Friday, May 04, 2012

GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

This post is all about the garden. With the rain and the coming of warmer weather things are growing and blooming. Hubby is busy on his riding mower trying to keep the grasses from taking over while I weed on my hands and knees around and in the raised beds. It's time to put out tomatoes and all the other vegetables along with moving various perennials around (as in: maybe you'll grow better here - hope springs eternal). We've done so much yet there remains so much to do. I have a very healthy respect for farmers. It's hard work.

In the meantime some of the Happy Plants have burst into bloom. These are just a few of what is in the garden plus there are many more not yet quite ready to open. I do love Spring.


This section is especially pleasing since for years it was a scrubby, dry area under oaks where not much thrived. We built up the front part of the slope with salvaged rocks from around our property and hauled in loads of dirt then transplanted various things. Hubby improved the sprinkler system and away it went. It's still a work in progress and I can see that a few things need to be moved because they are being crowded by other plants but overall it's working out very well. Azaleas are the main blooms in this photo.


A cascading rosebush that only blooms once a year. It's so prolific that the deer chew at it constantly, hubby hacks it back now and again (it has a great desire to grow up under the house siding) and still it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Somehow I didn't even notice the ladder when I took the photo. 


One of many iris. In the background are some tall pink flowers whose name escapes me. I like the plant a lot but it reseeds aggressively and I have to keep digging it out from around other plants.



A real treat every spring are the yellow wild iris surrounded by the Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila).



A purple clematis outside my kitchen window. Timed to bloom with the climbing rose it's either early or the rose is late. I did cut the rose vines back hard so perhaps it's all my fault. Still, very, very pretty and should have a second round of blooms later in the summer.

I tore our small pond apart because the waterlilies had formed an edge to edge mat leaving the fish very little room to move around. They were being picked off by a visiting heron (goodbye 8 year old koi!) because their safe spot was overgrown. We posted on Freecycle for anyone who wanted free waterlilies and had a massive giveaway. Now the fish have their safe spot back but I haven't seen the lone surviving koi for the last few days but I have seen the heron fishing in the early morning. Herons are smart. Fish, not so much.

In the world of crafting I've been sewing (mostly clothes) but my knitting mojo is still on walkabout. I felt like things had finally clicked with my lace weight shawl. Feeling cocky I started listening to an audiobook (Catching Fire) and promptly made a huge mistake. I had also decided that I did not need to update my lifeline. Oh.Woe.Is.Me.

3 Comments:

At 1:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh thank you! I would rather think about gardening or horses as I sit in my cubicle procrastinating. XXMia

 
At 9:49 AM, Anonymous Suzy said...

Gorgeous flowers. You have such a green thumb. Iris! My fave!

 
At 8:12 PM, Blogger Valerie Polichar said...

The yellow iris + baby blue eyes are absolutely stunning. Never seen a color combo quite like that.

And I am a big sucker for blue clematis.

Can you tell I'm finally trying out another blog reader? Since my old one went to hell I've had trouble... Missing you, though!

 

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