard and on one end have the fireplace and the other a waterfall. So how hard could it be to dig a hole fill it with water and put a pump in it? Oh my head is spinning from all the reading and looking at pictures on line. I think the best site I have found so far is http://www.pondlady.com/. According to her website she has several years of building ponds for a living. She seems straight forward on what you need for your pond and how to build one.
Now let’s talk about the waterfall/pond design. I thought I would get some ideals offline or borrow ideal from others who have posted pictures of there handy work. I guess it depends why you are building your pond as to how it will look. This brings me to the only thing Scott said about the pond “make it look natural”! Most pictures I came across didn’t look natural to me and maybe they weren’t built to look that way. If you look at a waterfall in the woods you have a low place where the water collects and runs downhill. The waterfall is created when the water washes the dirt off a rock and drops down from there. I have the hill for the water to run down. Sounds simple enough but that lead me to the next problem. How do I make where the water starts to flow look natural. I was thinking that well I could just happen to have a natural bubbling spring at the top of my hill where the water comes from. Not sure that people would buy this. The springs I have seen are at the bottom of the hill.
Then there is the question of what pump to buy? Do I need a skimmer or a preshaped plastic waterfall? How many gallons of water will the pond and waterfall take? Do I want fish and will I feed them or let them find there own food?I will leave you with a before picture and what my progress has been so far. Look for another post to come for the finished project

Worms, worms, oh glorous worms!!

2009-02-06T17:26:00.004-06:00

I happened to order my worms on a day that was nice but then the temperatures took a nose dive and we were below freezing for the next couple of days. I was lucky the worm farm waited until the temperatures returned to above freezing to shop the worms. This was good since I hadn’t gotten the bed ready for them. The worms came on a Thursday and I happened to have that Friday off so I could make their home.

My mother had bought me the book Worms Eat my Garbage by Mary Appelhof and Mary F. Fenton several years ago. I have read it a couple of times, each time before I thought I would start the worm farm. Surprising enough the book didn’t contain much about using rubber totes. I ended up look online at different websites and reading how to make the bin from them. The consistent thing I read was that they need ventilation and drainage. Worms will drown if the material is too wet or suffocate if they don’t get enough air.

Construction of the bin began by drilling holes in the bottom of the bin. I used a quarter inch drill bit and drilled about 20 holes (estimate). One site recommended drilling holes in the side of the bin. I was concerned that since I would have the bin in the storage room of my basement that the worms could crawl out and die on the concert floor. Next I tore up newspapers, well the ones I hadn’t sent to recycling the Tuesday before. I tore them in about 1 inch strips. Then I took some of the paper from the paper shredder along with the newspaper and wet them down. You want the paper to be the wetness of a wrung out sponge. To me it didn’t look like a very comfortable place but I guess if you eat garbage it could be a sweet deal. I also added some vegetable scraps and put the worms in their new abode.

I looked in to see what was going on the next day and I found worms had crawled up to the top and had settled where the lid snaps on. Then I remembered that I needed to put a piece of cardboard or news paper on top of the compost to make sure the worms were in the dark all the time. I also took the lid off so they could have air movement from above. This has helped keep the worms in the shredded newspaper and doing their work of composting.
Some of the things not to give your worms are meat scraps, onion, garlic, dairy products and any citrus fruit. You can give them coffee grounds but too many will make the compost to acidic. I have so far given them I batch of coffee grounds a week. I have read somewhere that if you blend the food up in a blender or cut it up small the worms will eat it faster and multiply faster.

Will try and do a post from time to time to let you all know how things are going.

Get on your mark, start planting!!

2009-02-03T15:13:00.006-06:00

I am almost beside my self! A couple weeks ago I started to clean up the storage room in the basement in anticipation of starting seeds. I was able to pull out some old items and got Scott’s approval to take them to the goodwill store. There is still more stuff that I want to get rid of but I didn’t want to push my luck with Scott. Getting rid of a few things was better than none!
This last weekend we went out and bought a new set of shelves. You can't see but I picked out a set that has wheels under them. I think it will help if I can wheel them around if I need to. I even had time to get the grow lights hooked up and tested to make sure they still worked.
Last night I carried the potting soil in from the garage so it could warm up. Tonight I am hoping to get some seeds planted. Last year was the first time in many, many years that I started seeds indoors. I just started with the easy Marigolds, Datura(angel trumpets), ornamental peppers and zinnias. This year I am going to try some impatiens in addition to what I grew last year. I usually buy 8 to 10 flats of impatiens each year. I plant them along under the trees at the back of the yard. I try to buy white since they help lighten up the shade area. Sometimes I settle for other colors if they are on sale. Oh lets not forget I will plant some basil and orageno.

The other thing that has me as giddy as a school girl is I finally ordered worms to start my worm farm. I think it has been 4 or 5 years now that I have been talking/thinking about doing this. I have had a container for at least 3 years. So why has it taken so long? I usually put it off thinking I don’t have the time but I will never have the time at this rate. Anyway this will be another post.

Homemade dog biscuts

2009-01-31T08:21:00.005-06:00

A couple weeks ago on Saturday the temperature was 6.1 degrees. Burrrrrrr!! But that doesn't keep Bonnie from wanting to go outside for her walk through the woods and along the creek.
Here I am all dressed up to take her. Needless to say it was a quick walk. She wasn't happy with that!
I try to appease her with some homemade treats. We had received a pre-made mix as a Christmas gift. Here is their website http://www.cloudstar.com//Default.asp? All I had to do was mix a couple tablespoons of oil with the mix. Roll out on a floured surface and cut with the dog bone cookie cutter. Then I baked them until they were hard. I think I used too much flour when I rolled them out. To make them look better I brushed them with egg whites.
Here is the finished produce. Butch and Bonnie gave them 2 paws up!

The Butchart Garden

2009-01-22T21:33:00.005-06:00

One of the more informational garden club meeting was this last Tuesday. We saw a video of the Butchart Garden near Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. Robert Butchart was a manufacture of Portland Cement and used the limestone where this garden is located now. After he had used up the limestone his wife went about reclaiming the quarry. As the website says she took the topsoil form the near by farmland to create her garden. Seems like she traded one bad for another. But don't let me discourage you, take a look at the website. It is very beautiful. The garden club member that visted the garden said 1 day wasn't enough time to tour the whole garden. Might want to check it out if you find yourself near there.

http://www.butchartgardens.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

I couldn't have a post without a picture. You will have to settle with one from my garden. Enjoy!

Morning walk with Bonnie!

2009-01-17T10:04:00.010-06:00

You might recognize the basketball from my previous post. I was able to make it across the stream and get it today. I was thinking it would have a home in our garage. How do you recycle a basketball? Well Bonnie had the right ideal! I guess she will have a new toy until she chews it up!

The wooded path.
The moon this morning.
We had an inch of snow yesterday morning! I spotted these 2 spots where there was no snow and thought that was odd. Can anyone guess what made these spots in the snow? I first thought aliens! LOL! Then it dawned on me that was where the deer were laying when it snowed or where they slept last night and melted the snow.

Trashed

2009-01-07T19:53:00.004-06:00

How many times have we heard that a picture says a thousand words? Here are pictures from the creek behind our house. I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

Fall Color

2009-01-01T19:48:00.001-06:00

I know it is well past fall but I didn't get as much posting done last year as I would have liked.
This is my Lace Leafed Sumac. I have had it planted in a pot on the deck for 5 or 6 years. It has done very well for me and gives me some great color in the fall. I use it on the desk to give us some privacy from the neighbors.

Here are a few pictures of the fall colors. These were taken behind our house. Most of the trees are oak, ash and couple of elms. I don't think we could have found a better lot to built our house on.

The house is all decked out, just waiting for you....

2008-12-21T20:51:00.006-06:00

I thought this would be a good time to share some pictures of our holiday decorations. We have been collecting decorations for a number of years. This year we had a holiday party the Saturday before Thanksgiving. That is why I have the whole house decked out in the Christmas bling.

I have not figured out how to take pictures of the lighted tree. The tree looks so good with the lights and the sparkle of the glass oriments. But when you take the picture it never looks as good. I am sure if I had a better camera and more experience I could take better pictures.

Poinsettia

2008-12-04T19:16:00.009-06:00

Last spring I wrote about this little guy. Should I keep it or compost it. Well I decided that if it survived the winter I would repost it and keep it for the summer. Once summer is over then I will decide. Along comes September, way too soon, and I had to make the decision. Well it was looking pretty good. Good color and bushy. I put it in the storage area with a grow light to control the amount of light it got and about 6 weeks later I started to see the color. You can see the after pictures what was once a small plant with a couple blooms now has a dozen or more blooms. I know that the color leaves are not blooms but you all know what I mean.

Celebrity??

2008-09-21T04:18:00.008-06:00

This post is for the Plaza Art Fair guy. I am sure you all are scratching your heads wondering what the!! OK here is the story.
Saturday Sept 20th was our friend Jack's birthday. One of those he turned 39 for the 10th time. The plan was to meet up at his house and go to the Plaza Art Fair. This is what we all did. It started as a fun day, walking around looking at the art and some cases what some call art, but that is a whole other subject. With a group of nine people you tend to get separated as everyone has different interests or when something catches your eye. I think Scott and I were coming back from getting a couple of beers, I find some art is best to look at after a couple of beers, to where the group had stopped so everyone could catch up. This guy had stopped me and asked if I was the Garden Guy? My first thought was Paul James, The Gardening Guy on HGTV but then I don't look like him. Then I realized maybe he was talking about my blog, but not that many people read my blog and the ones that comment weren't from KC. I went back and asked where he would know the Garden Guy from and he said a website. Wow, he was talking about me!!
It amazes me that someone would recognize me from my photo on my blog. If you think about the several hundred other people that were there at the time it, is mind boggling? Whatever happened to have him stop me and ask about me made my day, no week, oh probable my year! Well this post is dedicated to him, Plaza Art Guy. Thank you for stopping me and telling me how much you like my stone walls I built in the garden!!

New Roof

2008-08-30T06:53:00.007-06:00

Due to a hale storm on May 2nd we are getting a new roof. I will have to say I wasn't happy about it. Why wouldn't I be happy the insurance company was paying all but the deductible and leaf guards on the gutters. Oh and there was also the upgrade Scott wanted to Life Time shingles. He's always got to have the best. I guess that is why he has me ;) I was really afraid that my plants would be destroyed. I envisioned them shoving the old shingles off all sides of the roof into the flower beds. The roof guy said that they would set plywood up against the house so the shingles wouldn't land on the plants. I got to thinking, a sheet of plywood is 8 feet long and my beds are 8" from the house and the roof is10 feet up. I envisioned the shingles hitting the plywood and the plywood falling flat to the ground. But I took his word they would be careful. I was pleasantly surprised that they took the shingles up and carried them to where they had the trailer setting in the drive and put through them in. I could find very little damage to the flower beds.

Here are some pictures. Scott picked out the shingles and he did a great job!

What the old shingles looked like.
After the shingles were torn off and before the new shingles were put on.

The finished roof.

My 5 minutes of fame!?!?!?

2008-08-30T06:48:00.002-06:00

Not sure if I should show this or not. This is anything from garden related but we had a blast!! Here is the website if you want to read the story.

http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/771140.html

How many common names can this lilly have?

2008-08-09T19:32:00.003-06:00

Majic Lily, Surprise Lily, Resurection Lily, Naked Lady or August Lily, these are the names I have heard this lilly called. I remember as a child the hot dry August days when the grass was brown Most of the plants had gone dormate and there they were. These fresh buds coming up out of the dry ground and opening in the hot humid August days.
This lilly is like the first bulds that bloom in the spring. They get me excited that spring is coming. These lillies keep my interest going through the hot days of summer.

What I have been doing this summer!!!!

2008-08-02T10:58:00.009-06:00

Here are a couple of before pictures. This is a pretty steep hill to go up and down. Also if I wanted to plant anything it would need to have a couple of walls put in. Still working on that but I do have the steps in. It has only taken a year but they are done.
Doesn't this look boring? I think so. I would much rather see some flowers and folige. Maybe an urn or two. I have a couple that I hadn't found homes for yet. The ideas are almost endless!!!

Here is the after..... Of course Bonnie has to get in the picture!! I'd say that was her best side but she would probable bit me!

I just have the stones stacked on top of each other to make each step. Most of the steps are solid, I have a few that rock back and forth a little. I need to shim those up with some smaller rocks.

Now it is time for a couple of walls to level it out some. Hopefully it won't take another year!

What's New?

2008-07-18T18:48:00.014-06:00

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post. I blame it on the puppy, Bonnie. When I try and get on computer she wants to go outside. When she comes in she wants to go back out again. I will take her for a long walk thinking she will get worn out. Wrong, the only one that gets worn out is me! One good thing is she likes the outdoors so that gives me the excuse to be out doors but the bad part is I have to keep an eye on her otherwise she ends up running off. If she sees another person or someone walking their dog she is gone. At least everyone in the neighborhood knows her and where she lives. Anyway enough about her. Here are some pictures of what the garden looks like. But first a couple pictures of what Scott calls the demon dog!

Here are some of the cone flowers. The yellow one is native to Missouri but I guess the purple ones are also.

Here is my Bee Balm flower.

This is a plant that I have read about as being a spreader(don't know it's name). I can tell it likes to spread and may be an issue if you don't have a lot of time to tend to your garden. I have found that the little plants pull out pretty easy and the little bit of aggravation is worth the flowers!
This plants common name is Dotted Mint. It reminds me of pineapple top. You might think that mint would mean it spreads a lot. That is not the case for this plant. I have had the plant for the 3rd year now and it hasn't spread at all. Now that is a good mint!

I finish this post with my simple decorations I added to the pot at the end of the driveway to celebrate the 4th of July.

Marseilli, France

2008-06-09T19:16:00.006-06:00

Here is the first stop on our trip. It was a rainy dreary day and who would think to bring an umbrella an a cruise. The tempature was warm enough that it wasn't too cold when we got soaked to the skin.

Iris flowers

2008-05-20T05:17:00.004-06:00

Hello all,
Just to let you all know that we left the country on May 22nd. Right now May 30th we are back in the U.S. but not at home. We are staying in Chicago for a couple of days then we will be back home. Will post some pictures of the trip in the next few days.
Here are some of my Irises that were blooming when we left home.

What is this plant???

2008-05-19T20:07:00.004-06:00

If you know what this plant is called let me know. The story behind them is this. Back last September I had ordered flowers to be sent to Scott at work. These two were part of the filler in the arrangement. After the flowers in the arrangement died these two looked good and I were planning a party so I thought I might be able to use them in an arrangement. Well I put them in water but didn't use them. The next thing I noticed they had sprouted roots. The roots were a couple of inches wrong and I potted them up. They didn't grow any just sat there for the winter and then in March they started growing. I figure they are tropical plants of some sort but if anyone could help me out it would be appreciated.

Kauffman Memorial Garden

2008-05-06T04:59:00.011-06:00

Recently Scott and I had the opportunity to visit the Kauffman Memorial Garden here in Kansas City. I have been there once before and was impressed by the design and the number of plants that are planted in the garden. I recently read that there are over 7000 plants and 300 different species of plants in the garden. Almost up the the level of my garden. LOL!!
There is also a wonderful fountain with three bronze statues of dancing girls. Here are some of the pictures I took during that trip. One thing you will notice is the trunks of the trees are painted blue. I have searched the Internet and haven't been able to find out anything about that. The only thing I do know is that Scott heard on NPR radio station that the blue trunks and the white blooms were to make a pretty combination. I will let you all be the judge of that.

I have never been to the garden on a winter day or a day when snow has covered the ground. However I am sure it is as beautiful as in the summer. With the number of evergreen plants and hard structure to add visual interest.

And here our Chariot awaits us! LOL!! The day we were there there was a bide and groom having their picture taken in the garden. There was also a family having pictures taken. I think you can see why.

Some of my spring flowers

2008-04-25T17:01:00.015-06:00

This time of year is so exciting. It seems like every time I go outside there is something new blooming. Plants I had forgotten about popping up all over the place. Everything is so fresh looking and green. I guess you all of this by looking in your garden.
Here are some of the plants that are blooming now. I don't know all of the names but I will try and give you as much information as I can.

This first one is grape hyacinth. I discovered while searching on the net that in some regins in Greese and Italy the bulbs are pickeled and eaten. Interesting!!

This plant is a creeping phlox. I guess there are two kinds of creeping phlox because the next picture down is what I have thought of as creeping phlox. This one has flower spikes that are about 6 inces tall and the plant sends out shoots during the summer. Where as the phlox in the next picture grows more in a mound and the flowers are just on the top of the folage.

This is one of the daffadils I have blooming right now. Not sure what it is called but I bought it in the last couple of years. There are so many different bulbs to choose from now. It is hard to choose what to buy.
Can't tell you what this one is. But it puts on a show in the early spring. Pretty yellow blooms on a low mound of folage. Maybe 3 inches tall but strickingly beautiful.

This flower is what I would call and old fashion daffadil. The reason I say old fashion is that it is one I remember blooming when I was a kid. At the time I thought it was boring but now that I am older I appricate it's simple beauty.
This is the flower of the blood root plant. I am not sure I knew it had a flower but last year I took some plants from the woods at my mothers. Should be a great plant for in the shade under the trees.

This might not look like a flower but it is. It is the flower of the splurge plant. That is about all I know about the plant. I have had the plant for several years and it does travel but is easy to control. During the summer the folage turns a pleasing purplish green. Goes well with all the other plants and helps fill in the gaps.

Seedling Update

2008-04-14T19:51:00.007-06:00

Last summer I had bought some ornamental pepper plants and when they went to seed I figured they would be easy to start indoors this spring. Little did I know that every seed that I planted would sprout. This first picture are the plants from just one of the containers I planted and that is after I had transplanted about twenty seedlings a couple weeks before. Rather than throw them all out I thought that I would plant 3 or 4 in these 6 inch square pots.

These are the ones that didn't make the cut. I felt a little guilty about getting rid of these but there was no way I could keep them all. I already have more than I have room for in the garden.

This next picture I was trying to show the difference in the plant size between the two different pot I used. I was at the store and saw some peat pots and thought they would be a good thing to use. I'm not sure how many came in the bag but they didn't go far. Then I found in the closet some plastic cups we had left over from one of our parties. To make a long story short I ones in the plastic cups grew better than the ones in the peat pots. Why you may ask? Well my thoughts are that the peat pots dry out faster which causes the plant to grow slower. After I thought about this for a while I remembered as a kid I planted in peat pots and the plants never did well. The peat pots never broke down in the soil. I guess you live and learn.

This was little friend that I found crawling around an the plants and thought I would share it with you.

Seed update

2008-03-15T19:34:00.004-06:00

It has been several weeks and most of the seeds have sprouted. The butterfly weed seeds are the only ones that have not sprouted. I think they were a couple of years old so it doesn't surprise me. I think I sowed the pepper seeds a little to thick. It is time to get them planted in bigger pots.
I bought some peat pots at Lowes but quickly ran out. Lots of little plants to transplant. Looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me. I also bought some marigold seeds to plant soon. Hope its not too late to start them.

Seeds planted

2008-02-18T15:16:00.007-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I got out the grow lights. Actually I went out and bought new fixtures and bulbs. I had read an article in Horticulture magazine about what lights to use as grow lights. The article suggested using a cool or warm white foresent bulb with a full spectrum bulb. So that is what I bought was two cool white light bulbs and two full spectum light bulbs. I put my airplane plant babies from last fall and some herb seedlings under the light. They all seem to be doing much better now than when they were in the window.

Today I had a holiday from work for presidents day. This gave me some extra time to plant up some seeds I had saved from last year and the year before. I planted up several containers with 2 kinds of orimental peppers, double yellow Datura, white columbine and white pasque flower. We will see how it goes.

Things I treasure......

2008-01-27T12:34:00.000-06:00

I guess I am what some would call a pack rat and others may say sentimental. But I will let you make up your mind about me after you finish reading this post. Now let me explain. I like to have items, things or junk that remind me of a places or someone. Here are some examples of the small things that I have kept. There are a couple of drinking glasses from Red Lobster where I went with a date many years ago. The bottle cap to a bottle of beer from the last time I saw someone who I was very smitten over. Then there are all the cards I have ever received for birthdays, Christmas and just because someone was thinking of me. And let's not forget the countless pictures that fill up a 20 gallon plus rubbermaid tote.

Then there are the ones that have extreme sentimental value. Here are the pictues of them and why I value them so much. They aren't in any particular order and this isn't all of them.

These are a couple of toys that I believe my Father played with as a child. One is a box of dominos and the other is Pluto, a Disney toy. It feels good to look at these and remember my father. He has been gone just about 12 years now.

Then there is this 3 tiered table. My great grandfather made it. The legs I was told was made out of old broom handles and the molding on each shelf was from a doctors office that use to be in Holstein, Missouri. I was also told that he made 3 different tables but I'm not sure where the others are.

This is a clock that I have to remember my great Uncle John and Aunt Mandy. They were the nicest couple I ever meet. Aunt Mandy always said that she wanted to dance with me at my wedding. I am sad to say that never happened.

Here is a quilt my mother made and gave to me. She calls it Touch of Blue. The stiching is called candle wicking. It is hard to tell by the picture but there is alot of detail in this quilt. I believe she made it sometime in the 1980's. I have it draped on the back of a chair that belonged to her mother.

Here is an art glass bowl Scott and I bought on our first trip to San Francisco. We wanted something to remember such a wonderful trip and what a great time we had.

This last two are prints that we gave each other on our 40th birthdays. The first one is a Pacso print that one I gave scott. It is number and signed by Pacso granddaughter or so we were told. The 2nd one is a print form the 1800's that Scott gave me. We had found it in a junk store for $50 and I thought that was too much to spend on it. He went the next day and bought it without me knowing. It was a great surprise. It was also nice to find the same print online for sale for $500. It is worth 100 times that to me now.

These are just a few of my treasuries that hold special meaning for me. Thanks for taking the time to read

Should I keep it or........

2008-01-18T06:12:00.000-06:00

I have this decision to make every year around now. Keep the poinsetta or let it become compost for the garden in the spring? Here is what I have done in the past. Put them in the basement where they only get watered once a week. This way only the strong survive. If they survive I put them out with all the other house plants for the summer. As long as they grow and look healthy I say to myself "I am going to try and get them to bloom for Christmas". I think this because my mother does this almost every year and has moderate success. Well the summer comes and goes and fall arrives and getting the light set up with a timer to give the poinsettia the correct amount of light is the last thing on my mind. So I let the poinsettia freeze and add it to the compost pile.
So how so you really keep it and have it bloom? Mom brings the poinsettia in the house in September and puts it under a grow light with a timer so it gets 12 hours of light a day. She just keeps it watered and it does ok. The red leaves don't get very big but she enjoys it, so that is all that matters. I have read online at one place the poinsettia needs 12 hours light another says 14 hours. One site said to cut the stems off about the height you want it and let sprout out and the new leaves will turn red.
If anyone has kept the poinsettia over the summer and has had luck with getting it to rebloom feel free to post your secrets. I guess I will see if this one survives and if it does see what next fall brings.

What is a gardener to do.....

2008-01-09T06:35:00.000-06:00

I was talking with a fellow gardener recently and she mentioned that this time of year is hard for her. She could really explain why it was hard for her other than she was in a funk. I too find this time of year more difficult when it comes to my moods. It is also harder to come up with ideal to blog about. I still have been reading my favorite blogs off and on but for me there is less to blog about. I could post pictures of snow or bear trees and I am sure you don't want to see the piles of dog poo frozen in the yard. Which reminds me need to get that picked up. Do I have any volunteers? Thought not!

Anyway back to this funk I am in. This happens every year and around now is when I notice it. I really think it starts in the fall when the garden starts it's decline to winter. It just take until now for it to fully set in since the holiday keep me busy in other ways. So my question to all of you in blog land is what are your secrets to less the effect of the funk, that is if you get in that mood?

Here are a couple of things I do that helps a little but nothing can replace the sun and working in the yard.

Read all the garden magazines from the summer months the I have just stacked up in a pile.

Set unrealistic goals for what I want to do next summer from looking at all the wonderful things in the magazines.

Make wish lists from all the seed catalogs that are starting to come in the mail.

Order seed that I will never get around to planting. Hope I am not the only one that does this one.

Go to my favorite websites and see what they show is new for this year.

Mark on the calendar when the garden shows are and make plans to go.

Schedule vacation time now so I am sure to gets the days off I want to work in the garden.

Have the Doctor up the meds or as Scott call them the anti bastard pills (he is so loving)

Make phone call to catch up with old friends and family that I don't get to see that much in the summer because I am working in the garden.

If you would have any other ideals please let me know.

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-24T06:59:00.000-06:00

Here is my attempt to decorate for for the holidays this year...

I want to take this post to wish everyone in blog land the very best this holiday season, from myself,Scott, Butch and Bonnie....Happy Holidays!!!!

Extra plant space

2007-12-03T12:51:00.000-06:00

No I am not posting this so you can see a messy closet. I copied this ideal from a blog I saw a year or more ago. Not sure whose blog it was but I thought it was a great ideal so I put up these shelves this fall and put some of my house plants on them.

Part of my problem with our house is that I don't have very good windows to put plants in front of. The front of the house faces east and only have two windows. One of them looks out on the porch so not enough light comes in for plants and the other is in the master closet. This one gets great light and is why I put the shelves up to take advantage of this.

The whole project cost about $50 and took about and hour to assemble. There is a metal bar on each side of the window that a bracket snaps into to. Then an 8 inch board sets on top of it. The window is 36 inches wide and the boards are 48. I was going to cut the extra off but decided that I could store extra pairs of shoes on the extra(you can never have enough room for shoes). Also the one orchid I have can't take the full sun from this window so it set to the side out of the sun. I will need to paint the boards but since no one see it but us I thought it could wait until next year.

Puppy update

2007-11-29T06:22:00.000-06:00

Here Butch is protecting one of this toys from Bonnie by laying on it.
Bonnie was able to get a hold of it and they started playing tough of war.
Butch is trying to show Bonnie who is boss!
For the most part Butch has warmed up to Bonnie. They chase each other around the house and Butch will bark at here when she hides under a chair and he can't get to her. It is fun to watch and take pictures of.

Frost on the pumkin and other things

2007-11-25T07:47:00.001-06:00

I almost have as big of Passion about taking pictures as I do about gardening. I believe they go hand in hand. Because if you have a beautiful garden and you want to share it you need to know the basics about taking pictures. You want the pictures to turn out as nice or nicer than the garden.
One thing I have always thought after we bought our first digital camera was how awesome the pictures were. Sometimes I even thought that the pictures looked better than the garden did. Case in point was last year we would take pictures of the garden down to show my mother, so she would have an ideal what I had been doing. My two brothers would also get to look at them. My oldest brother commented one time they the garden was really pretty and he wanted to come see it. I guess this is my own insecurity but I thought "does the garden really look that good?". Then I became paranoid and was afraid that the garden would be a let down when he saw it. My reasoning for this, however flawed it maybe was that when you take pictures now days with the macro and super macro you can get such detail that you really don't see in person. I mean it is there if you look for it.
Anyway to make a long story short. My brother and wife came up this summer to see the garden. They made the normal comments I have gotten from people which was nice to hear and I new they liked what they saw. What really make me think I had done a good job was a couple of weeks later. He called and we talked first about if I was going to be coming back home this weekend to cut Mom's grass and before we hung up he said that he said that he really wanted to tell me that he was impressed with the garden and that it was very beautiful. This comment, coming a few weeks after there visit had a great impact. First was that he was still thinking about my garden after a few weeks and second the fact that he shared that with me. Men in my family usually don't share feelings like this. Now if I had a new truck I could see him saying something like that!
So anyway here are some pictures I took this morning of the frost. Hope you enjoy and have a great week!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T06:19:00.001-06:00

From all of us to all of you, Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

What is new with us?

2007-11-15T15:54:00.000-06:00

Well this is what has been keeping us busy. Yes a new puppy!! A chocolate lab that we named Bonnie. But don't let the pretty face fool you she is hell on paws!! Still trying to get her house broken. That isn't an easy job as some of you might know.
Will keep you all updated with new pictures from time to time. Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Garden Bugs

2007-10-20T14:02:00.000-06:00

I have taken pictures of all the little animals in the garden this last summer and thought I would share them with everyone. Not sure what they all are and how beneficial they are for the garden but they are interesting. I am sure I didn't get a tenth of the different insects in the garden. These were the easiest to find and take a picture of.
I sure miss the warm weather and working in the garden. I'm sure spring will be here in no time.

Volunters part 2

2007-10-20T07:34:00.000-06:00

This is the second set of volunteer plants I wanted to show. I know it is slow in coming but they are worth looking at, even if I don't know what they are all called.

The first one is Feverfew. It was a pass along plant from the garden club. It likes to reseed itself anywhere it can but is easly controlled by pulling the plants up. It has been used in the past as an herbal medicine for reducing fever. However the flowers on my plant do not match the flowers on the website that I googled that said it had been used as a herbal medicine. Maybe mine is strickly ornamental. I will stick with asprin or other over the counter medication.

Not sure what this annual is called but it comes back every year somewhere in the garden. It grows blooms and then dies. I wish it would bloom all summer but I think the heat get to it.

This is my black eyed susan. Here again it reseeds itself where ever it want to. Here you see it growing next to one of my miniture roses. This is also one that will bloom and die back. It also has a problem with powder mildew. This year it killed back most of what had came up in a huge patch leaving this bear spot. I just set a pot there too make it look like that is how I planned it.
This is a vine that came up a month or so ago and I have been waiting to see what it is. It is a moonvine. Not sure how the seed go here but it is nice to see it gowing up the torch pole. I like the look of that. Maybe next year I will try and do that with several other torch poles.

Arbor before and after

2007-10-14T17:50:00.000-06:00

Here is a before and after of my stick arbor. The first one was taken the first part of April.
This picture was taken this last weekend. Remarkable difference!

This is looking up on the inside of the arbor. Lot and lots of stems and leaves.

Here is what the flower looks like, if you hadn't seen it before. I have been rather disappointed with the number of blooms this year. In the past I have let it vine on the banister of the deck and the blooms would cover it at sundown. Now there are just a few here and there. I think there is just too much vine and leaves to see the blooms. Over all I am satisfied how the arbor looks and will need to decide what to grow on it next year.

Alpine Violet

2007-10-13T08:03:00.000-06:00

This is Cyclamen Hederifolium. This last spring was the first time I have ran across a hardy Cyclamen. At the price of 9.95 I had to think twice before I bought it. I planted like it said and was rather surprised when it's leaves died a few weeks later. The tag said it might go dormant in the summer but this was only late spring! I thought well that was 10 bucks down the drain but the tuber was still solid so I thought there might be some hope. I was so surprised last week when I was mowing and saw these pretty pink flowers. I had to stop and get the camera to get pictures!!
If you enlarge the first picture you can see what the tuber looks like. I did a little research and found out that the leaves will come out this fall and then again in spring. One website says they self seed easily.

I am adding this note to give anyone who wants it more information. A fellow blogger did a post a few day before me and he has more information about this plant than I have listed here, Here is his link http://gardensbybob.blogspot.com/. You will find out more form his post than mine.

Colors of Fall

2007-10-09T06:01:00.001-06:00

I am being a little lazy this week. Couldn't think of anything to really write about or show everyone that was different. So here are the flowers in my garden that remind me that fall is here.
What would a garden be without mums for fall?
The first one I was told is a native mun. Not sure if that is true. Never heard of a mum native to the Midwest? It grew like gang busters this summer. I was such a small little plant when I planted it this spring.
I have to give the deer credit for something and this might be the only nice thing I have to say about deer. Hear goes, they did a good job eating back my muns this last spring. I didn't have to pinch them back at all!! With that said I will get back to deer bashing, I don't mean literally, in the coming blogs.

This is my Russian Sage. I just love the blue color and it has been blooming for a while now. For me it stands out more in the fall. I don't know if that is when it comes into bloom more or if it is just my imagination.

This red grass is I believe Japanese Blood Grass. Someone correct me if I am wrong. I bought it because of the color and uniqueness but when I was ready to plant it the tag said it could be aggressive, so I put it in this pot for the summer. I will have to say it did real well with the heat and with only getting limited water. So that aspect about it is good. Not sure what to do with it now. Has anyone grown this before? Let me know your thoughts.

This is the Hydrangea tree with it's fall color. The one thing I did wrong when I planted it was the location I picked and at the time I thought it could be a problem. What happens is in July and August after the blooms come out the sun get too hot and burns the blooms on the top. Over all in the picture it looks like a dark pink but if I showed you a close up of just one bloom it would be brown on the top and pink on the bottom. Next year I think I will try and put an umbrella over it for July and August. Any thoughts on that or how I can give it more shade without moving it. Ultimately I might just have to move it.

OK before you say this isn't a fall plant here me out. This is Vinca, one of the plants that I think is over looked at times. This plant has never failed me. It can take the hot and dry weather. Blooms continuously from the time it is planted until frost. I guess the one thing that I can think of that limits it is the number of colors that it comes in. I plant it every year and I don't have to worry about the heat getting to it.

To me the Vinca is the unsung hero in my garden.

B-day party

2007-10-01T06:03:00.001-06:00

The birthday party has come and gone. The hangover is also gone, thank goodness!! We had 40 guests over to share in the official turning a year older. I think it was a hit. The last guests left at 11:00 and I stayed up until 2 am cleaning up. Didn't get out of bed until 11 am only to do more cleaning. But all in all was worth it.
The previous 2 days before the party was spent clean of course and also preparing food.

Here is what we had.
Smoked Brisket
Curry Chicken on skewers
Grilled Spiced Shrimp
Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Hummus
Artichoke and Spinish dip
Chichen and Apple stuffed puff pastries
Raspberry and Apricot baked Brie

Usally for our parties we have a friend make desert for us. She does the whole wedding cakes, candies, you name it she can make it. She also enters contests and that is where she was last weekend in Omaha Nebraska at a cake contest. So I made the Pampered Chef Cool and Creamy Chocolate Fondue and had apples pears and strawberrys to dip in it. A couple of friends brought other sweets plus I picked up the indiviual cheese cakes from Sams. You get 63 inch square cheese cakes, plain, turtle and raspberry. Well worth it.

I will leave you with one last comment. Look under the table in the first picture. That is Butch and he knows where to hang out.

Fall flowers

2007-09-25T17:35:00.000-06:00

This post is just pictures of some of the flowers that are blooming that I haven't posted about recently. The thing is that both Scott and I have our birthday this month and I thought it was time to have a birthday bash. So that is what I am dedicating my time to right now. Usually when we have a party we hire a cater and bartender so we don't have to do so much and can enjoy our guests. This year I thought I would try and do the cooking myself. We still hired the bartender because I don't want to get stuck behind the bar.

I am trying to stay organized. I have the food picked out that I want to fix and serve. The list is made and ready to go to the store here shortly to pick up the ingredients. Next I am going to see what I can make ahead and what I will need to make the day of the party. Need to get all the platter out and see if I can find enough silverware and plates for 50 people. Either way I will have some plastic plates and silverware as back up. I do not like to use plastic/paper plates and silverware. I will have to use plastic glasses. Don't have enough glasses on hand for that many people.

I guess I better get busy. Will post more about it next week. Enjoy these pictures for now.

Lake of the Ozarks

2007-09-20T05:53:00.001-06:00

This last weekend Scott and I were invited by another couple down to the Lake of the Ozarks. We stayed in a small cove where their parents have a house on the lake. It was cool and overcast most of the weekend. It was too cold to be in the water but not that cold to ride in the boat and the jet sky. This was the first time on a jet sky for both of us. Jane don’t worry we had life vests on the whole time we were on the water. Since I don’t know how to swim I wouldn’t go out without one!

The first three pictures are of two different plants that I haven’t seen growing around here or back where I grew up. Not sure what they are but looked interesting.
As you can see by the first picture, they grow where not many other plants will. It was very rocky and I am sure the soil is very poor where they are at.

This is the baby Butch. I don't think he really liked the boat ride but didn't want to be left behind. Our friends were so nice to let us bring Butch along. I feel that is a true friend when they include your dog. They have a dog, that is him in the next picture. He is cute and adorable but has a big dog attatude. He trys to control Butch but Butch just ignores him.

This is Tigger.

The next couple pictures were taken when we were on the boat going up and down the lake.

What you see closet in this picture is an island in the lake. I thought that was interesting.

As you can see a few trees are starting to change colors.

You wouldn't catch me doing this!!!!

Early Birthday Gift

2007-09-13T13:01:00.000-06:00

The last time we were down at Mom's she gave me my birthday gift. I put them out in the garden and took pictures of them so she could see that I had put them out. Our garden is a little of this and that. I guess kind of rugged, if a garden could be rugged. These pieces add a little whimsy and cuteness to the space. I hope the garden makes people feel welcome, someplace where people can feel comfortable. Kind of like the inside of our house. Come in put your feet on the coffee table and relax. If you can't be comfortable why be there?

recent purchased

2007-09-12T07:24:00.000-06:00

I have no ideal where the urns will go. I am working on the northside of the house now. Putting in some steps and will have a couple of retaining walls and a sitting area. Not sure when all that will be done but I think I might incorporate them there. Will see, I reserve the right to change my mind at least several times!!

The leaf bird bath has found a home under the Jones rose bush. I think it was made to be used in side the house. After a day or two the water is all rusty. Not sure that there is anything I can do about that but I like the looks of it anyway.

Hair Cut Time

2007-09-09T07:08:00.000-06:00

Here is the basil before I cut it back. It was getting very overgrown and starting to fall over into the path. I am going to try and dry it since we tend to use basil often and maybe try my had at making pesto. We will se how that turns out.

The next picture is after. Looks kind of sad but it will sprout out soon. I have always read that for herbs the more you cut it back the more it grows.

Garden Volunteers Part 1

2007-09-07T15:46:00.000-06:00

This is Surge. I have lost the tag so I don't know much else about it. It looks good most of the 3 seasons. I don't like the flower head but they don't last long. It does some traveling as you can tell by the picture. But it is easy to pull up and keep under control. It grow well in full sun and ok in part sun. You can't tell by the picture but it gets a pretty blue green color this time of year.
Now that I think of it maybe this isn't a volunteer but more of a traveler that is easy to control?

This is a salvia that came back from seed. It gets a little big for where it decided to grow, right in the middle of the stone path, but I couldn't bring myself to pull it when it was young and now I sure can't.

I have no ideal what this is called. I could probable look it up?!? I think it is in the cockcomb family or atleast I remember it growing with the cockcomb flowers in mom's garden when I was a kid. It too is a little big for where it decided to grow. It need to get back in the flower bed. Guess I will need to reseed it there myself.
So what would you call a reseeder that you have to reseed? A reseeder that is placement challenged?

Phlox

2007-08-31T11:40:00.000-06:00

This phlox I bought because of the variegated foliage. I am sure it will look better next year. But I am not disappointed with it at all.

Here is the tag if you can read it.

Not sure why I bought Robert Poore. It looks ok. Not really one I would write home about but it performed well even after being eaten off a couple of times by the deer. I think the picture on the card looked darker than it turned out to be and I do love the rich dark colors.

First one I ever bought. Not sure of the name but right now it is planted under a Japanese maple with Hostas. The poor thing. Does real well considering the lack of light. I think next year I will give it a better home.

This one is David. I can't fine the tag but I know it said part sun to sun. I planted it umder my Jones rose bush where it doesn't get much sun. I think this one needs a better home also.

This is a little side note. I wrote the previous comment about the David Phlox a week or two ago and didn't post it right away but I just drove by someones yard that had two big groups of white phlox in their shaded from yard and they looked wonderful. I think I will leave him where he is at and see how he does next year.

Phlox maculata
Meadow Phlox

This is the native phlox for the midwest or so I am told. It is a nice color does well considering the deers dining habits.

Ladybugs

2007-08-27T13:32:00.000-06:00

Several fellow bloggers responded with suggestions to my aphid problem. My first choice was Bob’s suggestion to use neem oil. The only problem was the nurseries I went to didn’t have it. I don’t really think they knew what it was by the look on their faces. When I went to the last one I explained what I wanted and I go the typical response that they didn’t have neem oil but they did have ladybugs and that would be the only thing they had that I could use that wouldn’t hurt the butterflies and bees. Then I remembered that Dirty Fingernails said that is what she used so I figured it would be worth a shot.

I can't say the ladybugs got rid of all the aphids but they sure helped. Next year I will need to buy them earlier so they are ready and waiting for the aphids. Thanks for everyones advise.

Morning Glory

2007-08-14T05:17:00.000-06:00

This is interesting and a mistake at the same time. The interesting part is that this morning glory has two types of flower on one vine as you can see by my pictures.

The mistake is that I planted it in a pot to vine on the post that holds up the cover on the deck. During the last few days with the tempatures in the 90s it uses up all the water that I give it the night before before I get home from work to water again.

The last pic was taken 08/05 and you can see how big it has gotten already. But it doesn't have a lot of blooms yet. It could be more blooms will be setting on soon or the fact that it is in a pot and doesn't get all the water it needs daily might keep it from blooming more. Will wait and see.

Charlotte’s Web

2007-08-11T12:07:00.000-06:00

I thought this was so amazing that I had to get a picture of it. It’s not amazing to see a spider web but what was amazing is that the spider spun it at night and it went from the tree in the middle if the front yard to the pots that sit next to the house. That is a distance of 15 feet. Wow, what an amazing creature.

Hydranges tree

2007-08-08T05:22:00.000-06:00

This is what the Hydrangea tree looked like this last January. Now picture it a few days later with the branches gone where the ice is. I was sick to my stomach. Mad at my self for not thinking that the ice could break off those branches. Now I know it was all for the best. As you can see by the pictures you can't tell that the branches were ever missing.

Some of the blooms are so large. Bigger than a football. I can't tell if they have a sent or not. There is a Casablanca Lily right there so I don't know if that is what I am smelling or if they have a slight sent.

I have lost a couple blooms from the wind but they have been smaller ones on weak stems. The blooms will start turning a brownish pink shortly and will add interest to the front of the house this winter.

Name these plants

2007-08-05T15:44:00.000-06:00

We found these while clearing brush off Scott's lake lot near Mound City, KS (middle of BFE). I guess it's not that bad. It is an hour and half SW of where we live.
The first two pictures are the same plant. The leaves are about 10 inches from the ground and the flower stalk is 20 inches from the ground. I have never seen anything like this before. I first noticed the flowers and thought how pretty and then I looked at the leaves and thought is that poison ivy? There is alot of poison ivy on the lot but after comparing what I know was poison ivy I ruled that it wasn't.

The third and fourth pictues are the second pland and I was thinking looked like Joe Pie Weed. I have only seen Joe Pie Weed a couple of times and am not sure that is what it is. It's stands about 3 feet tall and the flowers are a lavendar/grey color and it doesn't show up very well but the ones at the top in the middle are kind of fuzzy.
I am really excited about these two finds. They seem to grow well in shade or part shade. Plus the ground is rocky and the soil not real good. These would fit real well here in the woods

behind the house. The fourth picture shows the bug eaten leaves.

Praying Mantids

2007-08-05T05:32:00.000-06:00

Praying mantids get their name from the appearance of their front legs, which they hold in a prayerlike manner. Mantid derives from a Greek word meaning prophet or seer.

Praying mantids can be from one to three inches long and a very unusal looking. Most websites say they are either green, brown or tan but nothing about this color, which looks purple to me. They have relatively large heads, eyes and large leg.

Mantids in the East were imported to help control garden pests. In parts of the country there are up to 10 different species. Some have been introduced and some are native. They grab their prey with the strong front legs which quickly shoot out and grasp their prey. Mantids feed upon various types of insects and I have seen a picture of one eating a hummingbird. One thing I can say is I am glad not to be one, since female may grab the male and eat him. The female mantid lay eggs in masses of foam. The egg case can hold up to 300 eggs and the young will hatch the following year.
Mantids have fascinated me since I was a child, I am glad to have them in my garden today. I found my information for this post at http://www.desertusa.com/mag00/dec/papr/mantis.html

Happy Gardening!!

Step Project

2007-08-01T05:09:00.000-06:00

Here is my most recent project. I was thinking last year that there needed to be some steps here to make accessing behind the rose trellises easier. I was motivated a couple Sundays ago and put these in.

It was rather quick and easy to do. I guess since I have done this a few times before. All I did was figure out where I wanted the first step at the bottom of the hill and dug out some dirt so I could put the first rock half above and half below the dirt. Next I stood on it to make sure it didn't rock, if it did I just put some dirt under it until it stopped rocking, Then I eyeballed it to make sure it looked level and went on to the next step and did the same thing.

The plantings I did last week to finish off the look. The tree/bush on the left is a Crepe Myrtle, the picture on the card attached to it shows a purple flower but the one that is opening is pink. The small variegated plant in front of the bush (can only see a small amount of it) is the Tasmanian Tiger Spurge and the bush I am not sure. We like it because the new foliage comes out red.

Aphids

2007-07-30T19:16:00.000-06:00

These little buggers are starting to show up again. It seems every year at this time they show up on the Marsh Milkweed and the Butterfly Weed. I am not one to use a lot of chemicals but the last summer they killed the Butterfly Weed back to the ground. I was afraid that they had killed it for good but it did come back this spring. I guess the Butterfly Weed is pretty hardy. They grow wild along the highway in southern Missouri.

I also have the worst time with these little green worms. When I was a kid I called them inch worms. They would arch their middle up and then move their head forward and bring the back end up. I tried to capture how they move in the picture. These inch worms love to eat the buds out of my petunias, geraniums and roses. I have just about quit planting petunias because of them. They riddle the flowers with holes or the roses blooms turn out deformed because they have eaten a hole in the side of the bud before it opens. Gets me worked up just blogging about them.

Don't take time for granted!!

2007-07-27T05:40:00.000-06:00

This post today is dedicated to Linda, a lady in the neighborhood who was killed Monday in a car accident. You might think, "Oh that is so sad that Cliff lost a good friend.", but I did not know Linda very well. I didn’t know her likes or dislikes, the number of children she had or where she grew up. What I did know about her was that she was a very soft spoken lady who was always very kind and congenial when you saw her. She seemed to radiate kindness or give off a vibe of kindness.
I think the other thing that has gotten to me is how sudden her death was. It is making me take stock of what is around me and what is important. No one on their deathbed is going to say, “I wish I had a few more hours to spend at work”!!

As I saw on someone’s blog recently, “Live for the moment, plan for eternity”. To me these are words to live by.

Flower Show

2007-07-24T04:39:00.000-06:00

Do you ever wonder how some people do it? You know stay organized and they seem to be involved with everything. Well here is an event I missed. It was our garden club's first annual flower show. The club with the help of one of the shopping centers put it together. I had put it on the back burner since our garden was on the garden tour this year. I just figured I would worry about it after the tour was over. I couldn't think of two big things at one time. Well the tour came and went and when I was recovering from that I was thinking, I'm sure there is something else I need to be doing. Then last weekend we were at a friend's party and one of the other guests who belong to the same club was talking about her entries at the flower show. I thought that is what I should have been doing.

I guess it is my own fault. I never even put it on the calendar at home. Ok, now I will make excuses. The calendar gets so full of different things that it is hard to just focus on one date. When I look at the calendar it can be so over whelming. There is usually a couple things several days a week. There are birthday, anniversary's, Dr appointments(for us and some family members so I can remember to call to see how it went), friends coming into town or out of town, vacations and the list goes on and on. It is hard to look at just one day and remember that day. Oh well I just need to except that I missed it and go on and try and get better at writing the stuff on the calendar. I heard there were a lot of entries, so that easies the guilt about not participating in the club's activities.

The first picture is of the over all winner. I need to thank Vicki for being there and taking some pictures. She emailed these to me and said she didn't send me hers because she didn't want it to end up on my garden blog. So Vicki you were right that is where it would have ended up.

Clearing Brush

2007-07-21T06:06:00.000-06:00

I took Friday as a vacation day so Scott and I could go to his lake lot and see how bad the brush had grown up since last fall when we had 3/4ths of it cleared off. Well, it looked worse than what I thought it would. We didn't get on the road as soon as we should have so we didn't get as much done as I would have liked.

This was taken before we started clearing. It was taken from about a 3rd of the way down the lot looking back to the road.

Here is the after picture.

The section that we cleared is where Scott's parents would pull their camper or pitch a tent.
Scott wants to get a tent and go down for the weekend?!? You know I grew up on a farm so I know the outdoors and am not afraid of a little hard work, but I always had a soft bed with a shingled roof over my head. This laying on the ground in a tent I am not so sure about.

To me camping is like staying at the Holiday Inn but Mound City doesn't have a Holiday Inn much less any other hotel/motel.

The last two are looking into the lot from the road. I didn't get any pictures of the before so you will just have to imagine what it looked like.

This last one is a patch of wild flowers I didn't use the weedeater on. They are just getting ready to bloom so I thought it would be a good ideal to leave them. If we make it down while they are blooming I will try and get a picture of them then.

More Pictures of the yard

2007-07-19T19:36:00.000-06:00

I know it has been a while since I last posted anything. Well it has been nice just to relax after so many hours spent in the garden this spring and early summer. I am now trying to relax and enjoy my hard work. Here are some of the flowers that are blooming or have bloomed in the last couple of weeks.
Sorry I can't tell you all what the name of everything is. One of these days I will get organized and sort through the pile of papers and get tags next to as many plants I can. If anyone has suggestions on how to get organized. Let me
know.

Landscape before and after

2007-07-09T18:19:00.000-06:00

This is my first paid landscape project!!!

This is our neighbors front yard. She has been trying to sell the house for several months with no interest. She asked me if I would help her do some landscaping in the front yard. We went to a couple of the big box stores and found some of the plants 50% off. Here are some of the plants I planted.
Variegated Liriope
Tasmanian Tiger Spurge
Pink Knockout Roses
Endless Summer Hydrangea

Here is the finished project. Enlarge the pictures to get a better look.

Rain

2007-07-01T07:19:00.000-06:00

The last 4 days it has done nothing but rain off and on. I know I shouldn't complain it has been an easy rain not like what they have gotten in other parts of the country the last few days. the one good thing is that it has stopped raining long enough for me to take some pictures. These are of the Marsh Milkweed a native here in the midwest. It really attracts the bees and butterflys when the weather is nice. On the tour several people commented on how big the plants were. They are around 4' tall and 4 to 5' wide and still growing. Let me know if you get tired of me mentioning the tour.

Bargins add interest in the garden

2007-06-25T15:22:00.001-06:00

Here are some additional things around our garden. Actually these are the new items I purchased right before the Garden Tour.

I really love Hobby Lobby. They usually have something every week that is on sale 40 to 50% off. But the week before the tour they had some home decor items 66% off and all the garden related items 50% off. Needless to say I made several trips.

The shelves are to the left of the front door. I try and change it up according to the season.

Sorry, turn your head sideways. Andrea turn your computer on it's side! The metal work was the most expensive at $18 and the shelf below was $11. This is under the deck to the right of the windows. My original ideal was to have a mirror put in the bottom part to reflect light under the deck. When I checked on the price of a mirror it was going to be $36 plus cutting cost. Needless to say I changed my mind. Will keep my eye out at garage sales.

The next couple of pictures of small more or less flat things that I put between the rocks on the patio. I think it adds some interest. It is so hard to get any plants to grow due to the ground under the rocks is hard clay.

Garden Tour

2007-06-25T14:22:00.001-06:00

The garden tour was yesterday, June 24th and it was a success. We had a sunny day with temperatures in the upper 80's. It was hot in the sun but very pleasant in the shade. About 120 gardeners toured our garden in 4 hours.
The most asked question was, where did you get all the rocks from. When I told them I carried them up the hill from behind the house they were all shocked. The next most asked question was how old the garden was. When I told them 4 years they couldn't believe how much I had done in 4 years. This is all a great boost for the ego. However, I had never thought about the number of rocks I have carried and how much they weigh. I just knew what I wanted to have in the end and set about doing it. I also hadn't thought about how much I did in 4 years. I was disappointed that I didn't get the upper path done in the woods so people could walk through the woods. I guess I am my own critic.
These are pictures of all the sitting areas around the garden. I have tried to create garden rooms, this is what all the experts say we should do. I just don’t have all the mature plants to create the wall etc. It is all coming along even though I don’t have a plan. I just fly by the seat of my pants.

The first picture is looking down on the patio from the deck.

This is a sitting area towards the back end of the wookds. I thought I would dress it up like you could sit down and have tea.

This seating are is towards the from of the house and faces the side of the house where I have a bed that is about 10 by 40.

This area is behind the rain garden and faces the woods and the impatient bed in front of the woods.

This is the dining area under the deck. I was happy with what I came up with to have on the table. I think it could be better but it was ok.

Rose - Princess Diana

2007-06-23T04:43:00.000-06:00

Here is what the Princess Diana rose looks like from our rose tree. Only one of the rose trees bloomed so far. Something ate the buds off the other tree. We ended up getting about 6 blooms off this one. Now the problem is that the other has sprouted new buds and will bloom in a couple of days and this tree is done with its first blooms. So, for this year they will not bloom at the same time again. I guess I should look on the brighter side, it could be worse one of the trees could have died!!

What to do

2007-06-19T04:18:00.000-06:00

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some of the pictures from the garden just a week and a half from date of the garden tour. If you hadn't guessed a deer or deers came through and had a feast. What is a gardener to do? The Liquid Fence I have been using isn't working anymore. I guess the deer have gotten over the garlic rotten egg smell or maybe they use clothes pins on their noses?!?!?!?

Needless to say it was off to every garden center and nursery around to find replacements. It is a good thing this time of year they carry bigger plants in bigger pots. That made it easier to fill in the holes. But they bad side it that these places have you over a barrel knowing that you want/need the bigger plants so it doesn't look like you just planted your garden!! Oh well I will just go out to the woods and get a couple hundred dollars off that money tree!!!!!

Saturday Project/Rain Garden

2007-06-10T08:47:00.000-06:00

As you can see we had a little rain last night so the rain garden got a workout. It must have came down pretty fast since the rain garden over flowed. That is the 2nd picture in case you were wondering. I guess I won't be doing any planting today!

This is one of the things I did on Saturday. Scoot says finally you got the downspout buried and the Azales planted, it's only been 2 months that you have been talking about it. My reply is kiss my a--!! But it does work we had a thunder storm this morning and I ran out side to see if the water was coming out of the end (that is the round green thing) in the yard and it was. I'm so happy!!

Before and After Terrace Garden

2007-06-10T07:47:00.000-06:00

Don't look!!! Sorry they are in the wrong order! Go to the bottom first and view up!!
This is the after picture. Notice the garden fertilizer did his job(just kidding). Things are growing well. These were taken June 9, 2007.

Before picture of the terrace garden with the garden inspector and the garden fertilizer(just see the top of his head in the middle bottom). These were taken March 23, 2007.

Windy Day

2007-06-08T05:18:00.000-06:00

Boy was it windy on Wednesday June 6th. We had 50 mph winds and the weather service had issued a wind advisory. I was afraid when I got home from work the garden would be a wreck. But surprising enough things didn't look too bad. Some of the taller plants had blown over but could be staked back up. I had imagined worse.

The thing that had to be fixed right away was my Laceleaf Staghorn Sumac. I have had this tree for about 5 years and have kept it in a pot on the deck. Why in a pot you might ask. Well Sumac tend to travel and send up shoots where you don't want them. But the main reason was when I bought it I didn't have anywhere prepared to plant it in the ground. You have to understand, the dirt is horrible and needs amended before even the weeds will grow. Well that is a little over stated. Now where was I. Oh, since it sits outside unprotected all winter I end up repotting it every few years because the pots get cracked from the freezing and thawing. I knew it needed a new pot this year but I kind of liked the cracked, chipping pot it was in. I thought the pot looked like it had character. In reality I was just too cheap to buy a new one. I could get several plants for what a new pot would cost.

When Scott called and said the tree blew over and the pot broke and we needed a new one. I asked if I couldn't glue it back together? That is when he started making the cheap, cheap sounds like he was a bird! I got the message. The pot that broke was from Sam's and cost $17. Sam's hadn't carried them for the last couple of years so I didn't know where I would find one. Anyway to make a long story short. I bought a fiberglass pot for about $30. I is light weight and has a life time warranty!! We will see about that. Here are some pics. before and after. Enjoy!! Sorry you will have to tilt your head for the one of them.

Stick Bean Trellis

2007-06-05T20:21:00.000-06:00

This was my latest project. Here is a picture of the trellis I made for my pole bean plants. It is very crowded along the house but the plants were already about 3 feet tall so I think they will make it. If they don't grow, I'll just say it's a very expensive piece of art.

Things blooming 1st week of June

2007-06-05T20:03:00.000-06:00

Here are a few of the flowers in bloom in the garden. Been busy getting ready for the garden tour among other things. The first is a Hardy Geranium in the Rain Garden, not sure the name of the Hosta in the shade garden. Then there is the cone flower that is native to the Midwest. I really like the way the petal curve down. And last is one of my lillies. Five years ago when I had built my first flower bed and was trying to fill it with plants one of the local nurseries had grab bags of lilies real cheap. Since they were cheap and I was trying to make the flower bed look fuller I snatched up a couple. So needless to say, I have no ideal what kind of lilies they might be.

Memoral Day Weekend

2007-05-27T07:06:00.001-06:00

In case anyone has some extra time this weekend I have 8 cubic yards of mulch to be put in the flower beds. Any takers?!?!?

Amaryllis

2007-05-27T06:55:00.000-06:00

Here is another story. I have always been fascinated with the Amaryllis flower. I have always ordered them and enjoyed the great bloom the first year then the second year not so nice and maybe no bloom for a couple more years after that. So 3 years ago I decided to plant the bulbs on the south side of the house where my cannas continue to come back year after year. For the last 2 years they have come up and grew but this year is the first time they have bloomed. Actually this is the only one that survived this last winter. I guess it thought it better bloom or else. I am so happy it did. It is right next to the cannas that have been living through the winter for the last 5 years.

Woods out back

2007-05-25T05:49:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago after a rain shower I took the camera and went down in the woods to get pictures of the moss and ferns. Ferns and moss have fanticized me since I was a child. Not sure why. I guess part of it is how lush and green the moss gets and ferns go hand in hand with the moss.

In some of my other posts you can see all the rock I have moved out of the woods behind the house. After a couple of my rock projects were done I began to worry that I would destroy the beauty of the woods. What to do? I choose a couple areas to leave as is. Not to remove anymore rock and let nature continue doing what nature does best. I have tried to capture that in these pictures. I just love the rocks covered in the moss with the ferns sticking out of them. It reminds me of growing up on the farm during mushroom hunting season. When everything is green and lush. There were areas in the woods I could sit and admire the beauty.

One area in particular was next to Rudy's woods(neighbor) it was a triangular shaped woods and there was a big ash tree that was named Jane's mushroom tree. Jane is my sister and not real sure how she got a mushroom tree, no one else has a mushroom tree named after them. But she is the oldest of us 5 kids so she deserves her own tree. Anyway that area was the Northwest side of the hill and I always thought it was so green in the spring. The other area was the old mushroom patch, not that we had a new mushroom patch, but that area was always so green with new growth, ferns and moss. I actually buried a couple of my pets there when I was a kid because I liked that area so much. One other thing is the smell in the woods after a rain. You have the wet wood, soil and air is crisp. If only you could bottle it.

Anyway this is part of my woods I haven't disturbed too much. It is a far cry from what I remember from being a child. Hope you enjoyed my little story.

Moth

2007-05-20T05:57:00.001-06:00

Last night I found this guy hanging on the wall on the front porch. I nick named him "The Hulk". this morning he was gone. I hope he didn't end up as some birds breakfast!!!

3rd set of garden pictures

2007-05-14T04:17:00.000-06:00

Here are the most resent pictures from the garden. These were taken Saturday morning before I planted almost all of the additional plants that I had bought.

Garden Tour Article

2007-05-11T04:14:00.000-06:00

Here is the article that was printed in our local gardening magazine. There are 5 gardens on the club's garden tour this year and each month since January the magazine has ran an article about one of the gardens. This is the article that was written about our garden by one of the board member of the garden club.

I guess I better get busy and get the garden in tip top shape so I can live up to what the article says.

I put two copies on here not knowing which one could be read the best by everyone. If you click on the picture it should enlarge it so you can read it. At least that is how I can do it. The first copy is a picture I took of the article and uploaded and the second is a scanned copy of the article.

2007-05-10T03:49:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to share with you some pictures of the Missouri River here around Kansas City. We are lucky that the water stayed within the river banks unlike some towns I have seen on the news.

The first two pictures are from around the Argosy Casino in Riverside. One was taken from the top deck of the parking garage. The other is a park that was designed to flood when the river came up. That seems pretty smart to have a park to use 99.9% of the time and have it used as food control when needed.

Orchids

2007-05-09T04:40:00.000-06:00

I was going through one of the photo cards for the camera and found pictures of our orchids in bloom from last winter. When I realized that I had not posted them here, or at least just a post dedicated to them.

This one we named Ophelia.

This one is named Dirk.

This is the first time he bloomed for us. We are so proud of him. We were getting worried since he didn't bloom last year but we were told it is common for them to skip a year before they bloom again. Now are the flowers have long faded and I have put them both outside for the summer. Dirk need to be in the shade all summer or his leaves will get burnt. Ophelia is more hardy she can be in part sun.

Can't wait to see if they bloom next year or if we have to wait another year.

Vist from an Oriole

2007-05-09T04:37:00.000-06:00

Monday of this week when Scott got home from work he noticed this Oriole at our Hummingbird feeder. He opened the blinds to get a picture of it and before he new it the Oriole was pecking at the window. He called me at work because he didn't know what to do. I told him he was probable saw his shadow and thought it was another bird. He had mixed up a new batch of nectar to put in the feed because the other was a week old. Once he put the new nectar in the feeder the Oriole stopped pecking at the window. Maybe they are smarter than we think!?!?

Poppy

2007-05-06T05:36:00.000-06:00

Two years ago I dug up some poppies that were growing at my mothers. She had had the same type of poppies as long as I can remember. Well I got them home and didn't plant them right away and they died. So I dumped the pots at the edge of the woods. Last year I was surprised to see that there was a poppy plant there and when it bloomed like my mothers I was really surprised. Now this year there are several plants with several buds/blooms. My mother was at the house this weekend and loved them planted at the edge of the woods. A happy ending to the story.

Peaceful Setting

2007-05-05T05:13:00.000-06:00

One area of the garden that looks good as a whole right now. Someday I want to be like Gaylord(the gargles name) and just sit and gaze at the gardens. But I will have clothes on!!

Deck Accessories

2007-05-05T05:05:00.000-06:00

If you are seeing this picture sideways please adjust your monitor or your head which ever is the easier.

Here is the deck all decked out with the new rug and fan. Isn't it amazing what they can make now days? The fan came from Sam's and the rug from Lowe's and all make to go outside. Also ordered a new top for the gazebo. Scott thinks it needs replaced. It is starting to turn green and has a few small holes along the edges. I guess he is right. I hate when he is right!!!!

Also have paint to repaint the deck but that will have to wait until all the plants are in the ground and I can find anything else to do. Not going to be a fun job. Any volunteers to help??

Stick furniture update

2007-05-05T04:59:00.000-06:00

If you remember one of my early post was on how I made the stick chairs and plant stand. Well I finally moved them out of the garage and into the yard. The plant stand is under the deck with my house plants on them and the chairs are at the edge of the woods looking back into the yard.

Update on the Potatoes

2007-05-05T04:49:00.000-06:00

Here is an updated picture on the growth of the potatoes. I have added dirt 2 times now and they are 3/4 of the way up the pot. Need to add more dirt today. Mom should get a kick out of seeing this. Since we planted a half acre of potatoes growing up.

Fountain

2007-05-04T04:36:00.000-06:00

Here is our fountain. Never been really excited about it. Was going to change it out this year but couldn't find anything we like more and the garden club article about our garden on tour mentioned the cobalt blue fountain. So that was reason enough to put it back. That reminds me I need to pick up extra copies of the gardening magazine to send to the family, so I can brag on the garden!!

I have added a spray head to top so that it makes more noise and add a little height. I also did the plants around it this year. Don't know how that is going to work. The grass hasn't grown any and the other plant, which you can't see very well in the pic is holly. Yea I know the holly is supposed to get 6 - 7 feet tall. Scott picked it out. I just hate always having to tell him it won't work so I let him go with it. But guess who will get to keep it trimmed? Me!!!! Sometimes I think I am the undergardener assistant instead of the gardener.

If anyone one has some suggestions let me know. This is what I think is funny about this fountain. Last year we looked at fountains and oh are they expensive. So being handy like I can be I thought I could save some money and have a unique fountain if I made one. I have a thing for pots(not Pot) especially blue ones. So we were at this nursery that had a great selection of pots and we picked out 3 different size pots or should I say $200 worth and brought them home. They didn't work. Went back and bought another. Not any better. Went to different nursery and bought the green one, blue one came from first nursery. So after spending about $400 lots of time, patients and gas we ended up with this. Oh lets not forget the $200 on the glass chunks and blue colored rocks that we put around the bottom of it. At least I gave it a try and no one else has one like it.